French Open all that eludes Novak Djokovic from entering exclusive club

Winning the French Open would give Novak Djokovic the career grand slam, a feat that would put him among the elite of the players to have played the game.

Novak Djokovic serves the ball to Japan's Kei Nishikori during the semifinal match of the ATP Tennis Open tournament game at the Foro Italico in Rome on May 14, 2016. (AFP/FILIPPO MONTEFORTE)

Ever since September 2011 the French Open has been the big one for Novak Djokovic.

Sure, he has notched four Australian Opens, two Wimbledon titles and a US Open title since then, but the one he has really wanted has eluded him.

September 2011 was when he won his first US Open title, beating Rafael Nadal in four sets. It meant he had won three of the four majors, with Melbourne and Wimbledon already in his trophy cabinet.

Winning the French Open would give him the career grand slam, a feat that would put him among the elite of the players to have played the game.

Only seven men – Fred Perry, Don Budge, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Nadal – have done it, and for the past four-and-a-half years Djokovic has been agonisingly one short of joining the group.

Today sees the beginning of the 115th staging of the action in Paris, and the main narrative overhanging the men’s draw is whether Djokovic can finally prevail on the clay courts of Roland Garros.

• More French Open: The men's draw | The National's predictions

It has traditionally been the one missing from the lists of accomplishments of some of the finest players of the modern era.

Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and Pete Sampras all won three of the four grand slams, with the French Open being the errant one.

Djokovic is in the situation most common with the names listed above. At home on the hard courts, and improving on clay as his career has gone on.

Not that Djokovic has ever been particularly poor on clay. His worst result at the French Open was in his debut year there in 2005, when as a qualifier he retired while a set all with Guillermo Coria in the second round.

Since then he has only failed to make it to the quarter-finals once, in 2009, and in three of the past four years he reached the final.

Standing in Djokovic’s way initially was Rafael Nadal, arguably the greatest clay court player in the history of the game, with nine French Open titles to his name.

He beat Djokovic in the 2012 and 2014 finals, and beat him in five sets in the 2013 semi-finals.

Djokovic played some sensational tennis during this time, and was comfortably the second best clay court player during that time, but was simply unlucky to be competing in an era when Nadal was on court.

The great thing about Djokovic is how he has responded to challenges, and becoming the best on clay has been one he has relished.

He was sensational on clay in 2015, winning in Monte Carlo and Rome, and then finally achieving the goal of beating Nadal at Roland Garros, in convincing fashion too, doing it in straight sets and losing only nine games in the process.

The bad news was it was only in the quarter-finals, and in hindsight he peaked there.

He was lucky to get past Andy Murray in five sets in the semi-finals, and appeared to suffer stage fright in the final as he lost in four sets to Stan Wawrinka.

That might be unfair on Wawrinka, who played superbly, but Djokovic lacked his usual confidence on court, allowed too many points to be dictated to him, and allowed the opportunity to get away from him.

Djokovic tried to put a brave face on the loss afterwards, but it must have devastated him, knowing the one he wanted so badly had been in his grasp.

As recoveries go though, since that sunny June afternoon 11 months ago, it has been more than good.

He has not lost a grand slam match since, winning Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open subsequently, and if he does finally prevail this time around he will have the bonus of being the first man since Laver in 1969 to hold all four grand slams in the men’s tour at the same time.

• More: On Djokovic's relationship with Boris Becker

So, at the 12th attempt, can Djokovic finally do it?

Given just how much better than everyone else he has been over the past 12 months, the easiest way of analysing this is by saying it is all about him.

If Djokovic plays his best tennis over the next two weeks he will be champion. End of story. His finest is too good for anyone at present.

Nadal is a possible semi-final opponent, though he does have a tough draw to get there, and while he is still a great player on the surface, he is not what he once was.

He pushed Djokovic hard in Rome earlier this month, and the straight sets loss was closer than it would suggest, and the Spaniard will be a challenge undoubtedly.

Djokovic actually looked very fallible in Rome, struggling at times against Nadal, having to win a final set tie-break against Kei Nishikori, before losing to Andy Murray in the final.

The Serbian appeared tired and distracted against Murray, the former understandable as his match with Nishikori had finished late the previous night.

But it was not an ideal sign off for Paris, but he should have plenty of time to regain his momentum.

There is little to worry him in his section of the draw in the first week, Tomas Berdych, the eighth seed, is the expected quarter-final opponent, but it will be a surprise if the Czech player makes it that far given how poor his form is at present.

Nadal in the semi-finals will be tough, but he knows he can beat him, and has done regularly in recent times.

Given defending champion Stan Wawrinka is struggling, Murray or Nishikori look the most likely finalist, and given he has beaten them both on clay in the past month, there should not be anything to fear.

But that is on paper. The reality will be Djokovic having to hold his nerve and proving he deserves to be the eighth man into an exclusive club.

With Nadal’s powers waning and no sign of another clay court superstar rising up through the ranks, just like last year, this is an outstanding opportunity.

Whether he can will be the fascinating story of the next two weeks.

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