Bumbaliceps
Professional
In 2010, after losing to Melzer, Djokovic ended his psychological slump.
“This defeat was really difficult for me emotionally. I cried after being knocked out. It was a bad moment, I wanted to quit tennis because I saw everything black. I had won in Australia in 2008, I was number three in the world, but I wasn’t happy. I knew I could do more, but I lost the more important matches against Federer and Nadal. From that moment on I felt liberated. It took off the pressure, I started playing more aggressively, here was the turning point.”
Then in 2016, he completed the grand slam in RG and lost a lot of his motivation, causing the start of a new slump. In 2018, losing to Cecchinato was so painful that it got him back on track. It unlocked something in him that allowed him to play freely again.
Sport is between the ears as much as in the legs and the arms. Everything is about momentum. I don't think there is something special about RG, this is all coincidences, it could have happened differently with different tournaments causing different variations, but the way history happened, I believe Roland Garros has been the most important tournament in his career, and dare I say, his life.
“This defeat was really difficult for me emotionally. I cried after being knocked out. It was a bad moment, I wanted to quit tennis because I saw everything black. I had won in Australia in 2008, I was number three in the world, but I wasn’t happy. I knew I could do more, but I lost the more important matches against Federer and Nadal. From that moment on I felt liberated. It took off the pressure, I started playing more aggressively, here was the turning point.”
Then in 2016, he completed the grand slam in RG and lost a lot of his motivation, causing the start of a new slump. In 2018, losing to Cecchinato was so painful that it got him back on track. It unlocked something in him that allowed him to play freely again.
Sport is between the ears as much as in the legs and the arms. Everything is about momentum. I don't think there is something special about RG, this is all coincidences, it could have happened differently with different tournaments causing different variations, but the way history happened, I believe Roland Garros has been the most important tournament in his career, and dare I say, his life.
