ROLAND GARROS

May 22, 2026

Novak Djokovic

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Novak, thanks for spending your birthday with us. We'd like to check how you're doing since Rome and how the preparation is going.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, thanks. Not kind of how I imagined my birthday to go, but nice to see you guys.

Yeah, it's been a lot of, you know, lots of hours spent on the court and trying to perfect the game and the body and enable myself physically and game-wise to be ready for best-of-five. Let's see. I don't know whether that's going to be the case, you know, for the entire tournament, however long that tournament will be for me.

But, you know, Grand Slams have been, I mean, I have said this many times, always the priority list, particularly last couple of years. So I always try to aim to be at the peak of my own abilities to perform well in Grand Slams.

So can't wait to get on a court and start competing.

Q. Just your view on the 15-minute protest. What's your opinion? Are you partaking in it? Are we on the clock?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: No, I'm not part of that. I cannot comment in terms of something I was not part of. I haven't been part of that. I haven't been part of the process of, you know, the conversation or the planning or, you know, the decision-making.

So I can't comment on that, to be honest. But what I can do is reiterate my own position that I have said many times before, that as a player, which has been my primary role in this sport for so many years, I have always been on the players' side and tried to advocate for players' rights and better future for players, but not only top players, players across all rankings, across all fields, particularly the Tier 1 professional tennis, you know, the players on both men's and women's side that are lower-ranked, that are often forgotten about.

You know, we tend to -- when I say "we," I mean including media and all of the intra-sides of the tennis world at the highest level -- talk about the prize money cuts and, you know, how much are the top players earning or not earning, but we tend to forget how little is the number of people that live from this sport.

So I will never stop mentioning that or talking about that, because it is "the" most important field of the tennis professional circuit, that foundational top Tier 1 level for the future of this sport. If we want to nurture the future, if we want to have the players thrive from this sport, not just survive, and if we also want to increase or improve the sport as a whole and increase the number of the kids who want to enroll themselves into a journey of becoming a professional tennis player, then we have to discuss about, for me at least, the more important topic, which is how do we grow sport in a grassroot level. For that, that's not only question of the players expressing their content or discontent. I think it's us as a whole.

Grand Slams, governing bodies, the governing tours, everyone. We are very fragmented. It's already complex enough as a sport, how the structure is set and how we are regulated. So the further fragmentation is really hurting me personally. I really don't like to see that.

But, yeah, let's see and let's learn also from golf, you know. I think golf is a good example of professional individual global sport that has been through and is still going through very challenging times in terms of the governance and splitting tours and players, and they are able to participate in only one tour, if they go to another, we have seen what's happening.

So let's learn from that. Let's try to be a bit more united and have a unifying voice into finding better, you know, structure and better future for our sport, because now is the right time.

That's the sentiment that I feel, it's just, you know, it's not one or two things that are happening this tournament that players are partaking in in terms of media. It's just overall there is a lot of rumors, there's a lot of sentiment on what is happening in terms of the changes in sport.

I think it's something inevitable, so hopefully we're going to be able to do it with least turbulence possible.

Q. A question about the preparation. Maybe the decision not to play Geneva, I know you rocked up in Australia, hadn't played, that was very rare for you, made it to the second week without dropping a set. You know how to do this better than anyone. It's your 22nd appearance here in Paris. Can you take me through the last couple of weeks, why you made the decision, and how do you prepare yourself without very much match play for an event as big as this?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, to be honest, it was a higher force. I wanted to play more, but my body was not allowing me. I was going through rehabilitation process for my injury.

So after Indian Wells, it was, yeah, just not possible for me to compete for several months. That's the reason why.

Really wanted to go to Rome to give it a shot and try and, you know, see how I feel. I was far from being ready to compete, but still, I needed at least that one match just to have the score called by chair umpire and have experience of the nerves before I eventually come to Roland Garros, which at that point I didn't know if I was going to be able to play or not.

Thankfully, the response of the body and the preparation has been positive in the last 10 days, so here I am, and we'll see what happens.

