Paris: Novak Djokovic does not know Roland-Garros without his greatest on-court adversary in the frame.
For 18 straight years the Serbian and Rafael Nadal have taken their place in the draw competing for La Coupe des Mousquetaires.
They have owned the crown in 16 of those years – granted the Spaniard has been a little less generous in sharing.
Absent for the first time since 2004, Nadal revealed next year would be his last on tour, which prompted a moment of contemplation from Djokovic.
“I was saying that always that he's my biggest rival. When he announced that he's going to have his last season of his career, I felt part of me is leaving with him too,” Djokovic said ahead of his first match against American Aleksandar Kovacevic.
“Because of the rivalry that we had and that we still have, because he's still an active player, I feel that he was one of the most, I would say, impactful people that I have ever had in my career, the growth of my career, and me as a player.
“Definitely a great motivational factor for me to keep playing and keep competing and keep pushing each other, you know, who's gonna achieve more, who's gonna do better.
“Yeah, it made me wonder, it made me think about my career and how long I'm going to play.”
The chance to become the first man in the Open Era to win each major three times and to pull clear with a record 23rd Grand Slam title is more than motivation enough to keep Djokovic playing at this point.
With his most prolific clay-court tormentor out of the picture, one would imagine a sense of relief, a welcome boost in probability that he would get his hands on the trophy he has not grasped since 2016.
But it came with mixed feelings.
“I don't like seeing him in the draw of Roland-Garros, to be honest,” Djokovic grinned. “I have had not so much success against him in our records head-to-head in Roland-Garros.
“I have managed to beat him twice, but I had to leave my heart and my guts out on the court to achieve that… But of course as a tennis fan and someone that is also part of the tennis ecosystem, you always want to win, to see the best tennis players in the world, the most famous tennis players in the world playing.”
The 36-year-old tied Nadal’s record haul with his straight-sets ledger against Stefanos Tsitsipas for his 10th Australian Open crown in January, the culmination of an emotionally and physically taxing campaign Down Under in which he flew home having claimed 12 straight matches and two trophies.
It has been a lean four months since, by the Serbian’s standards.
After missing the Sunshine Swing stateside and juggling an elbow injury he has compiled a meagre 5-3 record on clay, including a defeat to a rampant Holger Rune as defending champion in the Rome quarter-finals.
He subsequently slipped to world No.3 following Daniil Medvedev’s unlikely triumph in Italy, but back to full fitness it made scant difference to Djokovic that he landed in top seed Alcaraz’s half in Paris.
“History being on the line is something that is very flattering and is very motivating, no doubt about it,” Djokovic said. “Obviously Nadal not playing in the tournament here is a big loss for tennis, is a big loss for Roland-Garros…
“I think the tournament is quite open, to be honest. Maybe a few guys that are at the top of the favourites list, but anyone can take it. I'm hoping it can be me.”
Fourth seed Casper Ruud returns to the site of his maiden Grand Slam final, where he fell last year to Nadal in a baptism of fire.
The Norwegian – who begins his campaign on Monday against good friend, Swedish qualifier Elias Ymer – said Nadal’s absence left a wide-open field of contenders, particularly among the top eight seeds.
“I would say Alcaraz is, to me, the biggest favourite because he has won a Slam before, last year,” Ruud said. “Him or Novak has to be sort of the ultimate favourite because Novak has won so many times.
“This year's clay season has been maybe not what he expected, but I'm sure he has good confidence knowing that he's won 22 Slams already.”
After opening his clay-court season with a title in Estoril, Ruud fell before the quarter-finals in his next three events before a semi-final run in Rome, where Rune prevailed.
“It's been going up and down,” Ruud said. “A little bit similar to what happened last year.
“Obviously last year I was able to win Geneva that I didn't do this year, but I'm coming here with good confidence, you know, it's best-of-five sets on clay.
“I have proven to myself and others from last year that I can do well and win many matches.” (UNI)
