Novak Djokovic has shared his thoughts on the venue of next year's Paris Olympics, which will see the tennis competition being held at Stade Roland Garros.
This is the same venue that has played host to the world's premier clay-court tennis tournament for close to a century. The Roland Garros tennis complex is symbolic of the clay Slam. Tennis players are accustomed to playing for a Grand Slam, which will change next year.
Apart from competing at the 2024 French Open, 64 players from both tours will return to Paris in just under two months' time to compete again, this time as the ambassadors of their respective countries for the world's biggest sporting spectacle.
For Djokovic, it will be a "strange feeling" not because he will be competing in his fifth Olympics, but playing the Games at Stade Roland Garros, which is the home to one of the four majors.
Djokovic has spoken of his ambitions to win the Calendar Golden Slam next season during an interview with Marca. So this will be more than another tournament.
"It's going to be a strange feeling for me to play the Games at the Roland Garros. It will be similar to the feeling I had in 2012, when it was at Wimbledon. I think it was the first and the last time it was played there with coloured shirts and not the white ones."
"The Games are a very special competition. I love the Olympic village, I love the opening ceremony, the feeling of representing my country in the most important event in the world of sport."
Tennis players will work on a very tight schedule next year that will allow for little to no rest time, especially for the likes of Djokovic, who are expected to compete for top honors and will likely make the deep end in the tournaments they will play in.
Djokovic admits it's not going to be an "east tournament" because the Paris Olympics will come after Wimbledon, which is played on grass. So, this will take some adjusting and in just a short space of time.
After the Olympics, which will be on clay, players will need to turn their attention to hard courts for the North American summer.
"It is not an easy tournament for tennis players because we have a very tight schedule. From Roland Garros, we go to grass and then again to clay. Then comes hard court in a short period of time, but I'm ready for the challenge. I hope to be healthy enough to compete in Paris at my best level and try to win the Olympic gold."
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