It didn’t take lengthy for Novak Djokovic to make his intentions clear: All that issues to him from right here on out is catching Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal within the Grand Slam standings.
Forget about successful different, run-of-the-mill tournaments or enjoying sufficient to retain the No. 1 rating.
18 Grand Slams for Djokovic 🏆
This race is tight… 👀 #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/yd7e8bkPeN
— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 21, 2021
There is one major objective for the 33-year-old from Serbia. He desires to maintain including to his 18 main championships — he reached that quantity with No. 9 on the Australian Open on Sunday — till he now not trails Federer and Nadal, who share the lads’s report of 20.
“They’ve made history already. They made a tremendous mark in our sport,” Djokovic stated. “Whether I think about winning more Slams and breaking records? Of course, I do. And most of my attention and my energy from this day forward, until I retire from tennis, is going to be directed (at) majors, trying to win more major trophies.”
Which is completely effective. There isn’t any want for pretense.
And there may be completely no requirement that he present as much as compete extra usually than he actually desires or in locations apart from the place he actually desires. If all that issues to Djokovic from a tennis standpoint is accumulating Slams, and enjoying much less steadily will even shield his physique — he had surgical procedure on his proper elbow three years in the past; his 2021 Australian Open almost was derailed by what he stated was a torn belly muscle — that’s his prerogative.
It isn’t a lot totally different from what Federer himself or 23-time main champion Serena Williams, for that matter, have finished for years.
“I think 99.9% of players — kids that get a racket in their hands — start dreaming about what they want to achieve. It’s a Grand Slam, winning a major,” Djokovic defined after his commanding efficiency in a 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Daniil Medvedev within the ultimate at Melbourne Park.
It’s all in regards to the Slams 🏆#AusOpen | #AO2021 | @DjokerNole pic.twitter.com/ZjZjNpTe4p
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) February 21, 2021
“I mean, I don’t feel like I’m old or tired or anything like that,” he stated. “But I know that biologically and realistically, things are different than they were 10 years ago for me.”
Connected to that: His newest triumph on the Australian Open got here with the extra bonus of assuring a keep atop the ATP rankings till no less than March 8.
That is when he’ll attain 311 weeks at No. 1 for his profession, yet one more than Federer’s whole, one other goal Djokovic made clear mattered to him.
“When you are going for No. 1 rankings, you kind of have to be playing the entire season, and you have to be playing well; you have to play all the tournaments. My goals will adapt and will shift a little bit, which means that I will have to adjust, also, my calendar,” Djokovic stated. “Not have to, but I will have an opportunity to do that, which, as a father and a husband, I’m really looking forward to.”
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One a part of the calculus is that nobody is aware of, in fact, whether or not Federer, who hasn’t performed in additional than a 12 months after two knee operations and turns 40 in August, or Nadal, 34, will win extra majors — or what number of extra.
It bears repeating that till Federer, Nadal and Djokovic got here alongside, no man had gained greater than Pete Sampras’ 14 Grand Slam titles. Here we’re, lower than 20 years after Sampras retired, and he’s been surpassed by a trio of males, and by quite a lot of majors.
“We’re talking about some Cyborgs of tennis, in a good way,” Medvedev stated, referring to the longevity and unprecedented success of the blokes often known as the Big Three. “They’re just unbelievable.”
Winning share in Grand Slam singles finals
Nadal 20-8 (71.4%)Federer 20-11 (64.5%)Djokovic 18-10 (64.3%) pic.twitter.com/RzsCU6a05k
— Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) February 21, 2021
Djokovic’s coach, 2001 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, predicted Nadal will declare “one more, maybe two” championships on the French Open, the place he collected a thirteenth final October.
That is the one occasion of a person proudly owning extra singles titles from one main than Djokovic’s haul in Australia. Federer’s excessive is eight at Wimbledon.
All have profession Grand Slams.
“Roger and Rafa inspire me. That’s something that I’ve said before. I’ll say it again. I mean, I think as long as they go, I’ll go,” Djokovic stated. “In a way, it’s like a race (of) who plays tennis more, I guess, and who wins more. It’s a competition between us in all areas. But I think that’s the very reason why we are who we are, because we do drive each other, we motivate each other, we push each other to the limit.”
