'He is on his way to breaking Roger Federer's record', says former Top 10

Tennis is at a standstill, but the weeks pass, and so Novak Djokovic manages to cross another statistical goal without a shot being hurt (or shooting). From today, the Serbian has become the second ever tennis player to spend at least 300 weeks at the number 1 in the world. In front of him now there is only Roger Federer, the absolute record holder, with 310, of which 237 in a row. However, the Swiss record seems destined to fall on March 8, given that Djokovic currently has 2180 points behind Rafa Nadal, who occupies the second position, and to be overtaken he should lose almost immediately at the Australian Open, which begins on 8. February and in which he is defending champion. Behind Djokovic there are currently three former champions such as Pete Sampras (286 weeks), Ivan Lendl (270) and Jimmy Connors (268), Nadal sixth, first in activity after Djokovic. Djokovic, who returned to number 1 last February 3, without the months of stop on the circuit between March and August would most likely have already passed Federer. As for the Swiss, now number 5 in the ranking with just over half of Djokovic's points (6630), the focus is on his participation in the first Grand Slam of the season. It was Roger who expressed serious doubts about his possibility of being on the pitch in Melbourne in a month and a half, even if he then corrected his shot by explaining that he will move in these days to Dubai - his 'winter base' - and decide what to do based on the next two weeks of training. Djokovic, for his part, has made it known that he will be on the field at the beginning of February for the reduced version of the ATP Cup, the ATP team competition of which he won the first edition last year with Serbia, always scheduled in Melbourne from 1 to 5 February. Former World No.8 and fellow countryman Janko Tipsarevic refused to believe all such claims. He clearly stated that he didn’t feel that Djokovic lacked motivation anytime during his matches.

Tipsarevic talks about his friend Novak Djokovic

“I think that Novak Djokovic raised his level of the game so much that we immediately think that he is not motivated when we see that he does not break everything in front of him and that he loses 7:6 in the third set from Tim,” said Janko Tipsarevic in a recent interview. Tipsarevic admitted that Djokovic definitely played with more zeal at Slams than in Vienna. However, he didn’t consider this as a scale to measure his level of motivation. “Of course, he played with greater zeal, for example. The Australian Open in relation to London, but I would not go so far as to say that he was unmotivated. It is absurd how much he raised expectations and pressure on himself,” added the former Serbian player. “It is obvious what happened in Vienna. He only went to secure the first place and he did it,” continued the 36-year-old. “He is on his way to achieving one of his biggest goals (overtaking Roger Federer), that historical number one. So, it is normal for a small decline to occur,” concluded Tipsarevic. People were certainly skeptical about Djokovic’s intent after the Vienna Open and the ATP Finals 2020. However, many argued that it was just because it was never his primary objective to win any of those titles. Djoker will begin his 2021 campaign at the Australian Open 2021.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/34VEQeS