Annabel Croft picks out two things she thinks Novak Djokovic is struggling with after his defeat in Madrid ahead of the French Open

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Novak Djokovic finds himself in a difficult position as he builds towards the French Open.

For the second time in 2025, the Serbian has lost three successive matches and he has yet to win a match in the ongoing clay court season.

Djokovic lost the Miami Open final to Jakub Mensik, before suffering successive defeats in Monte Carlo and Madrid to Alejandro Tabilo and Matteo Arnaldi respectively.

The 37-year-old has plenty of work to do ahead of the French Open, where he will aim to win a record 25th Grand Slam title.

Annabel Croft says what Novak Djokovic is currently struggling with

As he did throughout 2024, Novak Djokovic has not had things all his way. The World number five is no longer the dominant force he once was, and since 2023 he has claimed just one title, the Olympic gold medal at the 2024 Paris Games.

Now he is struggling to win multiple matches at successive events, and this is not a good sign ahead of a Grand Slam, the tournaments he desires to win above all others.

While on Sky Sports, commentator Annabel Croft outlines two things Djokovic is finding difficult as he tries to achieve success at the highest level at least one more time.

“We know that his total focus is on adding to that Grand Slam tally. He wants to become the greatest tennis player in terms of Grand Slam action ever,” she said.

“But it’s getting harder and harder, and actually, I always feel like he’s just gone a bit flat on the court as well. He just can’t find it, he can’t find that winning formula.

“He’s definitely losing confidence and the last great match that I think he played was against Alcaraz in the Australian Open [in January]. That win was absolutely phenomenal.

“Everything is just looking very, very tough and uphill, and I think we mentioned the word aura. A lot of players now walk onto court thinking, ‘Well, I do have a chance against him, because he’s not playing great’.

“In the past, they would have been panicking about whether they were going to get games on the board, and now I think, maybe there’s a feeling when more and more players of lower rankings start to beat him, they all feel they have a chance, and that makes it doubly difficult for him.”

Novak Djokovic withdraws from Italian Open ahead of French Open

Djokovic wants to find his best form ahead of the French Open, but he will not use the Italian Open to help him do that.

Djokovic has decided to skip Masters 1000 event in Rome, the final tournament at this level before the clay court Grand Slam commences in Paris.

After his Madrid Open defeat, Djokovic admitted he is in a challenging period in his career. “Kind of a new reality for me, I have to say,”” Djokovic t” the 24-time grand Slam champion told reporters.

“Trying to win a match or two, you know, not really thinking about getting far in the tournament. It’s a completely different feeling from what I had 20-plus years of professional tennis.

“A challenge for me mentally to face these kinds of sensations on the court … but, you know, that’s I guess the circle of life of the career. Eventually, it was going to happen.”