Djokovic poised to seize the moment

It’s that time of year again. This time last year we were wondering if Novak Djokovic could elevate his place in tennis history by winning Roland-Garros, the only major title he has yet to claim. Although he was dominating the men’s game, the title eluding him once again, going down to Stan Wawrinka in the final. Fast forward a year and Djokovic has continued his domination of the tour and we ponder the same question: can Novak become just the eighth player to achieve a career Grand Slam? And how important is it to his legacy that he does so given his stellar ranking and match stats?

achieving a career Grand Slam at Roland Garros would immediately and significantly elevate his status

In the past 12 months, Djokovic has extended his current streak at No 1 to 99 weeks, having surpassed Nadal, McEnroe and Hewitt. He will shortly overtake Sampras (102 weeks) to move into fourth place on the all-time list of most consecutive weeks at No 1. Meanwhile, his total weeks at No 1 has improved from 147 to 200, taking him past McEnroe (170) and into fifth place in the game’s history. He’s up there with the very best. But with Lendl (157) having 58 more consecutive weeks at No 1, and Connors (268) having 69 more total weeks at No 1, further movement up these rolls of honour will require over another year of domination by Novak, a tall task.

On the other hand, achieving a career Grand Slam at Roland Garros would immediately and significantly elevate his status, and importantly distinguish himself from three of the four players that have more total weeks at No 1 but who were eluded by one of the four majors throughout their careers - Connors and Sampras (Roland Garros) and Lendl (Wimbledon). It would also take his Grand Slam tally to 12, placing him equal fourth (with Roy Emerson). This key indicator of the success of a player’s career, even more so than time spent at No 1, would earn him the right to be considered at least equal to Emerson as a player and some might say equal to Sampras, who despite winning 14 Grand Slam titles retired without achieving success at Roland Garros.

So raising the trophy at the end of the week would be epic for Novak. But what are his chances? Last year, with 9-times champion, Nadal at the lowest point of his career, I suggested he may never get as good an opportunity to snatch the title. Predictably, Nadal has gradually regained his form over the past year and looked set to be a strong contender for the title once again. However, as luck would have it (for Novak), Nadal was forced to join Federer on the sidelines due to injury, leaving a weakened field.

So Djokovic is left as the favourite once again, one of only five players still standing at the time of writing. But leading the charge to prevent him from achieving tennis immortality are World No 4 and defending champion, Stan Wawrinka, and World No 2, Andy Murray, the most recent winner of a Master 1000 clay court title. Djokovic fans will be hoping that this time their man can seize the moment and not have to rely on yet another year of impeccable form and a lucky draw to give the 29-year-old another shot.