When you know his level and his track record today, you tell yourself that he finally made the right decision. However, everything almost stopped in 2010 for Novak Djokovic after a quarterfinal lost at Roland Garros against the Austrian Jürgen Melzer when he led two sets to nothing, told the world N.1 to Sky Sports Italia .
"I cried after being knocked out. "
At the time, the Serb was number 3 in the world at only 22 and was already fighting against his great rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal… Yet the idea of stopping all the turmoil after this setback in Paris. “This defeat was very difficult for me emotionally. I cried after being knocked out It was a bad time, I wanted to stop tennis because I saw everything in black, "said Djokovic. "I won in Australia in 2008 (its first grand slam tournament), I was number three in the world, but I was not happy," he said.
But over time, this defeat was finally positive: “From that moment on, I felt liberated. It took the pressure off, I started playing more aggressively, it was a turning point. ” And even a real turning point: in 2011, Djoko won three grand slam tournaments and, today, he has 17, two lengths from Nadal and three from Federer's absolute record.
It is therefore no longer a question for him of wanting to stop but rather to start playing again, while the ATP and WTA circuits are stopped due to the coronavirus pandemic. "Officially, (the resumption) is July 13, but many say it will be difficult to resume on this date," he feared, adding that it was "important to have clarity in the calendar ".
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