Days after singing praises of Coco Gauff for visiting his academy, Serena Williams’ ex-coach Rick Macci has now directed his compliments towards World No.1 player Novak Djokovic. The 69-year-old American coach believes that it is remarkable how Djokovic has maintained his top rankings and is still winning tournaments this age i.e. 36. Therefore, Macci has made a bold prediction regarding Djokovic, stating that he will dominate in this year’s Monte Carlo Masters.
Even though Macci only mentioned Djokovic’s name, the claim sounds even bolder when one notices the form young guns like Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, and even Casper Ruud or Holger Rune are in.
Macci wrote on X, “Depending on his health the JOKER is my pick Today to win it all on the French Red Clay.”
Novak Djokovic has availed himself for the Monte-Carlo Masters and was practicing recently with German player Alexander Zverev. He even collaborated with Asics for the start of the clay season, which he is very excited about. The Monte-Carlo Masters is a good precursor to the French Open, since it is the first clay court Masters tournament of the year as well as it is held in the same country as the Grand Slam. The former will be followed by the Madrid Open and then the Italian Open, among the ATP 100 Masters tournaments. Barcelona Open, Serbia Open, Geneva Open, etc are some of the other ATP tournaments on clay.
Rafael Nadal has dominated clay-court tournaments for the longest time. His 14 Roland Garros titles and 11 Monte-Carlo Masters titles are just a small example. However, amidst the Spaniard’s juggernaut run on clay, Djokovic has managed to win a decent number of clay-court tournaments. 3 French Open titles, 2 Monte-Carlo Masters, 3 Madrid Open titles, and 6 Italian Open titles, are just some of his top-notch achievements on clay.
Therefore, Rick Macci may not be wrong in assessing Djokovic’s performance on Monte Carlo this year. Having trained some of the legends like Serena Williams, his intuition might just be correct. And as far as Djokovic’s age is concerned, the 36-year-old is fitter than ever. He may not have performed well this year in the Australian Open and Indian Wells, but he had a stellar last year. Djokovic won 3 out of the 4 Grand Slams and anymore ATP tournaments.
However, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz can’t be taken lightly at all. The Italian won the AO, ATP Rotterdam, and Miami Open this year, whereas Alcaraz won the Indian Wells. Even Casper Ruud looked dangerous in the recently concluded Estoril Open, played on clay court. Ruud reached the finals but lost 4-6, 6-4, 4-6 to Pedro Martinez.
Despite all these young players having the potential to beat Djokovic on any given day, the Serb’s biggest threat on clay still remains Rafael Nadal. Even Djokovic acknowledged after his AO match during the press conference, that Nadal will always be a force to reckon with on clay courts. However, Nadal’s recent withdrawal from the Monte Carlo Masters opens the door for him to get off to a great start. He recently split with his long-time coach, collaborator, and friend Goran Ivanisevic.
Djokovic shared a deep and intimate student-teacher bond. As things weren’t quite working out for them together, Djokovic had to make that hard call. But this could provide him with a fresh perspective, attitude, and mindset, to go out there and achieve more.
Novak Djokovic is back on the tennis courts
After a small hiatus (skipping the Miami Open), Novak Djokovic is back to playing tennis; this time with the Monte Carlo Masters. As the clay court season begins, so does Djokovic’s new journey, the first time without his long-time coach. He will start the Monte-Carlo Masters in the Round of 32, although his opponent isn’t confirmed yet.
Djokovic will play against the winner of the match between Jaume Munar and Roman Safiullin, which might likely be Safiullin. Carlos Alcaraz too is in the same half as Djokovic.
The match will stream live on the Tennis Channel in the US and Sky Sports in the UK. The timing of the match isn’t out yet.
