Wellington:
American tennis legend Andre Agassi believes that in-form Novak Djokovic can win the French Open this year, but has warned that if Rafael Nadal, who has been the Mount Everest of Roland Garros, fires again then its going to be difficult.
The French Open is the only title that has eluded Djokovic from completing his career Grand Slam, with ‘king of clay’ Nadal dominating the Roland Garros.
Had it not been for Nadal, world number one Djokovic would already be part of the elite club of players to have won all four majors, one that Agassi joined when he finally prevailed in the French capital in 1999 against Andriy Medvedev , Stuff.co.nz reported.
Djokovic has been thwarted a chance to complete his career Grand Slam twice by Nadal in the final while in 2013 he lost an epic five-set semifinal.
However, Djokovic’s dominant start to the year and Nadal’s sluggish return from more injury woes means that the odds are shortening on him ending the Spaniard’s dominance on clay, which has earned him a record nine titles in 10 years.
Agassi said that Nadal has been the Mount Everest of Roland Garros and climbing the Spaniard is like climbing Mount Everest without the sherpas and the oxygen. He added that Djokovic has nearly reached the summit of that mountain a couple of times and is no doubt playing at a level above everybody else right now.
Agassi said that Djokovic believes he should win, adding that he believes the Serb can and deserves to but added that the world number one doesn’t deserve it if Nadal gets himself right and shows up again like he has.
