Novak Djokovic: 'Breaking through is tougher than in the past'
In a press conference, Novak Djokovic commented on Rafael Nadal saying that there may be 20-year-olds winning Grand Slams in the future.
The Serbian player said: "I think first of all I believe in general something that will probably never change is that biologically if you are younger, you know, you recover faster. You have more I guess capacities to train and to build. So that is an advantage age-wise for sure. That's how biology works. So, from that point of view, whether we are now or 50 years ago, 50 years from now, it is going to be the same. Technology has advanced absolutely with the racquets and of course balls and everything else. But also I think the quality of preparation, recovery, some insights, it's brought scientific insights that tennis players have in general have access to nowadays, you know. That hasn't been the case, maybe 20 or 30 years ago. So for sure, that is complimenting the overall quality of the game I think for all of us. And, you know, I remember when I was breaking through to the top 100 and coming into professional tennis waters as a teenager. It was definitely a less professional approach from players than it is today. Of course, with the exceptions of the top guys, but I think now you have just a much larger group of players, more players in general that are taking care of their bodies, what they eat, how much they sleep because it matters, especially in this sport that is individual, so you can't really rely on anybody else but yourself. And to the last point, whether it's more difficult or not to make the breakthrough today than it was maybe when Nadal and I were doing that.
I think in terms of points, the points system, it is because when we were coming up, there was a different ranking points system in place. And there was not as much of a distance or this balance between the opening rounds and the later rounds and it was, I think, a little bit more evenly distributed. So, from the ranking standpoint, I think it's more difficult. But at the same time, because all the advancements that we talked about, and just the amount of tournaments that you have, and I think for most of the guys also coming from the countries where federations are strong and financially stable, you know, also they have big teams of people. Right away, I mean, as soon as they get on a junior tour level you see them with coaches, physios. That was never the case before. So, a definite advancement, so it's kind of both ways in a way."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2VaSkvq
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