Novak Djokovic: Tennis woes irrelevant ‘when people are starving to death’

His stellar career is in a slump, but Novak Djokovic says struggling at tennis means nothing when “people are starving to death.”

The former world No.1 clinched the last of his 12 grand slam titles in 2016 and has dropped to 22 in the rankings after personal issues and elbow surgery affected his form and confidence.

The 31-year-old was pushed in his second-round match at Roland Garros before squeezing past Spanish qualifier Jaume Munar 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 6-4.

Afterwards the Serb remained philosophical about his tennis woes.

“To sit here and talk about how tough it is and you have people starving to death, for me there is no point talking about that [his issues],” he said.

“It’s just the way it is. As an athlete I have to face these challenges.”

Djokovic hasn’t reached the semifinal of a grand slam since losing in the final of the US Open in 2016, the same year he clinched the Australian and French Open titles.

“I’m not playing at the level I wish to but I’m trying not to give up,” said Djokovic, who showed glimpses of his old self before losing to Rafael Nadal in the semfinal of the Italian Open recently.

“At times I do lose maybe a comfort level on the court and confidence, and that’s something that I’m still building gradually.

“The more matches I play, the better it is. The more I win, of course, the better it is.”

Djokovic will next play 13th seed Roberto Bautista Agut.

READ: Could French Open signal rebirth of Novak Djokovic?

Rafael Nadal won his record-extending 11th title at the French Open when he beat Dominic Thiem on Sunday in Paris.

The Spaniard won his first French Open on his debut as a 19-year-old at Roland Garros and has only lost two matches since then.

Simona Halep beat Sloane Stephens in three sets Saturday to win the French Open and her first major after losing three grand slam finals.

Halep finally got her name on the trophy, 10 years after winning the junior title at Roland Garros.

Nadal had kept alive his bid for an unprecedented 11th French Open title with a dominant semifinal win over Juan Martin del Potro in Paris.

Austria's Dominic Thiem is the pretender to Rafael Nadal's claycourt throne after booking a place in his first French Open final with victory against Marco Cecchinato.

Nadal was rattled for a set and a half against Argentine Diego Schwartzman but he took advantage of an overnight rain delay and returned with renewed vigor to win in four sets to reach the semifinals.

Schwartzman ended Nadal's 37-set winning streak at Roland Garros after taking the opener, but rain delayed their quarterfinal overnight and he went down in four sets to the resurgent Spaniard.

Halep had reached her second consecutive French Open final with a straight sets win over Garbine Murguruza of Spain. Halep retained her world No.1 spot as she bids for a first grand slam title.

Reigning US Open champion Stephens (right) beat fellow American Madison Keys to reach her first French Open final.

Two-time champion Maria Sharapova, playing her first French Open since returning from a 15-month suspension for taking the banned heart drug meldonium, lost to Muguruza in the quarterfinals.

Sharapova was due to meet old rival Serena Williams in the fourth round but the American pulled out ahead of the match with a shoulder injury.

Novak Djokovic is undergoing a slump in his stellar career but was hoping to use the French Open as a springboard for better things. However, he lost out to Italy's Marco Cecchinato in the quarterfinals.

The unseeded Cecchinato, who had never previously won a round at a grand slam, beat Djokovic, the 12-time major champion and 2016 French Open winner, in four sets.

World No. 3 Alexander Zverev was expected to be one of the main challengers to Nadal but after squeezing through three five-set matches he fell to Thiem in straight sets in the quarterfinals.

Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson was at Roland Garros watching Williams beat Julia Goerges in the third round.

No Frenchman has triumphed on home clay since Yannick Noah in 1983 and the drought continued this year. No French players made the fourth round.

Williams turned heads in this black catsuit as she made her first grand slam appearance for 16 months following the birth of her daughter in September. The 23-time grand slam champion said it made her feel like a "warrior princess" but added it helped with her circulation.

The Williams sisters teamed up in doubles, but after overpowering Japan's Miyu Kato and Shuko Aoyama (pictured) in their first match they crashed out in the third round.

Nadal is known as the "King of Clay" since winning his first French Open on his debut as a 19-year-old. No player has won the same grand slam as many times as the Spaniard has in Paris.

The French Open oozes Parisian chic and is a springtime rite in the capital.

