Former tennis legend Andy Roddick has defended Novak Djokovic after criticism of the Serb during his run to the Monte Carlo Masters 2024 semifinals.
After defeating players including Alex de Minaur, Lorenzo Musetti, and Roman Safiullin, Djokovic lost a three-setter to Casper Ruud in the semifinals. Notably, this was his first clay-court competition of the 2024 season, following the Australian Open and Indian Wells Masters.
In contrast, Roddick thinks the 36-year-old’s seven days at the Clay Masters 1000 event were rather productive.
Roddick expressed his thoughts about it and said: “It was a good week for Novak. He got his paces in. You know, you have to be a certain kind of player for people to criticize a semifinal showing in the first claycourt tournament of the year when you’ve only played two other events and you beat a Top 10 player [Alex de Minaur] along the way. No other player would get criticism for that.”
Roddick acknowledged his doubts about Djokovic’s fitness and said it would be unreasonable to expect the latter to win everything.
He added: “He looked a little strange, he was like labouring, his breath looked like it was short, earlier, especially against de Minaur. It was interesting, you feel like, he’s still trying to find his match fitness. I think I was the first to say he’s the greatest before it was generally accepted but you can’t win them all. I thought it was a good week for him, uncharacteristic at the end but if you haven’t played a lot of matches, it’s ridiculous to think that you’re going to play matches at the peak of your abilities.”
Novak Djokovic in 2024
WWWWLWWLWL Ranked world no.1, Djokovic played his last match on the 13th of April when he was overcome by world no.6 Casper Ruud 6-4 1-6 6-4 in the semifinal in Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (draw).
Presently, during this year Novak achieved a compiled 11-4 record. Novak Djokovic’s most significant result of the current season was reaching the semifinal at the Australian Open and Monte Carlo.
Djokovic will compete next in Madrid (Mutua Madrid Open). He will start the tournament from the main draw that will commence on the 22nd of April.
