Novak Djokovic could reach 1,100 career victories in Rome | ATP Tour

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Djokovic could reach 1,100 victories in his career in Rome

The Serbian is a six-time tournament champion

May 08, 2024

Novak Djokovic hopes that the Internazionali BNL d’Italia will be a turning point this season and become the stage where he wins his first title of the year. The top seed has not competed on the ATP Tour since reaching the Monte Carlo semi-finals last month and feels ready to face the challenge in Rome.

“I’ve had a lot of time to rest and train. I had a good block of training,” Djokovic said in his press conference this Wednesday before making his debut in the tournament. “I arrived here two days ago to be able to play on the center court and, also, obviously be four or five days before my first game training with the best.”

“Obviously, it’s different when you train with them, playing training sets, seeing where your game is at, working to arrive in good condition for the first official match,” he added. “I hope that here in Rome I can play better than in Monte Carlo. That is the desire, obviously, to always go far.”

Djokovic pursues in the Italian capital to reach 1,100 victories in his career, and registering a great result could reinforce his position as No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings, because his great pursuers Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz will not play this ATP Masters 1000 due to injury .

Most ATP Tour wins

The 36-year-old Serbian has a record of 11-4 in 2024, with his most notable result being the semifinals at the Australian Open. It is the second time in the last six years that Djokovic appears in Rome without having won a title yet at this point in the season.

Djokovic, who now trains under Nenad Zimonjic, has worked hard off the court to try to change his fortunes on the clay court tour.

“I am working right now with a physical trainer that I have worked with for many years. It didn’t take me long to adapt to his method and approach,” commented Djokovic, who has trained with Grigor Dimitrov and Holger Rune in recent days. “We know each other very well. That’s why I feel that we are synchronized from the beginning in what we want to do, how we want to focus the training program on and off the track. With Nenad [Zimonjic]also”.

“I am delighted with how the last 10 or 14 days have gone in terms of training, preparation, ahead of this tournament,” he added.

Djokovic, a six-time winner in Rome, will begin his journey against French lucky loser Corentin Moutet or Roman Safiullin this Friday. The seven-time winner of the Nitto ATP Finals dominates the Lexus ATP Head2Head against Safiullin 2-0, while against Moutet he has a 1-0 advantage.