Novak Djokovic has won the most number of French Open titles in the past two decades among athletes not named Rafael Nadal. While Djokovic will be extremely proud of himself for winning three titles at Roland Garros, he might be a bit disappointed for losing in the finals four times at the Court Philippe-Chatrier in his career. Naturally, these losses have harmed his career earnings.
Being the second most successful player in the French Open since the 2000s, Novak Djokovic has won more than $6.4 million in prize money. However, with him being known for expecting the best from himself, missing out on $4.1 million mustn’t have sat well with the Serbian.
Novak Djokovic had to lose the finals three times before lifting the La Coupe des Mousquetaires on his fourth attempt in 2016.
The Belgrade native suffered losses to Rafael Nadal in 2011, 2014, and 2020, and Stan Wawrinka in 2015. Unfortunately, Djokovic failed to win more than 1 set in any of these four bouts and received $4.1 million less than his opponents for coming second. (per Perfect Tennis).
However, now that he has received a favorable draw in the 2024 French Open 2024, Novak will hope to lift the trophy for a 4th time.
Novak Djokovic will enter the French Open 2024 with motivation from an “unexpected” source
Novak Djokovic hasn’t witnessed the success he’s used to this season. With the unexpected third-round loss at the Italian Open 2024, Djokovic had a subpar 12-5 YTD. Clearly, he wasn’t in good enough form to be dubbed as a title contender at the Roland Garros.
Hence, as frowned upon as his decision was, it made perfect sense for Novak to enter the Gonet Geneva Open 2024. Speaking about the thought process that went behind accepting the wildcard entry to the ATP 250 level tournament, the Serb, in an interview with ESPN, said:
“The reason why I chose to come and play is because I feel like, at this moment, there is no better practice for me than match play. I feel like I need more matches, even if it’s one match, two matches, three, four hopefully. It’s good for me, because that’s the way for me to try to find that kind of form that I need for Roland Garros.”
So far, Novak has been dominating the tournament. After defeating Yannick Hanfmann and Tallon Griekspoor in straight sets, he will now face Tomas Machac in the semifinal.
A win against the Czech international will most probably result in a final encounter against the in-form Casper Ruud. A potential victory over the Barcelona Open 2024 winner will lead to a boost in Djoko’s morale and help get his rhythm back prior to the French Open 2024.
