Djokovic going for 23rd major

PARIS — For quite some time, Novak Djokovic has made his long-term tennis goal clear: He wanted to focus on accumulating Grand Slam titles in order to surpass the totals of contemporaries Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

With the French Open set to start Sunday without either Nadal (who is injured) or Federer (who is retired) for the first time since 1998, Djokovic finally gets the chance to lead the career standings alone with a record 23 men’s singles major championships. If he winds up with the title two weeks from now at the clay court major, Djokovic would break a tie with Nadal and have three more trophies than Federer finished with.

“It’s no secret that one of the main reasons I play today and compete in professional tennis is to try to break more records and make more history in tennis,” Djokovic said Saturday. “That’s extremely motivating and inspiring for me.”

His current collection of 22 majors — two at Roland Garros (2016, 2021), three at the U.S. Open, seven at Wimbledon and 10 at the Australian Open, including this past January — means he owns 16 more than the other 127 men in the bracket in Paris combined. Stan Wawrinka won three, while Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Dominic Thiem have one apiece.

“Grand Slams are a different tournament, a different sport, in a way, because you’re playing best-of-five (sets), you are playing in the most important tournaments in the world,” said Djokovic, a 36-year-old from Serbia, “and the experience is on my side.”

It’s why when other players are asked who enters as the favorite in Nadal’s absence, they often mention two names: Alcaraz, who is ranked No. 1, and Djokovic.