Patrick Mouratoglou has said that Novak Djokovic's surprise defeat in the third round of the Monte-Carlo Masters last week was nothing to be concerned about.
The French coach backs the Serb's quality to once again shine through as the clay stretch of the season progresses. The World No. 1 lost in three sets to Italy's Lorenzo Musetti at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Monaco, during a match in which he was struggling with an elbow injury and also became visibly rattled following an erroneous line judgement from the umpire.
This prompted some concerns about the Serb's fitness and form in the run-up to the second Grand Slam tournament of the year. However, Mouratoglou, speaking to Eurosport, said he believes any real worries about Djokovic's form are premature.
I'm not worried about him. He did the same thing last year, he went through it in Monte-Carlo. I think it's costing him these long periods without a match, when everyone else is confident. He's just coming in, he doesn't have a reference. And even in terms of motivation. I'm not in his pocket, I don't know how he trains.
Mouratoglou cites last year's early exit from the same tournament as evidence that the 22-time Grand Slam champion's form is no cause for alarm.
However, Mouratoglou did concede that the Djokovic's absence from the Sunshine Double in the US mast month may have had an effect - as it did last year - and the Serb will need to play himself into some form and rhythm.
But I know that when you know that you don't have a tournament for two months, going to train every day is not easy. The recovery is not easy. I have no doubt about his level of play in the Grand Slams. After that, the only danger is that the young players are progressing more and more.
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