Borna Coric Talks About Overtaking Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic

Croatia's Borna Coric, who is in Buenos Aires this week for the Argentina Open, says his long-term objective is to win a Grand Slam and become No. 1 in the world, in an interview to Clarin.

The 23 year old Coric says. "It is one of my dreams.. to win a Grand Slam and be number one in the world. But I think I'm still a little far from getting them. I became World No. 12 and that gives me confidence that I can play great tennis, but at the same time I need to stay healthy and work hard. I hope I can return to my best level and aim at those dreams."

Coric has changed his schedule this year post the Australian Open and instead of going to Europe for the indoor events, he has come to Argentina for the ATP event on clay there. “I had heard very nice things about this city and all of South America, but I didn't know much about Argentina when I decided to come. I knew it is a very good tournament and they had told me that they have very good meat here. Also, I talked to Diego (Schwartzman), who came over to chat with me when he learned that I would come, and he told me I had to go see Boca. So I came up with the idea of ​​trying that. Honestly all my life I thought I was better on hard courts, but in the last two or three years I am feeling better on clay and I have been getting my best results on that surface. And the last seasons I did not perform well at this time of the year playing indoor European tournaments and I thought it was time to change. I already went twice to eat meat and the truth is incredible. And on Saturday night, I was watching a game on the Boca court. The atmosphere was awesome. I had never experienced anything like that in my life. I am not a big football fan, but I have gone to several games. And this was by far the best."

Coric says he likes to spend his free time with his family and does not like playing too many other sports, except the occasional table tennis and boxing. "I like table tennis and I sometimes play it with my dad and my friends. And also boxing. But I don't have much free time and when I have it, I prefer to spend it with my family and be a normal guy, who doesn't play tennis and enjoy life as much as he can. In addition I worked a lot on my body and my physique in recent years and I need to reserve all my energies for tennis, which I have played all my life. And I feel that playing other sports would not give me any advantage for my career."

Coric was touted as a great potential when he started on the tour but he recognises that he has to work much harder to get into the top 10 and improve his game rather than overtaking the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Coric says, "Maybe the injuries had to do, it's hard to say. I had a complicated pair of injuries, such as the knee of 2016 or one on the right wrist a few years before, which I also had to operate. Last year I also had some physical problems. It came from a great 2018, where I finished No. 12 in the rankings, and those injuries slowed me down a bit. Although I don't think that's the main reason I never reached the top 10. I think I need to play better to get into that elite. I think I'm a little further than some other players (from the new generation) because I could never advance past the fourth round of a Grand Slam. But seeing other guys, they are doing really well. I think we need more time. We must focus on training, on finding ways to play better and better and not worrying about whether we can take the post of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, because it is something we cannot control. And hopefully soon one of us can win a "big", something that is not easy."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/38tS5CZ