Goran Ivanisevic, Novak Djokovic’s coach, spoke to the media ahead of Tuesday’s matchup (20:45, Eurosport) between the Serb and Rafa Nadal. The former Croatian tennis player, who will participate in the French Grand Slam legends championship, He stressed that Nadal “never gives up” and that Djokovic is “prepared for a best-of-ten-sets match” in “the best quarterfinals in the history of the tournament.”. “Nadal is Nadal, he has won this tournament 13 times, so he will go out there and give three hundred million percent. If Novak wants to beat him, he will have to play well. I hope it will be a good match.”
On the matter of the match being played at night, the 2001 Wimbledon champion says “it’s about playing well.” “I don’t think playing day or night works against one or the other. It will be interesting to watch, it’s an epic quarter-final.” Ivanisevic does not think that Nadal is tired from games and age. “It’s amazing how he’s running, he’s ready for these kinds of matches. He’s going to make Novak hard.”
Ivanisevic says that Djokovic has arrived in Paris very well, despite having played few matches before. “Geniuses like him, they have a different brain and he has improved since Monte Carlo. He was better in Madrid and even better in Rome. It was important that he will come here as number one, as the first seed and he is hitting the ball very well.” Goran thinks that Djokovic and Nadal are “incredible” and that youngsters “are not good enough to beat them.” Lastly, talk about Alcaraz: “For me he is a step above all the others of his generation. Tennis is in good hands with guys like this.”