Novak Djokovic does not hide his greed. But on the contrary. "Trying to become the historic number one is a big goal," says the 33-year-old world number one. And he lets his great opponents Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal know what exactly he is aiming for: "I believe that I can win the most slams and break the record for the longest number one."

Djokovic, 33 years old, said this on a TV show in May, he makes no secret of the fact that he wants to go down in history as the tallest of the big three. His meeting this Sunday (3 p.m. / Eurosport) with Nadal (34) in the final of the French Open should be the next important step. He could collect his 18th major title and move closer to Nadal except for one. Federer (39), who is in training after knee surgery, has 20.

And Djokovic, who has now been at the top of the world rankings for a total of 289 weeks and can soon overtake Primus Federer (310), seems ready. He is playing an outstanding year with only one defeat from 38 tour matches - and that resulted from the shameful disqualification at the US Open.

The inner fire is still burning in Nadal

He would currently be the easy favorite even against Nadal in almost every other tournament. But not in Roland Garros. "Here he is of course the favorite," admitted Djokovic after battling Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas 6: 3, 6: 2, 5: 7, 4: 6, 6: 1 in the semi-finals: "After all the victories it is his living room. " He sees it as "the greatest challenge in sport" to beat Nadal on sand in Paris. He has already succeeded once: in 2015 he inflicted one of only two defeats on Nadal at Roland Garros. Six times he left the field as a loser.

Nadal is still more cautious in his statements. He does not let his exceptional position in Paris with twelve titles hang out, he is narrow-lipped in his career goals. "Of course I would think it's great to stop with most Grand Slam titles, but it's not something I'm obsessed with," he said earlier this year: "And when Roger or Novak is in front of me, then life goes on also continue. "

Inside Nadal, however, the fire burns. The Spaniard, who is surrounded by an aura of invincibility at the French Open despite the difficult conditions he has complained about, should at least have the big records in the back of his mind when he enters the red ashes to the duel with Djokovic. After his 6: 3, 6: 3, 7: 6 (0) victory against Diego Schwartzman , he wanted to add a shovel, said Nadal with a view to the final, in which he became the clay court king again with his 100th win in Paris can crown.

So it is set up for a gigantic duel, in which it comes to a prize money of 1.6 million euros, a lot of prestige and also to a certain extent about the big picture in tennis history.

Here the single tableau in Paris

rg2020