The Serb continues to be hungry after successful his twenty third main title. Bring on Wimbledon, he says.
By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday June 12, 2023
No one which has listened to Novak Djokovic discuss over the past 5 years needs to be stunned that the World No.1 is rarely happy. Blessed with regenerative powers, the newly anointed Grand Slam king’s need to proceed pushing the bounds of his tennis, his physique and his thoughts are unwavering and he reaffirmed this reality after successful his twenty third main singles title on Sunday night in Paris.
‘I nonetheless really feel motivated, I nonetheless really feel impressed to play the very best tennis on these tournaments probably the most, you recognize, Grand Slams. Those are those that rely I suppose probably the most in historical past of our sport.
For tennis’ era subsequent, there’s excellent news and dangerous information. The dangerous information is that their time within the highlight and on the high of the boys’s sport is indefinitely delayed. The good new? They can proceed to observe and be taught as they watch one of many best forces in males’s tennis historical past show that he can do the unthinkable at 36.
Naturally, throughout his post-match press convention, the dialog turned to the continued debate in regards to the best males’s tennis participant of all-time.
Djokovic isn’t taken with being a part of that debate – the person who has now received a report 11 Grand Slam singles titles since turning 30 will go away that as much as the pundits.
The Big 3 & the Grand Slam race š
2010:ā°16 – Federerā°9 – Nadalā°1 – Djokovic
2020: ā°20 – Federerā°20 – Nadalā°17 – Djokovic
2023: ā°23 – Djokovicā°22 – Nadalā°20 – Federer
š„ @DjokerNole #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/9Q1wJuMH2Q— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 11, 2023
“I don't wish to say that I’m the best, as a result of I really feel, I've mentioned it earlier than, it's disrespectful in the direction of all the nice champions in numerous eras of our sport that was performed in utterly totally different method than it’s performed in the present day,” Djokovic mentioned. “I really feel like every nice champion of his personal era has left an enormous mark, a legacy, and paved the way in which for us to have the ability to play this sport in such a terrific stage worldwide.
“So I go away these sort of discussions of who’s the best to another person. I’ve after all large religion and confidence and perception in myself and for every little thing that I’m and who I’m and what I’m able to doing. So this trophy clearly is one other affirmation of the standard of tennis that I'm nonetheless in a position to produce.”
The incontrovertible fact that Djokovic stands alone atop the Grand Slam mens’ singles title checklist is huge in our sport, however the 23-time Slam champion feels he owes a debt to his best rivals, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, regardless of the place he ranks in comparison with them.
“The fact is that I’ve all the time in contrast myself to those guys, as a result of these two are the 2 best rivals I ever had in my profession,” he mentioned. “I’ve mentioned it earlier than many occasions that they’ve really outlined me as a participant, and all of the success that I’ve, they’ve contributed to it, in a method, due to the rivalries and the matchups that we had.
Countless hours of pondering and analyzing and what it takes to win towards them on the most important stage, you recognize, for me and my crew, it was simply these two guys had been occupying my thoughts for the final 15 years quite a bit.
It’s onerous to make an argument that there’s a male participant – from this era or earlier – that’s on Djokovic’s stage. Even extra spectacular? He’s very a lot on the peak of his powers and in place to elevated the Grand Slam title hole between himself and Nadal, who has 22, and Federer, who completed his profession with 20, within the coming years.
Once once more he’s in place to make a run on the calendar yr Grand Slam because the tour heads to Wimbledon, the place Djokovic is already a seven-time champion.
One day age will meet up with him. Until then, no report is secure.
“For me, every day, I'm the very best on the court docket, as a result of with this mind-set, it's the one mind-set or spirit that may result in historic outcomes and this trophy,” he mentioned of the inevitable GOAT discuss that his late milestone has sparked. “Afterwards, statistics are there, however now we have a whole lot of various factors. It is dependent upon the standpoint of an individual or the organizations that debate these items.
“I don't wish to enter in these discussions. I'm writing my very own historical past."
Photo Source: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Content Source: www.tennisnow.com