Novak Djokovic To Keep Trying Each Year To Win French Open Trophy
Novak Djokovic has won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments, including the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open, but he is yet to win a French Open title. The Serbian athlete who finished the season ranked first in the world has vowed that he will do whatever it takes to win the trophy at Roland Garros.
Speaking in front of the crowd at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on the last day of International Premier Tennis League's, or IPTL, India leg on Dec. 8, Djokovic said he will be pushing hard to finally win the elusive French Open title.
"I'm going to keep on trying each year," Djokovic said. "Hopefully, I can keep on going, I have the self-belief, I know I can do it and hopefully by the end of my career I am going to get one trophy there."
According to Djokovic, he was close to winning the French Open title, but there has only been one problem: Rafael Nadal. He said that rival Rafael Nadal, who had defeated him twice in the finals of the said tournament in 2012 and 2014, took the better of him and successfully defended the title for five consecutive years. Nadal is a nine-time French Open champion, having won the tournament in 2005-2008 and 2010-2014.
Ahead of the upcoming 2015 season, Djokovic said it will be hard to predict who will win another Grand Slam. He said that Stan Wawrinka (2014 Australian Open champion) and Marin Cilic (2014 U.S. Open champion) have been "challenging and winning" in big tournaments. He added that the domination of veteran Swiss great Roger Federer, British No. 1 Andy Murray, Nadal and him in the sporting world of tennis, when only the four of them were winning the major Slams, is over. Djokovic said the 2015 season will be an exciting year as the new generation of tennis players emerge and win against the best in the sport.
Djokovic is a seven-time Grand Slam champion with 30 ATP titles and three year-end finishes at number one. He finished runnerup to Nadal in the 2014 French Open, won his second Wimbledon trophy against Federer and fell to Kei Nishikori in the semifinals of the U.S. Open. He had won Masters title in Indian Wells and Florida.
Djokovic is currently in Dubai for the fourth and final leg of the IPTL. Dubai's IPTL leg starts with Federer's Micromax Indian Aces taking on the Singapore Slammers. Djokovic's UAE Royals will be clashing against the Manila Mavericks in the later match. After Dubai, Djokovic will kick off his 2015 season in Doha.