The Italian Open is arguably the most prestigious clay court tennis tournament after the French Open. However, despite the prestige associated with it, several questions have been raised regarding the conditions of the surface in Rome over the years. The current World No. 1 in men’s tennis Novak Djokovic is the latest player to point fingers at the surface. The Serb was visibly frustrated with the surface during his third-round encounter against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.

Djokovic ultimately managed to register a win over the Bulgarian. However, he minced no words during his post-match press conference. The 22-time Grand Slam winner revealed why he thinks the Italian Open courts aren’t the best to play on.

Despite being critical of the courts, Novak Djokovic refused to blame the maintenance staff

Djokovic mentioned in his press conference how the reputation of Rome’s courts has never been great. He also said that he knows the maintenance staff very well and considers them friends. As a result, he steered clear of laying the blame on their feet.

According to Djokovic, the reason behind the poor condition of the Italian Open courts is the lack of tennis played prior to the tournament. “What is interesting would be to understand how much tennis they’re playing on the court actually before the tournament starts”. Djokovic went on to add, “I think the other year I was asking, and they were not playing much at all.”

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Djokovic also said, “If you don’t use the court, and you have a clay court, these things happen”. According to Djokovic, lack of tennis can result in the court breaking, an “uneven surface, really bad bounces” and “a lot of clay”. The Serb believes that the organizers of the tournament should bring in the maintenance staff from Roland Garros, which they did around a decade ago. “I don’t know why they don’t call them again because obviously they’re the best clay court specialists in the world.”

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How did the court affect Djokovic’s performance against Dimitrov?

As the defending champion of the Italian Open, Djokovic is the favorite for this year’s title as well. However, the World No. 1 ran into a few difficulties during his match against Dimitrov.

Djokovic started the match well enough and raced to a 6-3 first set win. However, the second set proved to be complicated for the Serb. His footwork was quite patchy owing to the problematic surface. As a result, Dimitrov made the most of the opportunity and won it 6-4. Ultimately, though, Djokovic found his feet again in the third set and emerged triumphant.

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