French Open 2022: How the specter of being dethroned from No. 1 motivates champion Novak Djokovic

World no. 1 Novak Djokovic is up in opposition to Rafael Nadal within the quarterfinal conflict of the French Open 2022. The match which is scheduled to be held on Tuesday night could be some of the anticipated clashes of the event and it’ll rule out one of many potential champions.

Djokovic has dominated the French Open this time round and has not dropped a single set whereas getting into the quarter-final. On the opposite hand, Nadal had a gruelling encounter in opposition to Canadian Felix Auger Aliassime to match up in opposition to Djokovic. The former world primary received his battle in opposition to the 21-year-old in a gruelling five-set encounter which he received 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, performed over 4 hours and 20 minutes.

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Djokovic might be defending his title in opposition to the grasp of the clay court docket, and could be the favorite to win the match. The 35-year-old Serbian is into 372nd week because the world’s greatest participant and will go previous the world quantity 5 who has been scuffling with harm over the previous couple of months.

Speaking forward of the match, Djokovic defined what it was prefer to be on the high of the world rankings for thus lengthy. The winner of 20 Grand Slams stands on the high of the pile by way of holding the #1 place in Tennis for essentially the most variety of days and defined the highs and the lows of his journey.

“Being No.1 is the best and worst thing, because of course that’s an ultimate challenge in this sport, in any sport really, to be the best in what you do, particularly in individual sport,” Djokovic mentioned advised the Roland Garros wesbite.

“I have been blessed to be No.1 that many weeks throughout my career. That was always the highest goal beginning of every season, particularly being in the era with Federer, Nadal, the guys that are greats of the game. So of course that makes the success even bigger,” he further added.

Djokovic, whose rise began when Nadal and Federer were at their respective peaks said that the downside to remaining at number one was that every player would put a little extra to bring him down.

“On the other hand, the downside of being No.1 is that you are always being chased by everyone else that wants to dethrone you and wants to win against you in every single match regardless of the size or category of the tournament.”

“That’s giving me even more motivation when I get to face guys who want to challenge me for the top spot,” he mentioned.

“Everyone can have a great tournament or a month or three months or six months, but to be No.1 in the end of the season, you need to play well 11 months and be consistent and defend your points and face that kind of pressures over and over again,” the participant concluded.