Mats Wilander expects early clay 'problems' for Novak Djokovic but sees path to challenge for French Open

Mats Wilander thinks Novak Djokovic could "run into some problems" early in the clay season but expects him to be in Grand Slam-contending form in time for the French Open.

Djokovic came up short in his bid for a 100th career title as he was beaten in the Miami Open final by 19-year-old Jakub Mensik.

The season now switches to clay and Djokovic will be playing his next tournament at the Monte-Carlo Masters, which starts on April 6.

Djokovic has suffered several early exits in Monte Carlo in recent years and TNT Sports expert Wilander thinks it will again take him time to build his game up on clay.

"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 in general, 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, of course, 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’. 

"So to me, he needs to spend time on a clay court, and he needs to play as many matches, win or lose, that he can before the French Open, despite his age."

Djokovic is set to play the Madrid Open and Italian Open after Monte Carlo.

He is a six-time champion in Rome, but Wilander thinks the key for Djokovic now is to get time on court ahead of the French Open.

"I don't necessarily believe at his age that taking two, three, four weeks off before you play another match is good. I think it's matches that he needs. I really do.

"I don't think that he needs to practice any more - I don't know if he gets any better any more in practising. I think he needs to get better at playing matches again because that's the one thing you lose. When you start losing a little bit of confidence and when you get older, you start forgetting how to play matches and how to bring your intensity level to 100 per cent on points that are not important on the scoreboard, but points that Novak used to think are important, like the beginning of matches. 

"Now, you cannot practice the nerves that you have for the first 10, 15, 20 minutes in the match. Those nerves can only be practised when you are playing a match."

Wilander also reflected on whether the younger generation are less "afraid" of playing Djokovic than the older generation, using the example of Grigor Dimitrov, who is 1-13 against Djokovic after losing to him in the Miami Open semi-finals.

"It's so interesting to compare the generation of Grigor Dimitrov to the mindset and the way that Jakub Mensik started the match and the way that he finished the first and second sets…it's just such a big difference. It's another player who's unafraid of the greatest player of all time.

"I think the only explanation is the same as what it was for me: I used to start playing against the great Guillermo Vilas and Jimmy Connors while I still have their posters on my wall. You would have thought that that would have scared the hell out of me. But at the same time, no, it didn't.

"Because first of all, I didn't really think that I had a chance to beat him. Second of all, when I got on the same court, I thought: ‘Hold on a second. This guy's really old, and I'm very young, and I am usually stronger and faster than most people and especially if you're that age’. I do think that they are starting to feel like that against Novak a little bit. 

"Has he slowed down just a little bit? We're talking about maybe two percentage points. Is his backhand not as dangerous? Or is it just the fact that today's players hit the ball harder than the players that Novak Djokovic had to beat to become the greatest of all time? I think that is most probably the possibility, because I personally think that the level of tennis today is better than it's ever been, even though the greatest generation of all time has just passed us by in Roger Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic."

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