ROLAND GARROS

May 25, 2022

Novak Djokovic

Press Conference

N. DJOKOVIC/A. Molcan

6-2, 6-3, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: What do you think of your first rounds so far?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, so far so good. I'm pleased with the way I'm feeling on the court, the way I have been striking the ball. I think also today was under these kind of challenging conditions and playing against specialist on clay, someone that is a tricky opponent and coming off from the finals last week.

It was never going to be an easy match, but I thought I performed very well. The third set, you know, I was a break up, and I allowed him to come back to the match. Nevertheless I held my nerves and played well in the tiebreak. I'm just glad to play the way I have been playing the first two rounds.

Everything is going in the right direction. I'm looking forward to the next challenge.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. The first night we saw lots of caveman roars from you, and today it seemed like you were much, I don't know if it's calmer or trying to conserve energy. I was wondering if you could explain what happens with that. And also, before the tournament, you mentioned you were a little worried about playing a lefty in the first round because you have all right-handers. Now you've played two lefties. There's a pretty good lefty in your quarter of the draw. Is that helpful?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I'm playing a right-hander next round, so I don't know who you are talking about (smiling). That's only thing on my mind, you know, the next challenge. We will keep going and we will see how far I can go.

In terms of the emotions on the court, it really varies, the way you feel, your opponent, his reactions or crowd or whatever.

It's not always the same.

Q. We talked a lot with other players about mental health. Social media for them, it's always an issue. How do you deal with this kind of hate sometimes? And do you think it could make something difficult for the career of the young players?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, that's a very important but very broad subject for discussion. To give my, let's say, short opinion or explanation of how my position is on that, I use social media as well, but I feel it's really up to individual to learn how to control and use the time that you spend online. It comes down to that, because there are a lot of good things and interesting things that you can do or learn from Internet and social media.

Lots of information, not all information is great, I'm aware of that. But it's part of our life today and I don't think it's possible to remove it completely from a young person's life or from a young tennis player's life to just say, Don't go to any social media. I don't see that being a best solution, because he or she is going to do that anyway behind your back.

So I think it's just really about trying to work with this young person, try to, you know, be friendly and allow this person to feel comfortable to share, you know, I think also intimate things and this person to rely on you as a mentor, someone who is older, has more experience and maybe can teach few things. Together you can find maybe formula that works. Really, it's about helping, navigating young people.

Look, it is a challenge, and we all know that. I'm still a young father of two children, 7 and 4 years old. This period is coming up soon, I know.

My wife and I have been thinking about it, talking about it, and it's not easy, of course. It's also very individual. Depends also where you live, how you live, what's your lifestyle.

But for young tennis players, life on the road sometimes can be lonely. You travel a lot. There is a lot of time that you spend on-site when you are not training, and most of the players that I see here, they spend their time on the phone.

It's not ideal, obviously. You know, I do it myself, but kind of manage to control that to some extent. So you have to really find a formula that really works for you individually.

Q. Could you please comment on the new Roland Garros, what you like and maybe dislike. Not only about the Chatrier, but all the facilities for you guys, the Simonne Mathieu, especially now that the full crowd is back here.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, of course it's great to see the crowd back, the full capacity on all courts.

Lots of young people, lots of kids, this is something that I really love to see. It always gives you, of course, energy. For me at this stage of my career, crowd and this energy of people coming to watch me play is one of the biggest reasons why I keep on competing, playing professional tennis.

I think the improvements and facilities in the last few years have been great. I'm really glad that we have at least one court that is covered with the roof, because as you can see, I mean, Parisian weather is unpredictable so there is rain at least few days every single year that we play Roland Garros.

It does help clear up the schedule a little bit when you have at least one court with a roof. I think the new press facilities are better, more space, and gym, few gyms, facilities here than the other stadium, bigger locker rooms.

It's great. It's great that the tournament is recognizing the importance of investing back in the facilities and trying to improve the experience for everyone.

Q. You already gave a balanced, long answer about the Wimbledon situation two days ago. We heard from some few players that there will be probably advanced talks start of next week between the governing bodies. I just want to know what your comment is on this and what role the PTPA and you can play in these advanced talks.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Can you please give me a little bit more details of what these advanced talks means? Who is going to be part of these talks?

Q. I just heard, we had just heard from, at least myself heard from two different players that there will be more talks about the situation, maybe a change of situation slightly, changes. I just want to know your opinion and also what role the PTPA can play about it.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I will answer about PTPA first. Obviously PTPA will continue to exist, even though there is a lot of people in governing bodies that don't want us to be present in the tennis ecosystem. I said it before and I'm going to say it again, PTPA is the only association which is representing 100% players' rights, both male and female.

We are still a young organization, and it takes time to set up structure in the system. But it will probably take the most time and be challenging for us to really be accepted as part of the system. Right now we are not. Basically that's the answer to your question. We are not in the negotiations table where we should be, because we are not just acknowledged by slams or anybody else.

In terms of players, complaints, there are complaints. I know I spoke to some players in the last few days, especially the ones that were doing well last year in Wimbledon and the ones that are affected the most with the points being taken out from Wimbledon.

We knew that whatever decision ATP makes -- and that was actually a consequence or reaction to what Wimbledon decided to do a month ago with banning Russian/Belarusian players -- there is going to be a lot of unhappy, unsatisfied players. So this is where we are.

I'm not sure, to be honest, because I'm not in the council anymore, what is the extent of those conversations that are happening. I'm speaking -- I actually spoke with president of ATP a few days ago, and I know he told me there is, after the decision was made from ATP, there was some conversations that he had with LTA, but he did not tell me more than that.

So I don't know really what options are out there on the table, because I doubt that ATP will pull back, I mean, that they will change. The decision is there. Now, whether there will be some additions to that decision, that's something we will see. I guess that's something that players would like to discuss with ATP, because they can't discuss with slam, with Grand Slam.

It's the council of ATP that is within the structure, this representing body of players, and that's how it's been for decades. I don't think that's the best system that we have. I just think the system has failed players so many times, so many times, and that's the reason why PTPA needs to exist, because when it comes down to this kind of big decisions, you know, a lot of the players' voices are not heard enough.

Unfortunately, you know, within ATP you have 50/50 percent of representation between players and tournaments. So you are never going to have 100% players' interest in place.

So we always go back to the same point. Whatever it is that we are talking about, now it's Wimbledon, tomorrow it's going to be something else, few years ago it was something else. It's always coming back to that system and structure.

I've always sported the unification of the players, players being united, players showing strength that they have, possess, and they are not even aware they possess that much strength. But because we are part of the individual sport, we also have this kind of obstacle, always that most of the players unfortunately, from my experience, are looking in their own personal interests rather than collective interests. That's where the conflicts usually appears.

Q. You joked a little earlier about having no idea who that other lefty would be he was referring to. During a tournament, how much attention do you pay to other results, possible opponents, seeing interesting things, guys like Tsitsipas, Zverev, Alcaraz going five sets these past couple days, and what the sort of challenge or balance is between the tunnel-vision focus you want on yourself and the sort of natural inclination there might be to wonder what else is going on with other guys?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, you are aware what's going on with the other guys, at least in my case, and I know that everyone else is watching everybody else. It's your part of the Grand Slam and big tournament where you just follow especially what the top guys are doing, your potential points.

But in the end of the day, that cannot be dominating most of your time and energy that you invest in a day. So you are aware, but then of course it's really not up to you what they do. It's what you have to do, win matches, and make good results.