Q. I appreciate your preparations haven't been ideal, Novak, but when you see that Carlos Alcaraz is missing from the draw, does that make you feel differently about your chances?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, he's a two-time defending champion of Roland Garros. Of course, you know, it's a big blow for the tournament not to have him. Whether that changes my approach to this tournament, I don't think it does significantly change, to be honest, because I have been through challenging times with my body in the last, you know, six to eight months.

So that was my primary focus or concern, if I may say, not much really thinking about would I have better chances or not with Carlos being here or not being here.

Because I feel like if I'm healthy and I'm able to maintain that level of freshness throughout the tournament, that obviously will not be the same at the beginning like it is in the, towards the end of the tournament, but if I'm able to somehow maintain that level of freshness and progress, and then I feel like I have always a very good chance. I have proven that in Australia this year where I was close to win another slam.

So, you know, I always have that belief in me when I'm on the court.

Q. Jannik just matched you with his Golden Masters. He's also on quite a streak. You have had obviously some great streaks. Can you explain the mindset when you have won that many matches in a row? Does the pressure build match after match or is it more the confidence building?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I want to congratulate him again. I have done that on social media, but again, it's an incredible feat for him and his team.

We have talked a lot about how impressive he is on all surfaces, and people are maybe questioning because of his game style whether the clay would be as dominant as hard court, for example, but he has proven that that's also the case, which is really amazing.

Yeah, I mean, being one of the two guys that have managed in the history to be the only ones to win the Golden Masters, I know how challenging that is and how difficult it is, so, you know, I really congratulate him for that, because it's quite an achievement, and he's really young.

You know, he has a lot of time ahead of him. I think he's going for his Golden Slam as well here, if I'm not mistaken as well. He's maybe in the form of his life, and without Carlos being here also increases his chances even more of claiming more Grand Slam titles.

So we are all here to try to, you know, try to win against him and prevent him from taking more titles. We have witnessed yesterday night on the court that he has lost only for the third time this year against, you know, Monfils and Svitolina in exhibition (laughter). I told him that on the court that if he doesn't step up, that he's going to lose against Gael.

No, but jokes aside, I also want to mention a few words about Gael, as well, that has been a friend and rival and someone I have really admired and grew up with since the age of 13, 14. It was a wonderful evening, incredible atmosphere, and he deserved every bit of that celebration of his career that we experienced last night.

He was insisting on us playing that game that was first time I ever played that game, and it was fun. It was really fun for all of us to be there for him. He deserved it.

Just a little message for Gael, because he truly deserves that, not only as a tennis player but as a human being, somebody that has touched so many people's hearts, has respect from I think everyone in men's and woman's locker room of, you know, across all the generations he has competed with.

I mean, I don't know anyone that really doesn't like Gael. One of my favorite players to watch. Incredible athleticism. I'm looking forward seeing him perform his last Roland Garros here.

Q. It seems from the outside you have played with a lot of aggression the last few years. I wondered how conscious a decision that was, whether that's just a kind of natural thing that developed? How that came about.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I think it is natural and logical and rational, I think, to be stepping into a court more and trying to take the ball early, take my chances.

I mean, I'm not getting any younger, that's for sure. The body is obviously as well more challenging nowadays for me to handle in long matches. After long matches particularly, to recover quickly, it's not as fast of recovery as it used to be.

I just, I know that that's the kind of game plan and desirable tactics, particularly in the big matches. It's hard to always execute it. I have it in my mind. I know I'm not maybe a natural serve and volleyer and stuff, but I try to do that, as well.

It's just that I have such a confidence in my defense and always had throughout my life, and then sometimes that plays against me, because I then need to run more than maybe I should and strain my body further.

But, yeah, it's something I have been working on, as well. Short balls, trying to take early, and put pressure on the opponent. It helps when it's working (smiling).

Q. (Question off microphone.)

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I want to believe that for most of my career, and actually this is the way I have been brought up and taught tennis early in my childhood, is to be close to the line and try to take the ball on the rise.

I haven't played like that maybe throughout entirety of my career, but I have always tried to be the one that dictates the point. Of course it was hard to do that against all the players, but against most of them, I tried to do that.

I like to believe that that was the case, and that's how I feel, so it wasn't really hard for me to make that extra adjustment in terms of being more aggressive on the court.