Boris Becker reveals why he has been forced to change his view on Novak Djokovic

Boris Becker has declared he will always be one of Novak Djokovic’s biggest cheerleaders, but the tennis legand has admitted he does not consider the world No 1 to be the outstanding favourite to win this year’s French Open.

Becker won Grand Slam titles as Djokovic’s coach between 2013 and 2016 and confirmed he remains firm friends with the 24-time Grand Slam kings.

Yet after a challenging start to this year, Becker has admitted he is not convinced Djokovic is ready to defend the Roland Garros title he won in such spectacular fashion last year.

“I can’t pick a clear favourite for this year’s Roland Garros,” said Becker at a Eurosport event.

“In previous years, I would always say Rafael Nadal would win the French Open, or then I would say Djokovic.

“Now I don’t see one player, but I see a number of players who have done well on clay and this year it is not clear who is the best.

“You look at Monte Carlo and it was won by (Stefanos) Tsitsipas. Then we see Madrid is won by Andrey Rublev and then you see Casper Ruud winning a title in Barcelona and Alexander Zverev winning Rome.

“In recent years, we are used to the same guys winning the big tournaments, but that story has changed now.

“Normally, I go with the defending champion if I am asked to make a pick, but Novak has not won a title this year, so I don’t see a clear favourite this time.

“So much depends on the draw, the fitness of the big contenders and if these guys come into the second week, any of them can win.”

READ MORE: Two big favourites emerge for French Open glory – and Novak Djokovic is not one of them

Djokovic’s form heading into Roland Garros suggested he might struggle to get through the first few rounds, but the world No 1 survived a huge scare against Lorenzo Musetti on Saturday night as he won the last two sets to prevail in a five-set epic that concluded after 3am in the morning in Paris.

The rain had wrecked another day on the outside courts in Paris so tournament chiefs decided to squeeze in an unfinished match under the roof on Court Phillipe Chatrier before Djokovic took on Musetti in the night session.

But by the time Grigor Dimitrov had completed a four-set win over Zizou Bergs in a match lasting just shy of four hours in total, Djokovic, due to start at 8.15pm, did not get on the court until 10.40pm.

“I don’t want to get into it,” said the defending champion. “I have my opinions but I think there are great things to talk about as we are talking about this match and both Lorenzo’s and my performance stands out.

“I don’t want to be talking about the schedule. I think some things could’ve been handled differently. But there’s beauty, as well, winning the match at 3.30am if it’s the last one of the tournament.

“But it’s not so I’m going to have to switch on all of my young genes and try and recover as quick as possible.”

After coming through that challenging test, Djokovic will believe he is rediscovering his mojo ahead of his push for another major title.

Yet Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz appear to be in menacing form and they will offer a big threat to the defending champion at the back end of this tournament.