HENRI LECONTE PREVIEWS 2020 ROLAND-GARROS

Were you impressed with how Novak Djokovic bounced back after his disappointment in New York?
From my point of view I’m just telling you Novak is a real champion, he is a real world number one and he really deserved what he just did.  For someone who just had what happened at the US Open, I think it’s the rules and he did accept it, it was not on purpose whatever happened but he just reacted like a champion. 

Just to be able to make the connection again and to play his best tennis and to win in Rome, I think he is a real champion. Whatever happened, he is one of the best players, the world number one at the moment, coming back in Rome, all the press were behind him and criticising him about what happened but he never did it on purpose. 

The best reaction we can say in any sport – it could be tennis, football, golf, whatever – don’t even say anything, just talk about your sport, just winning, keep winning.  And that’s what he did; he just made that statement and he proved that he is still capable to consider himself and put himself together and just learn about what happened to make him better.

What would be his main hurdles or challenges in pursuit of that title at Roland Garros?
I think Novak, we don’t know, nobody knows how he could be mentally. You have to realise, even with his family and the parents and his brother and all he has been through before he became world number one, he had his own career.

That was difficult and complicated but he just managed to put himself back together and put that problem away from the US Open and just make him stronger so he is working every day on his temperament - that’s one thing that most of the top guns like Rafa and Roger and Novak, that’s why they have been there for so many years, because they work so hard and for them. It’s just something that you have to go through and that’s why he is so strong mentally. 

Novak had to work for so many years with his problems physically and mentally, he was playing sometimes and he was being criticised because he was making fun… that’s why they called him the Joker because Djokovic-Joker, he was using all the strategies maybe sometimes just to cover different problems that he had and now he is so strong.

For me, what he just did in Rome is unbelievable, unbelievable.  I respect him a lot, I know him well – not that well but I know him well – with my wife and I have a lot of respect for him. Okay, we have Roger Federer, I call him James Bond, and we have Rafa Nadal who is always pushing to the limit and then we have Djokovic who is another dimension.  Those three players are like The Avengers, you know. We’re not realising the benefit and the unbelievable situation that we have now with those three Avengers, they are the Avengers, they are from another planet.

It obviously didn’t go as well as what Rafa Nadal might have hoped in Rome, do you think he is still capable of winning that Grand Slam in Paris?
Oh of course, of course because it is not because if you lose in Rome you are not capable to win the French Open, I think you are capable of winning.  Sometimes it is better to lose up front and be ready for the French Open.  You have to be ready on the key points, on the Majors, and that’s what it is.

Which of today’s young players do you get most excited about, male and female, who potentially in a few years’ time could win a Grand Slam or reach number one in the world?
We have Dominic Thiem, you have Daniil Medvedev, you have Tsitsipas, you have so many youngsters coming up, Alliasime, you have Shapovalov who is capable to maybe win a Grand Slam but you just have to put all your stuff together and it takes time, you know.  Some of the players are strong and they are capable to win a Grand Slam because they are more mature at a young age and some of them need more time but I think the new generation coming up will be different, definitely but there will be some great moments coming up.

How much of an effect will the weather being a little bit cooler than what it would have been in May/June? Maybe someone like Rafa it could affect, who likes playing in the hot weather?
Yes, the weather and the problems that we will have to play the French Open for example in October will be different, the clay court will be different, also the weather will be very much involved but anyway, when you play someone like Rafa or the top guns in top gear, you will always be afraid to play against them. 

You just have to put that away.  Me? I was the kind of player who loved to play the top guns because I had nothing to lose and nothing to prove, I just had to prove just to beat them. To beat someone outside of the Grand Slam is one thing but to beat them in a Grand Slam is another story. 

You must be really excited about this Roland Garros actually taking place?
Yes, it’s my local tournament, it will be very, very different than anything else because I will not be on site commentating with Eurosport. I am not able to go to Roland Garros for different reasons and also for security but I respect that and I think the players will give the best they can by winning a Grand Slam tournament.

Henri Leconte is a tennis expert for Eurosport. All courts and all matches from Roland-Garros from Paris will be live on Eurosport and Eurosport app starting Sunday 27 September.