Rome (AFP)
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, after his withdrawal from Madrid, returns to clay at the Masters 1000 in Rome this week with his eye riveted on Roland-Garros (May 20-June 13): "It's clearly there- down that I want to play my best tennis ".
"I reached the record milestone for weeks like N.1 (in March, editor's note), that's what I was focused on until recently. Now it's more about trying to have my peaks of form during the Grand Slams, "explained the defending champion in Rome at a press conference on Monday.
"Djoko", who will be 34 years old on May 22, won his 18th Grand Slam victory at the Australian Open in February, coming back two lengths from the record jointly held by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
He has lightened his program a little this year by notably bypassing the Masters 1000 in Miami and Madrid.
A real desire to start "spending more time with (his) family and doing other things that interest (him)", while continuing to play "a number of tournaments to prepare for the Grand Slams as well as possible ".
In addition to the Monte-Carlo and Belgrade tournaments, where he was beaten early in the eighth and then in the semi-finals, the Serbian will play another tournament in Belgrade (May 22-29) after Rome.
"Four tournaments before Roland-Garros, I think it's enough in terms of matches. I'm building my form and I'm building my game step by step with the ambition to reach the peak in Paris," he insisted .
"The change at the top of the ranking is coming," he admitted, asked about the rise of a new generation.
"Whether it will happen in a month or a year, I don't know, but personally I don't care as much about the standings as I do about playing for the Grand Slams."
Exempted from the 1st round, the world No.1, five times crowned in Rome (in ten finals), will meet in the 2nd round the American Taylor Fritz (31st worldwide), against whom he had to fight five sets in the 3rd round at the Australian Open.
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