“I Missed Playing Tennis So Much” – Novak Djokovic

From winning the career slam in 2016, to crashing out of the Australian Open in 2017 in the second round (first time since 2007), the story of Novak Djokovic’s form has been miserable. He lost in the quarterfinals of both Wimbledon and French Open, the same year, before announcing that he’ll be missing the US Open along with the rest of the 2017 season, in a hope to recover from his elbow injury.

With the king of recoveries Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have made, 2018 was touted as Novak Djokovic’s year of revival. Everyone expected him to do what Federer and Nadal did in 2017. But the story of his comeback has been far from stellar, so far.

He’s failed to reach the quarterfinals of any of the tournaments he’s played so far. The first two tournaments he played after his return – Indian Wells and Miami Open, he crashed out of the first round in both of them. The clay court season brought similar fortunes, with a second round exit at the Barcelona Open and a third round exit at the Monte Carlo Masters.

Speaking in a recent interview, he said that it was his decision to return to Tennis, despite his body not being okay.

“It was my decision [to return] because I missed playing tennis so much,” he said.

“But I was not ready and it backfired.”

He further said, “I have always believed in myself and that’s why I was able to make all my childhood dreams come true, but right now my confidence is not at the highest level.

“The recent results have not been what we are used to but coming back is a process and all I can do now is knuckle down to some hard work,

“I have had some similar situations in the past but not one quite as challenging as this, so I have to accept it as part of a learning process.”

When asked about the Rolland Garros and Wimbledon, Djokovic replied, “Basically it is now all about improving my fitness,”

“I believe that things will sort themselves out very soon and I hope for some better results in the next few weeks,”

“I still want to continue tennis at the highest level. I am very motivated and I have always aimed high and this hasn’t changed, – he added.