“I Don’t Know How Many More Slams I’ll Have”

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday August 24, 2023

Novak Djokovic enters the US Open on the cusp of constructing historical past for tennis and rewriting the sports’ document books as soon as once more.

What else is new?

On Friday the 23-time main champion took to the rostrum in the principle interview in Paris and advised reporters that he nonetheless burns to win main titles greater than something. “Grand Slams are the biggest goals that I have in my career at the moment,” he stated. “I always speak about that, that I aim to peak and perform my best in Grand Slams.”

Djokovic, seeded second in New York, and bidding for what could be his document twenty fourth main title, says he doesn’t know the way for much longer he can sustain the trailblazing tempo that has seen him win 11 main titles since turning 30, however the finish is nowhere in sight.

“I don’t know how many more slams I’ll have,” he stated. “I’ll still keep going. I don’t have an end in my mind at the moment. I also understand that things are different when you’re 36, so I have to be more appreciative, a bit more, I guess, present, treating every Grand Slam as maybe your last one in terms of commitment and performance.

“I see this every Grand Slam that I play right now as really a golden opportunity to make more history. Of course, there’s a big significance to that.”

Djokovic, who owns a 81-13 lifetime document at Flushing Meadows with three titles, final gained the title in New York in 2018. Since then he has ran the gamut of problem, dropping within the spherical of 16 when he retired with an damage to Stan Wawrinka, getting disqualified in 2020 after putting a lineswoman with a ball inadvertently, and dropping the ultimate to Daniil Medvedev as he made a play to turn out to be the primary participant to win the Calendar Slam since 1969.

Last yr he was not allowed within the United States on account of the truth that he didn’t obtain the Covid-19 vaccine.

Djokovic, who made a present of intent final week in Cincinnati when he took out Carlos Alcaraz in an epic last that lasted three hours and 49 minutes, says there are not any onerous emotions about being banned from participation in 2022.

“There was no anger,” he stated. “It was last year during the Open that I felt it’s a pity that I’m not there. I felt sad for not being able to participate. But this year, I mean, is this year. I don’t think about what happened in the last year, or the last couple of years. Just focusing my attention on this year’s tournament.”