“He was a bit unlucky with the draw” : Novak Djokovic believes Rafael Nadal will be back for the 2025 French Open

Novak Djokovic believes that Rafael Nadal was unlucky with the 2024 French Open draw. The 14-time Grand Slam champion was pitted against Alexander Zverev in the first round of the tournament. Rafael Nadal suffered a straight sets defeat, which could potentially be his last appearance at the French Open.

However, Novak Djokovic thinks otherwise. The Serbian believes that Rafael Nadal will be back at the 2025 French Open. The Spaniard has already stated that he would come back to Paris in a couple of months to compete at the Summer Olympics.

Novak Djokovic started his title defence at the French Open without much trouble, as he got the better of Pierre-Hughes Herbert in straight sets in the first round. Speaking to the press after his win, the world number one opined on Nadal’s future at the French Open.

“It was great. Iga (Swiatek) was there, (Carlos) Alcaraz was there, and we all wanted to get a glimpse of the atmosphere of that possibly unique moment that could be his last. But it doesn’t appear like that,” said Djokovic.

“Yeah, it looks like,” Djokovic when asked if Nadal would compete at Roland Garros next year.

Novak Djokovic believes Rafael Nadal played a good match against Alexander Zverev

Novak Djokovic opined that Rafael Nadal played a good match against Alexander Zverev despite his straight sets defeat. The Serbian believes that the second and the third set was fiercely competitive, as it could have gone either way.

However, the world number one concluded that Alexander Zverev has been in great form off late. The German claimed the Italian Open title a couple of weeks ago, and climbed to number four in the world rankings. Alexander Zverev dominated the match from the first set, dictating rallies from the baseline.

“I think he played very well. Even though he lost in straight sets, the second and third were really close. He could have easily won one of those two sets, and maybe the match was going in a different direction,” said Djokovic.

“He was a bit unlucky with the draw, because Zverev is in a great form, winning Rome, and he was serving extremely well. It’s tough to play Sascha when he’s feeling the ball so well. But it was great to watch. I don’t recall last time I actually watched a set of any match live on that level, other than Davis Cup matches,” he added.

Alexander Zverev became only the third player to defeat Rafael Nadal at the French Open. Robin Soderling was the first player to do so in 2009, as Novak Djokovic is the only player to defeat him twice in Paris, in 2015 and 2021.

Also Read: “I don’t think he’ll play the French Open again in 2025” : Boris Becker on Rafael Nadal