Former Indian tennis player Somdev Devvarman thinks winning Rome was huge for Novak Djokovic ahead of the French Open.
After a slow and uncovincing start to the clay season, Djokovic found his game in Rome and lifted his first title of the season.
Djokovic now heads to the French Open as the defending champion and feeling well about his chances of repeating as French Open champions.
“The good news for Novak despite losing the semis to Alcaraz in Madrid, he’s gone ahead and won the title in Rome and he’s won it fairly convincingly. I think when it comes to Novak, he’s definitely going into the French Open with as good as the form he can expect and he for sure would have liked to have won a title and the fact that he’s won a huge title in Rome is going to give him confidence and I think he’s going to be exactly where he wants to be,” Devvarman told NDTV.
Devvarman: Djokovic just needed matches
Once Djokovic started playing regularly, it took him few weeks to find his game and rhythm.
In Rome, Djokovic looked like his usual self.
“The World No. 1 needs tennis matches under his belt, the World No. 1 needs to be sharp, have wins, win tournaments, you know, feel like he’s out there playing his best tennis,” Devvarman said.
“We saw at the start of the year that Novak was far from his best even when he did come back, he had some uncanny losses, he wasn’t winning tournaments.It shocked a lot of the tennis world but for me I felt like it was very normal because he hadn’t played the kind of matches he’s used to playing, especially to begin the season.”
Rafael Nadal is dealing with a foot issue, while Carlos Alcaraz is heading to his first Grand Slam where he is considered as a contender.
Djokovic has found his game just before the start of the French Open and he is considered as the top favorite for the title.