Novak Djokovic concerns raised with Rafael Nadal comment days after Miami Open loss

Novak Djokovic has been told to expect a dip in form at the start of the clay court season.

Novak Djokovic has been predicted to struggle in the early weeks of the clay season by Mats Wilander. The former tennis star has argued that Djokovic often makes a slow start on clay and fails to adapt as quickly as Rafael Nadal did during his career.

Djokovic reached the Miami Open final in his best set of performances of the year. However, his disappointing defeat against 19-year-old Jakub Mensik has raised doubts over his Grand Slam chances for the season. Wilander believes the 36-year-old could struggle at the Monte-Carlo Masters and believes his opponents will be confident of securing a victory. However, Djokovic has been backed to return to form by May’s Italian Open.

Speaking to TNT Sports, Wilander said: “I think he’s going to run into some problems, and I think that that’s the one thing that we’ve seen with Novak, is that the early part of the clay season is not necessarily his best season.

“The reason for that to me is that he’s a great clay court player without being a clay court player, because of the way that he hits the ball. Of course, his forehand is very much like a clay court forehand with a lot of spin, but he can flatten it out. That doesn’t really work that well on a clay court.

“I think for someone like him, when he goes and plays his first few clay court tournaments, pretty much any person in the draw, I think, feels that they have a chance to play with Novak to make it a close match because of the way that Novak plays.

“Compare that to Rafa Nadal, who immediately, as soon as he stepped out on the Monte Carlo tennis courts, he was a completely different animal. His tennis ball was doing completely different things than they were on a hard court. The other guy was just going like: ‘Hold on a second. What the hell is going on here? Because I have never seen this top spin before’. With Novak, you don’t get that. He needs two, three weeks before he starts playing well.

“That’s why, to me, I think the more time he can spend on a clay court, the better it is because it’s not going to be great the first two, three weeks. It never really is for him. But then it starts coming along and in Rome, that’s usually when Novak starts playing his best clay court tennis, and that’s when we all go: ‘Okay, hold on a second. We didn’t think Novak was going to be a threat this year at the French Open. I take that back. He is now a threat’.”

Djokovic is expected to enter the Monte-Carlo Masters later this week. He is gearing up for the French Open, which begins on May 25.