Novak Djokovic's former coach Boris Becker believes the Serbian player is in contention to win at this season's Roland Garros.
Since winning his tenth Australian Open in January, Djokovic's 2023 season has become disrupted by a drop in form and ongoing injury issues. After success in Melbourne, Djokovic reached the Dubai Championship semi-final and more recently lost in the Italian Open quarter-final against Holger Rune.
As a result, there are question marks about whether the 36-year-old is capable of playing himself into contention at the 2023 French Open. However, Becker, who coached Djokovic for three years between 2013 and 2016, said in an interview with the Guardian that the 22-time Grand Slam winner will always be one of the favourites at the majors.
"Clay is not his best surface, but in the last couple of years, he was able to pull it back together at the French. As long as he’s healthy, and as long as he wants to play, he is always going to be one of the favourites to win a grand slam.”
Despite Becker's admission that his former protege could cause a stir at Roland Garros over the net two weeks, he did admit that the field of younger players is disrupting the prior domination of the big three. In particular, Becker pointed to the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune, who could also be in contention to win in Paris this year, especially in Rafael Nadal's absence.
“Carlos Alcaraz became world No 1 after winning the US Open last year – that’s your evidence. There are plenty of other young players knocking on the door, including Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune. Then we have to mention the Russians – we don’t like to do so but we have to as they’re good enough.”
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