Novak Djokovic disappointed with French Open loss, looks forward to future

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic admitted that he wanted to win Roland Garros “so much” but despite his disappointing and heartbreaking loss at the French Open semifinals to seven-time champion Rafael Nadal, he said that he is more motivated to compete in future matches.

“It’s not the first [and] it’s not the last loss in my career against this particular player,” said Djokovic. “I wanted this title so much, so I am disappointed. That’s it. That’s the way I feel.

“I don’t think it’s going take the toll on me in the future because I have been in these particular situations before. So hopefully I can use this next period that is coming up to recover, mentally get motivated and get inspired again to play my best tennis in Wimbledon,” he added.

Due to the seedings assigned on their current rankings (and with Andy Murray withdrawing from the tournament), Djokovic competed against third-seeded Nadal in the semifinals which was touted to be “the Final” of Roland Garros. And the crowd was treated with such an atmosphere with a five tight-setter. In fact, Djokovic led in the fifth set 2-0 but Nadal broke back just in time to lengthen the match, eventually winning 9-7 in the fifth.

“I wasn’t expecting an easy match for me or for him. I knew that both of us would give everything we got, physically and mentally, in order to win the match,” Djokovic said.

“I gave my best. I really did. I really tried to come back. The third set wasn’t great at all. I just dropped physically; he used it. I managed to come back and start playing really, really well as the match was going on, but it wasn’t good enough,” he added.