Novak Djokovic has always helped Serbia in team competitions and is honored to represent his country. The former world number 1 enjoys a lot of support in Serbia and has always given his best to make his people proud. The 37-year-old from Belgrade has fulfilled his dream of winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
Although it was not a brilliant season for the 24-time Grand Slam champion – who has not won an ATP title this year – winning the Olympic tournament made him happy and allowed him to repay his debt to fate. The Olympics had been almost a curse for Nole until Paris, having always failed to win the gold medal. At his last chance, Novak played a legendary final against Carlos Alcaraz on the iconic Philippe Chatrier and burst into tears at the end of the match.
Djokovic was not ready for the US Open, where he was defeated by Alexei Popyrin in the third round showing that he did not have the right preparation. The former world number 1 would not qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals at this time and will hardly add any more tournaments to his schedule to achieve this goal. At this point of his career, Nole is only interested in the Grand Slam tournaments. After representing Serbia in the Davis Cup, the 24-time Grand Slam champion will play an exhibition match with Grigor Dimitrov in Bulgaria and then participate in the Masters 1000 in Shanghai.
Djokovic reveals an anecdote
During the Davis Cup weekend, Novak took the opportunity to talk about various topics outside of tennis. Speaking with Blic, Djokovic revealed that his children Stefan and Tara still haven’t a cell phone: “My children still don’t have a cell phone, my wife and I argue. They complain, “At school everyone has one except us.” It’s not easy and this is reflected on other levels as well. If everyone does something, the herd behaves like this, you have to follow them. Well, it doesn’t have to be like that. This is where I think we differ from others, because we are stubborn and active.”
The former world number 1 will try to be ready for the next season, where the main focus will be on the Majors. It will not be easy for Novak to win his 25th Grand Slam title, also due to the rise of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. The Italian ace and the Spanish champion are much younger than the Serbian legend, as well as being able to play more tournaments during the season.
The former World No.1 also revealed that the ATP Finals are no longer his goal: “I am not chasing a place on the ATP list, nor the Final Masters. Those are not my goals, honestly. As for me, I finished my career in other tournaments. I don’t know if I will play them in the future or this year. My priorities are playing for the national team and grand slams, everything else is less important. Now I need a physical, mental, and emotional rest in order to decide what and how to proceed, how much and where.”
An uncertain schedule
The Serbian legend will defend many points in the last part of the season, since in 2023 he won the Masters 1000 in Paris-Bercy and the ATP Finals in Turin. This year, Nole had a knee injury during the French Open and he has undergone surgery. “I was very worried after the knee injury at Roland Garros, but when I managed to play the finals at Wimbledon, I was relieved since I knew I would be ready for the Olympics” – he explained in a long interview with RTS.
“I felt the energy and support from home as well, so that ‘additional pressure’ was lower than usual. In New York, for instance, I felt that it wasn’t me on the court, that I was not well prepared, so I felt more additional pressure ahead of every match compared to before the finals at the Olympics. Just because of the way I felt. Tennis is an individual sport – if you don’t have a solution on a given day, that’s it, you lose. Over the years, that kept me disciplined” – Nole added.
The 37-year-old from Belgrade will be one of the stars of next month’s ‘Six Kings Slam‘, an event that takes place in Saudi Arabia with a huge prize money. In addition to Djokovic, there will also be Rafa Nadal, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune. The Serb said he does not know which tournaments he will play after Shanghai.
