Novak Djokovic admitted he had many concerns before recording his 100th title last week in Geneva.
Djokovic reached the milestone on Saturday (24/5) after winning three-set matches against Cameron Norrie and Hubert Hurkacz, and will now head into Roland Garros full of confidence with his claycourt game.
"I needed to win the match, and especially on this surface," Djokovic said, explaining the importance of the title beyond its historic achievement, in a pre-tournament press conference at Roland Garros, as quoted by ATP, Tuesday.
"At least for me, maybe it wasn't as natural and as good on hard court, you could say, from the first tournament of the season on clay."
"So I'm the type of player who needs to finish some matches before the big tournaments... of course, the biggest one is Roland Garros and that's the biggest priority on this court," said the Serb.
On his last visit to Roland Garros, Djokovic completed his career Golden Slam by winning his first Olympic gold medal. Now that he has also claimed his 100th title, the obvious next target is to win his 25th Grand Slam title.
"I actually considered winning the 25th Grand Slam before, so not much has changed," Djokovic said of his record-breaking target.
"But it's true that after the Geneva title, I feel more confident. I feel more positive about my level of play because I had a lot of concerns about my game, and I need to reach the level I want because I'm going to start the biggest tournament here."
"But now, after Geneva, I feel better, I still have a lot of ambition, I still have high goals. I will focus on the first half, and I want to maintain this high level, this dedication, hopefully to achieve the best results," said the 38-year-old.
