Former WTA player Marion Bartoli is a huge fan of Novak Djokovic, and she recently spoke about his noticeable dip in form this year.
The Serbian arrived in Paris without a final this year, which is different from the vast majority of his seasons, because, by now, he usually had not just one but at least two.
Struggling with form isn’t anything new for him, as, like every tennis player, it happened also to Djokovic before, but this will be the make-or-break event for the Serbian. No matter how much he struggled, he always found his best when playing at Grand Slams.
If it doesn’t happen, then it will be probably time for him to start a discussion about what could be changed. Nobody saw this coming after his last year’s season, probably not even the Serbian himself.
Djokovic hasn’t talked about it much, but there are certainly many factors in pôay. One thing that a lot of people tend to overlook is his family, which he loves dearly.
Former player Bartoli knows Djokovic fairly well, and she talked, as per We Love Tennis, about how being away from his family negatively impacts the Serbian legend.
“I was lucky enough to have a discussion with one of his staff members before the tournament started. In fact, the biggest problem they have to deal with Novak at the moment is that there are days when he wakes up with his motivation intact.”
“And there are days when, we can understand him, he wants to be with his wife, his children, to take them to school, to lead a normal life, to be at the beach, to enjoy and to tell himself that he has accomplished everything.”
Djokovic has often talked about missing his family recently, but that’s just the nature of his job. It’s likely going to contribute to him retiring earlier than some might think, but we’ll see whether it truly hampers his career, or whether he re-discovers motivation.
“He oscillates between these two emotions and that’s why sometimes he’s completely absent from the court.”