Novak Djokovic played his final match before the 2024 Roland Garros in Geneva and lost, admitting afterwards that he was quite worried about his level.
When the Serbian bested Jannik Sinner late last year to win the ATP Finals, very few could predict this type of year from him. There were some warning signs in Australia, but most dismissed them.
Sinner played a brutal match against the Serbian, ultimately also winning the tournament. The Indian Wells loss to Luca Nardi was concerning, but many brushed it aside.
Then came the Monte-Carlo Masters. He won a few matches but then lost before making the final again. He skipped over the Madrid Open and had a disappointing Italian Open.
As he lacked matches, Djokovic opted to play in Geneva and looked good. He won a couple of matches but then lost against Tomas Machac. After the match, Djokovic admitted that he was worried about his level because he hadn't played well this year.
"Of course I'm worried. I haven't played well at all this year, apart from a few matches here and there. Things are what they are. I don't see myself as a favorite in Paris. I will try to take the matches one after the other. I didn't have a great night, and today was tough. I had horrible feelings during the first part of the match."
"I don't want to take any credit away from Tomas (Machac), who deserved his victory, but I don't know what to think of this match. I prefer to forget it. I don't know how I was able to win the second set either. I was hoping to play more than one match when I came here, and I played three. But I wish I could feel better. It's not nice to suffer like that on the court."
We don't necessarily hear Djokovic being so negative quite often, so this is certainly new. It's almost as if he knows that Paris won't go well for him, but he's hoping that it will if he takes it one match at a time. Another thing he said concerned fans, and it's that he found it hard to focus on tennis, which is worrying.
"It's hard to concentrate on tennis when you have other things on your mind. I just hope to be ready and in good health for Roland-Garros."