The Quest: Novak Djokovic's decade of chasing at Roland-Garros came to an end, unlocking history

by Carole Bouchard

By winning the 2016 Roland-Garros, Novak Djokovic entered tennis legend. After a decade of chase, the Serbian finally put his hands on the French Open trophy, completing his Career Grand Slam and achieving something no male player had done for 47 years: winning four Grand Slam titles in a row.

The Quest is the inside story of this historical win, of a two week chase after a trophy that was haunting Djokovic’s dreams and nightmares. It’s a unique look into the world and the mind of the game’s greatest champions. The heartbreaks, the prowesses, the scars, the tears, the injuries, the doubts: the Djoker went through everything in Paris. But on this day in June, he found a way to unlock history, lifted by a crowd and a country that had adopted him.

Djokovic’s triumph in Paris is a story of resilience and bouncing back against all odds. A story of soul crushing losses. A story of rivalries. Inside one of the most impressive periods of domination ever achieved. Even if the victory would come with a price to pay, Djokovic’s triumph is a life lesson: there is no curse, so never give up.

For that story, the author Carole Bouchard, French tennis reporter for national and international medias, conducted exclusive interviews with Novak Djokovic and his team, including his two coaches at the time, Marian Vajda and Boris Becker. Among the many other witnesses: the great Rod Laver, some of the best coaches in the history of the game, high profile former and current players, insiders from the French Open among others.

Genres: Sports

308 pages, Paperback

Published May 3, 2017

Reviews

[Tariq Mahmood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very difficult book to follow. It needed a serious bit of editing and I suspect any non-Redneck tennis fans as the there is no common thread running through the book. The book is about Djokovic's winning French Open one year after losing in the final against Wawrinka. We get repeat exposure of Djokovic's exceptional personality which made him complete his Grandslam. There are some valuable insights into what makes Djokovic tick like how he has used his negative Serbian image to fight off crowds which are generally supporting his arch competitors Federer and Nadal but generally I found my focus wavering constantly as the book read more like a collection of blogs. And the problem with blogs is that they have to read within the context of the event.

Also, although the book is about Djokovic, so I expected the author to focus on Djokovic, but there is no way Federer or Nadal can be overlooked in this golden age of tennis. The author could have presented a more balanced view of the three great champions without compromising her Djokovic bias, to make the book more interesting. But hey, it's her book after all......

[Lara Panfilov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alright, so this book had some ups and downs for me. It was without a doubt very interesting to learn about Novak’s mental state and all of the emotions he went through during his quest to conquer Roland Garros. As a tennis player myself, I was intrigued to find out how he and the rest of his team approached such a tremendous task. Bouchard has a ton done an enormous amount of interviews with Novak and his team so there was no shortage of information. The problem that I had though, was that the book is 300 pages long. Now, it is true that Bouchard described other parts of his career too (and certain other aspects; such as his private life and family), but these segments were short and there was too much talk just about that one tournament (RG 2016) – (though you are warned by the title) a 300 page book almost solely on one tournament? A bit too much right? At one point it got a bit boring because there was so much repetition. However, overall I still liked learning more about Novak’s thoughts and emotional state. In Bouchard’s eyes Djokovic is God and he can’t do anything wrong, (I couldn’t find a single piece of criticism), but that is to be expected if you are reading a book actually written by one of his fans. I deeply admire Novak (despite being a Nadal fan), his life style, endurance and discipline although I am quite sure I won’t reach Bouchard’s amount of affection for him. Jokes aside, I have to say that the book contains valid information and I would recommend it to any tennis fanatic.

[Ashwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novak Djokovic, an interesting player was going for the 1 major that had given him so many heartbreaks over the years and finally conquering it. The emotions that had gone through that match were huge for me and I thought this book would allow me to relive those memories once again

I am sorry to say that the book started well but really felt like the author was stretching it a bit with the chapters. Many things in a chapter were repeated again and again making it a drag to read through

I honestly believe had the author wrapped up the book about 100 pages before she actually did, it would have been a very good book to read. Giving 300 pages to 2 weeks of tennis was just not going to cut it. Maybe had she written about the 28 matches that Novak had to win for the Nole Slam, it would have given her more room to write freely and not be congested to the 2 weeks of Roland Garros like it felt in this book in many chapters

The author is a self professed fangirl of Djokovic and I commend her for the effort she put in for the book. I hope to read Novak own take of this achievement in his autobiography once he retires. That will do full justice and capture other interesting tidbits like what Becker told him which the author missed

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book about an incredible achievement of 4 grand slams in a row which more than likely won't be achieved again for years to come provides insight e thoughts and processes of Novak Djokovic, his team and family as hey set out to acomplish what had so far alluded him the Roland Garros trophy gives you a sense of the feelings and thoughts that went through novaks mind from losing he previous year against Stan warwinka and how he built himself back up to come back and win it the year after very good book

[Jelena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jedva zavrsih ovu knjigu, napisana je bez kraja i konca, prica je nabacana i teska za pracenje. Dajem joj drugu zvezdicu samo zbog neverovatnog uspeha koji je Djokovic postigao te godine, i pozadinske price koja je pokusana da bude docarana: njegovu motivaciju, tezak rad, psiholosko pripremanje i holisticki pristup zivotu. Nadam se da ce jednog dana licno Djokovic napisati memoare o toj godini, ili bilo kojoj zapravo, sta sve stoji iza jednog sampiona kao sto je on.

[Luka Šimšić · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful read of Nole the GOAT! Looking forward to read another one after his 24th grand slam. There sure is a lot more to write about regarding his career now. If you are a tennis fan then you will like it even more since it describes some matches very precisely. A wonderful journey full of struggles and even more wonderful ending!

[Edith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intéressant pour le côté plus intime du monde du tennis. Mais la narration est très éparpillée. L'autrice est visiblement une fan finie de Djokovic. Parfois c'est un peu trop.
Énormément de coquilles dans l'édition que j'avais. Des traits d'union rajoutés dans des mots qui n'en prennent pas.

[Igor Savic · Rating 3 out of 5]

It could be written in 150 pages not in 300.