SW19 - “I realised my dreams last year...." N.Djokovic

DJOKOVIC: "MORE SELF BELIEF ON THIS SURFACE"

A year has passed since Novak Djokoviccaptured the title he dreamed of winning as a child at Wimbledon. Since ascending to the top of the South African Airways ATP Rankings after triumphing at the All England Club last year over Rafael Nadal, the Serb has maintained his standing as World No. 1, and has increased his major hardware to five trophies.

 
His victory at The Championships in 2011 was his first success on grass, and Djokovic will be taking those memories with him as he carries out the tradition of opening play Monday on Centre Court as the reigning men’s champion.

 “I realised my dreams last year. I played a perfect tournament. I like the conditions here,” said Djokovic. “I'm playing with more self belief on this surface, which is the rarest surface we have now in [our] sport. We don't get much opportunity to play on grass, only a couple weeks a year. But this actually is the surface that our sport has been started to play on first over the years.”

Standing across the net in his first-round match is Juan Carlos Ferrero, a former World No. 1 and Roland Garros champion. Djokovic split his first two meetings with Ferrero, but hasn’t played the Spaniard in five years.

“He definitely has a lot of experience playing on the big stage, so I'm not underestimating him, that's for sure.” Djokovic said. “It's going to be a good first round match… Everybody who follows tennis, especially us, the tennis players, we really respect him a lot. After everything he has been through, he is still trying to go back to the top. He is always dangerous. If you look at him now, I think he's playing equally well as he was playing four, five years ago. Now it's just a matter of his fitness obviously and his confidence on the court.”

The match against Ferrero will be Djokovic’s first since he fell one match short of becoming just the second men’s player in the Open Era to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously, after losing to Nadal in a tough four-set final in Paris. With time to recover from the defeat, Djokovic has moved on from the opportunity to make history.

“It's behind me now,” said Djokovic. “Yes, I was so close, even though there was a slight disappointment after the match because I was aware of the chance that I had in Roland Garros.

“But the day after, I felt good about my tournament, about my achievement in Paris. It was the first time I ever have been in the final ofRoland Garros. That's a step further from all these years that I've been playing in Paris. That's something that made me satisfied. I'm still only 25, so I believe that I have a lot more years and a lot more chances to win Roland Garros.”

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