Djokovic's recent results suggested he could be turning the corner in his recent struggles. A win on day two was a decent start for the 2016 champion, who had slipped to 22 in the world.

On day one, defending champion Jelena Ostapenko was dethroned by Kateryna Kozlova.

Bad news traveled in two as Venus Williams also suffered a shock exit after losing to Wang Qiang.

French Open 2018: Best photos from Roland Garros

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‘Success will come’

From one of tennis’ established “Big Four” stars to one of the game’s rising talents, but only the coming days will tell whether Alexander Zverev’s marathon win Wednesday at the French Open could spark a grand slam breakthrough or be his downfall.

For the time being, the towering German is mightily relieved after seeing off Dusan Lajovic 2-6 7-5 4-6 6-1 6-2 in three hours, 24 minutes.

While Zverev has already made a name for himself on the tennis tour by climbing to third in the rankings and amassing three Masters titles by the age of 21 – multiple Masters victories in the last decade have usually been reserved for the ‘Big Four’ – he has yet to reach a grand slam quarterfinal. Or even defeat a top-50 foe at a major.

The paradox hasn’t been lost on him.

READ: ‘Superhero’ Serena sails through in slam return

But in downing the world No. 60 in mostly sunny skies in Paris, the second seed moved into the third round and thus a step closer to the benchmark last eight. Lajovic appeared to be struggling with cramp in the fifth set, helping to explain the 31-minute final frame.

“Everybody tries to make a bigger story out of it than it is,” Zverev told reporters. “I’m not worried. I know if I’m doing the right things and if I do the right work I’ll win those long matches, and the success will come itself. This is not something I think of on a daily basis.”

READ: Why Rafael Nadal is all at sea

READ: Who can stop Rafael Nadal in Paris?

Alexander Zverev was stretched before winning his second-round match at Roland Garros.

Zverev wasn’t the lone big name to be stretched in the men’s bottom half, with Grigor Dimitrov – who won the year-end championships in 2017 – and 2014 US Open finalist Kei Nishikori also overturning 2-1 set deficits.

Dimitrov got past American Jared Donaldson 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 4-6 6-4 10-8 in four hours, 19 minutes and Nishikori improved to a phenomenal 120-38 in deciding third or fifth sets when the Japanese beat the always unpredictable Benoit Paire of France 6-3 2-6 4-6 6-2 6-3 in three hours.

Unable to serve properly as he appeared to suffer from a leg cramp of his own, Donaldson – fined after famously clashing with a chair umpire in Monte Carlo in April – resorted to an underhand serve at 6-6 in the fifth.

The crowd didn’t approve but the 21-year-old won the point as the Bulgarian sent his return long. He did it again at 8-8 but lost the point.

Dimitrov wasn’t fussed.

“I think it’s great and it’s in the game,” said Dimitrov, who suspected he did it once in his career. “Simple as that. I know why he did it. He was hurting big time.”

Dominic Thiem – arguably the leading contender to make the final from the bottom half – led Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2 2-6 6-4 in an entertaining battle on the new court 18 when darkness halted play. In the most recent of their three duels in April in Barcelona, the 19-year-old Tsitsipas triumphed over the world No. 8.

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Updated 5:29 AM EDT, Thu May 31, 2018

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Dominic Thiem: Austria's rising star

03:14 - Source: CNN

The last women’s player to start her first-round match – rain contributed to that – was world No. 1 Simona Halep and the Romanian recovered from a slow start to dispatch another American, Alison Riske, 2-6 6-1 6-1 to start play on the main Philippe-Chatrier court.

She admitted to having nerves despite her lofty ranking.

“I’m a normal person, even if I am No. 1 in the world,” said Halep, popular in part due to her honesty.

The 2018 French Open will take place from May 21-June 10 on the clay courts of Roland Garros in Paris.

Serena Williams turned heads in a black catsuit in her first-round match at Roland Garros, saying it made her feel like a "warrior princess." She also said it helped with ongoing blood clots following the birth of her daughter last year.

Rafa Nadal is favorite to take the men's singles title, which would be his 11th grand slam victory on the clay.

Serena Williams is playing her first grand slam for 16 months after maternity leave and is bidding for a fourth French Open crown and a record-equaling 24th major title, including both pre and Open era events.

