Novak Djokovic may be one of the fiercest competitors in tennis history, but he also remains a man of great respect.
As such, he is the first to congratulate or console his opponents, particularly those whom he recognises as incredible competitors.
Carlos Alcaraz is truly one of his fiercest rivals, and despite his relatively short time on the tour, has already earned the Serbian’s respect tenfold.
Having spent decades battling with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, seeing another sensational Spaniard emerge alongside Jannik Sinner could prove tiresome for Novak Djokovic.
However, despite his age and declining physicality, he remains unwilling to back down from a challenge.
Novak Djokovic tells Carlos Alcaraz that tennis misses him
That being said, Djokovic’s chances of success at this year’s Roland Garros do seem significantly better than they have in recent years. After all, with Alcaraz having withdrawn through injury, it feels like opportunity beckons.
He will still have to bypass Sinner, but it has removed one of the biggest hurdles that has thwarted his desperate search for a 25th Grand Slam title in recent years.
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And yet, despite the entire tennis world acknowledging this, Djokovic actually remained sympathetic when asked about the 23-year-old.
Speaking to Eurosport, he began by outlining just how much winning the title here in Paris would mean to him: “Yeah, it would mean a lot, of course. I mean, that’s the goal. That’s the aim, you know. We’re working towards that, and let’s see what happens.
“Yeah, to win 25 here would mean, of course, everything to me; that’s the reason why I’m here, I’m competing. That’s the goal, and we’ll see what happens.”
Djokovic then finished with a brief but hugely poignant line aimed at Alcaraz: “Carlos, I hope you recover well. Tennis misses you. See you soon, amigo.”
How many ranking points will Carlos Alcaraz drop by missing Roland Garros and Wimbledon?
As a champion at Roland Garros last year, and a finalist at Wimbledon, Alcaraz is set to lose a huge number of ranking points by removing himself from this stretch of tournaments.
He currently sits second in the world rankings, having amassed a huge 11,960 ranking points.
Winning the French Open saw him gain 2,000 of those points, and losing in the final of Wimbledon added a further 1,200 to that tally.
That’s without mentioning his title at the Queen’s Club, which accounted for another 500 ranking points as well.
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So, with Alcaraz unable to play in any of these three events, he will see 3,700 ranking points removed, which could see his number drop to as low as 8,260.
Ironically, this still might not see him drop below second, with Alexander Zverev, the third-best player in the world, currently on 5,705 ranking points.