5 reasons why Novak Djokovic is a contender for the French Open title

World No. 4 and nine-time French Open winner Rafael Nadal is gunning for La Decima at Roland Garros, and in his current form, there is absolutely no doubt that the Spaniard is the firm favourite to win the tournament. Many have written off every other player in the draw – including the tournament’s two top seeds, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic.

Top-ranked Murray has been successful at the Masters level on clay, but not so much as Djokovic – who until last year was considered one of the most successful players on clay to never have won the French Open.

Now, as his title defense gets underway, here’s why we believe the 12-time Grand Slam winning Serbian is still in with a chance:

Gameplay on the upward swing

Novak Djokovic has had one of the best games in tennis – he wouldn’t have been a World No. 1 without it! That said, the Serbian ace has always had an exciting, fun game that has rarely stagnated when the player has been in form. Now, the player has been back to his old shots – some of them risky, taking chances, playing attacking tennis and approaching the net as he routinely did when in the top of his form.

With Djokovic attempting his signature style and move again after a big downswing in form is surely a positive indicator of things to come.

Motivation is back and going

For the longest time so far, it appears Novak Djokovic has been suffering serious burnout. The Serbian ace appeared – even early this year, to be suffering from serious burnout that all but destroyed any motivation he had for the sport.

Known always for his unflinching motivation and commitment to the sport, Djokovic began to appear disinterested, tired and phoning it in match after match, tournament after tournament.

That all appears to have disappeared, with Djokovic’s intent clear in the smallest of actions here on court. Each shot has had intent behind it, and he has been moving quicker and more aggressively. All those signs point to an increased motivation – and a happier Djokovic in the pressers has appeared to prove just that.

Andre Agassi has done wonders

Following his split with Boris Becker last year, Novak Djokovic was on the lookout for a new coach – or if rumours at the time were to be believed, a ‘supercoach’. He appeared this year to have found just that in 8-time Grand Slam winner and former World No. 1 Andre Agassi.

The American ace was announced as Djokovic’s coach just prior to the French Open, with the two likely having begun working with each other or at the very least, in talks, over the past 6 months.

Djokovic and Agassi have appeared to get along famously, with even Djokovic’s former coach Boris Becker quipping that the pair’s personalities mesh very well. The former World No. 1 appears to have had quite the change in his attitude already – and that continuing will be crucial in his gameplay trending positively.

Fighting spirit has returned

With burnout comes a lack of passion – something Djokovic has always had in droves, and with that, a loss of aggression. Djokovic has always been an aggressive baseliner, and removing the ‘aggressive’ bit of that – no pun intended, has over the past months, taken quite the edge off his game.

But that edge appears to have returned. Although there have been difficult – and unexpected – battles against players ranked far lower than himself, Djokovic has battled past each point and fought to each win.

That will be key in the interim as the 30-year-old works to get his game back to the level it had been for the past few years – and that spirit is what will win him the most difficult matches. After all, he’s done it before.

A successful clay court competitor

While he is not the clay court GOAT, as Nadal is, Djokovic is considered one of the best clay court players statistically. The Serbian ace was considered until last year the “greatest player to have never won a French Open” – a ‘jinx’ he undid last year with his first title at Roland Garros of four finals there.

He has eight clay court ATP Masters 1000 titles, of a total of 14 finals and thirteen ATP Tour level titles. No slouch on the surface by any stretch of the imagination, even Djokovic’s clay-court losses have been hard fought – and he still has the honour of having defeated Rafael Nadal on clay in straight sets.

No matter his struggles at the moment, Novak Djokovic is still a definitive contender for the title here at the French Open.