Novak Djokovic hasn't won a grand slam title since 2016 and has slipped to No. 22 in the world, but he enters the French Open on a good run of form.

Young German Alexander Zverev is touted as the future of tennis but has struggled at grand slams so far in his career, his best result being the fourth round.

Andy Murray continues his recovery from hip surgery and won't be at Roland Garros -- a tournament he finished runner-up at in 2016.

Maria Sharapova is a two-time French Open champion but has missed the last two events at Roland Garros after serving a ban for testing positive for the illegal substance meldonium.

Pauline Parmentier will be flying the flag for France in the women's draw having received a wild card entry for this year's competition. She reached the fourth round in 2014.

Pat Cash claimed his sole grand slam singles title at Wimbledon in 1987. He'll be giving CNN his insight as a former player throughout the French Open.

A year on from her return to tennis following a knife attack in her home, Petra Kvitova says she is living a "dream."

Yannick Noah is still the only French man to win the French Open, since the Open era began in 1968. Noah's triumph at Roland Garros came way back in 1983.

Juan Martin del Potro's lone major title was the US Open in 2009. However he's struggled with injury since beating Roger Federer in that 2009 US Open final, missing almost the entire 2010 season after undergoing surgery on his wrist.
After slipping outside the world's top 400, Del Potro returned to the top five in 2013 but another wrist injury meant more surgery and led him to miss the majority of the 2014 and 2015 season. But earlier this year Del Potro ended Federer's best ever start to a season to become the first Argentine to win a top-tier Masters series event when he was victorious at Indian Wells.

Serena Williams pulled out injured ahead of her much-anticipated fourth-round match against old rival Maria Sharapova.

World No. 72 Marco Cecchinato beat David Goffin to reach the French Open quarterfinals where he will play Novak Djokovic. Cecchinato described his win over Goffin as the "best moment" of his life. He shortly followed up with a new best moment as he beat Djokovic in four sets.

Diminutive Argentine Diego Schwartzman, who stands at 5 feet 7 inches tall, proved size isn't everything when he toppled 6-foot-8 Kevin Anderson to reach the quarterfinals.

World No.1 Simona Halep is bidding for a first grand slam title after three previous losing final appearances in majors.

French Open 2018: Sketching at Roland Garros

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Won set off Nadal

Zverev’s star shone even brighter in the buildup to the French Open when he won the title in Madrid and led Nadal by a break in the final set of the Rome finale. A rain delay ultimately swung the momentum in the Spaniard’s favor.

Nadal said afterward he was sure Zverev – mentored by six-time grand slam winner Boris Becker – would indeed experience success at grand slams soon but Lajovic initially did not read the script.

Striking his one-handed backhand with venom and throwing in his share of drop shots, the Serb stormed to the first set. In similar style, he upset Juan Martin del Potro in Madrid for a first top-10 win.

Lajovic may feel the second set was the turning point: He broke early but failed to hang on to the lead.

Lajovic did recover in the third and as Zverev’s frustration grew, he slammed his racket onto the red clay.

Zverev’s past foibles in grand slams however didn’t phase him – he was still competing well. And once he secured a double break advantage for 5-1 in the fourth, the job was almost done.

Zverev began hitting with more authority, though was aided by Lajovic’s physical duress.

“In the fourth and fifth set I really felt good out there even though I was a little bit tired and a little bit fatigued,” said Zverev, whose next opponent, 26th seed Damir Dzumhur, also went to five sets Wednesday.

Marco Trungelliti’s adventure, meanwhile, ended as the Argentine succumbed to Italy’s Marco Cecchinato 6-1 7-6 (7-1) 6-1.

Slow starts for Halep

When Riske – a finalist on clay Saturday in Nurnberg to return to the top 100 – took the opener it marked more struggles for Halep early in majors.

She trailed Destanee Aiava 5-2 in the first set of her first match in Melbourne and saved three match points in the third round against Lauren Davis.

Halep went on to make the final, narrowly losing to Caroline Wozniacki.

Still seeking a maiden grand slam title, Halep has lost two heartbreaking finals at the French Open, too, to Maria Sharapova in 2014 and Jelena Ostapenko last year.

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Two other women’s contenders, Petra Kvitova and Elina Svitolina, advanced in straight sets against Lara Arruabarrena (6-0 6-4) and Viktoria Kuzmova (6-3 6-4).