Djokovic: 'It's a competition between Roger Federer, Nadal and me in all areas'

The Australian Open is a simple tournament: 128 players participate and in the end Novak Djokovic always wins. Borrowing and adapting a historic phrase by Gary Lineker we can summarize the outcome of the first round of the Grand Slam of 2021. The world number one, struggling less than expected, won for the ninth time in Melbourne and beating Daniil Medvedev won the 18th Grand Slam tournament of his career and he got even closer to Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, who won 20. Now Nole dreams of the Grand Slam and maybe even thinks about overtaking, or at least hooking up this season. Djokovic had to jump several ditches during the tournament, with Fritz in the third round he won in the fifth, he stopped due to a physical problem, he said he suffered a strain or maybe a tear, if that was the case he should have retired and instead in four sets he got rid of Raonic and Zverev, who threw a golden opportunity, then the semifinal with Karatsev which was a competitive training. He imagined finding more resistance to the Serbian in the final. First of all because Medvedev is a future number 1, qualifying for the last act in Melbourne will rise to number 3, and because the Russian had won the last twenty games, including Paris Bercy, ATP Finals, he also beat Djokovic with a double 6-3, ATP Cup and Australian Open, with a clear path except for the two sets lost with Krajinovic and the fight with coach Cervara. Novak Djokovic has become the first man in history to win the Australian Open nine times. He is now just two shy of the record of 20 Majors, which is jointly held by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Djokovic praises Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

"Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal inspire me. That's something that I've said before, I'll say it again. I think as long as they go, I'll go," Novak Djokovic said. "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." With Novak Djokovic already guaranteed to break the all-time record of most weeks at No. 1 in men's tennis, the Serb reiterated that all his energies will now be focused on the Grand Slam record. "Whether I think about winning more Slams and breaking records, of course. Of course, I do," Djokovic said. "Most of my attention and my energy from this day forward, until I retire from tennis, is going to be directed in Majors, trying to win more Major trophies."

 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3kja0Dj