Djokovic: 'I had a lot of concerns' before winning 100th title in Geneva

Novak Djokovic's long-awaited 100th tour-level title came at the perfect time last week in Geneva. The Serbian achieved the milestone on Saturday after winning a pair of three-setters against Cameron Norrie and Hubert Hurkacz, and now enters Roland Garros full of confidence in his clay-court game.

"I needed to win matches, and particularly on this surface," Djokovic said, explaining the significance of the title beyond the century landmark. "For me at least, it doesn't maybe come as natural to play well from the blocks, so to say, from the very first tournaments of the season on clay.

"So I'm the type of player that needs to get some matches under his belt before the big tournaments... of course, the biggest one being Roland Garros and being the biggest priority on this surface."

In his last visit to the Roland Garros site, Djokovic completed his career Golden Slam by winning his first Olympic gold medal — a long-stated goal for the proud Serbian. Now that he has also claimed his 100th title, the obvious next target is to win his 25th Grand Slam title.

"I actually was considering winning a 25th Grand Slam before, so it hasn't changed much," Djokovic said of his milestone chase. "But it's true that after the Geneva title, I feel more confident. I feel more positive about my level of play because I had a lot of concerns regarding my game play, and I needed to reach a level that would be the one that I wanted as I was about to start the biggest tournament here.

"But now, after Geneva, I feel better, I still have a lot of ambitions, I still have high objectives. I will focus on the first round, and I would like to maintain this high level, this dedication hopefully to reach the best possible result."

Djokovic's first-round opponent will be American Mackenzie McDonald, with the pair set for their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. The sixth-seeded Djokovic is seeded to meet Denis Shapovalov in the third round, Daniil Medvedev in the fourth round and Alexander Zverev in the quarters. Should he advance to the semi-finals, World No. 1 Jannik Sinner could await.

While Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, the top two players in the PIF ATP Rankings, are building what will surely be a legendary rivalry, Djokovic had time to reflect on the greatest rivalries of his long career on Sunday during a Roland Garros tribute to 14-time champion Rafael Nadal. The 38-year-old joined Nadal, as well as Roger Federer and his former coach Andy Murray, on Court Philippe-Chatrier to honour the Spaniard. The moment led Djokovic to think about the end of his own career.

"Honestly I was thinking about my end of the road as well last night or yesterday when we were watching Rafa having his speech," he said. "Particularly those moments when we were in the back room, the three of us, and I was just talking to Federer and Murray about their goodbyes and reminiscing and reflecting on the rivalries. Of course part of me is proud that I'm still there, that I'm still going. But at the same time, I was, and I still am a bit sad that they're all gone, because those guys were my greatest motivations of why I competed so intensely and for so long."

While Djokovic fully appreciated the beauty of Nadal's moment, and considered how his own farewell might look, he still has no plans to hang up his racquet just yet: "I didn't think about an exact date, if that's what you're looking for," he said with a smile.