“I don’t want to open a Pandora’s Box and talk about things” – Djokovic tight-lipped about physical issues as French Open kicks off
The Serb has not reached a final in 2024 as he begins his defence of his French Open title
Novak Djokovic, Rome 2024
Image Credit: Imago / Panoramic
2024 has been a lacklustre season for world No 1 and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic so far. The Serb has failed to reach a final in the six events he has played so far while skipping mandatory Masters events in Miami and Madrid. Djokovic has also had a major reshuffle in his team – parting ways with coach Goran Ivanisevic and his long-time fitness trainer Marco Panichi.
While many have speculated about the Serb’s motivation levels. Djokovic revealed that he has been dealing with physical issues in recent months but remained evasive about the exact nature of those issues as he spoke to the press in Paris prior to his first round match at Roland-Garros.
“It’s various things that were happening in the last couple of months, but I don’t want to get into it. I hope you understand that. It’s just I don’t want to open a Pandora’s Box and talk about things,” Djokovic told the media.
The Serb was seen to be affected by tremors in his right hand during his semi-final defeat to Tomas Machac in Geneva earlier this week – not the first time such an incident had taken place during one of his matches.
“Just really try to focus myself on what needs to be done. What has happened, happened, and it’s in the past. It’s something that I can’t affect anymore, but I can kind of learn to rectify certain things and right the certain things that are wrong and really not serving the purpose of my highest performance level. So that’s what we have been working on as a team, and hopefully it will give us good results here.”
The 37-year-old Djokovic will begin his campaign for a fourth French Open title on Tuesday against local player Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
