Be afraid. Be very afraid. With history in his pocket following his 20th Grand Slam win at Wimbledon 2021, Novak Djokovic feels he is not yet at his peak. At the age of 34, he is actually getting better.
“I am a better player in all areas,” he said, contemplating what lies ahead. “The journey that I've been through has been very rewarding for every segment of my game and also my mental strength, the experience, understanding of how to cope with the pressure in the big moments, how to be a clutch player when it matters the most. Just the ability to cope with pressure.
“The more you play the big matches, the more experience you have. The more experience you have, the more you believe in yourself. The more you win, the more confident you are. It's all connected. Obviously it's all coming together.
“In the last couple of years, for me, age is just a number. I don't feel that I'm old or anything like that. Obviously things are a bit different, and you have to adjust and adapt to your, so to say, phases you go through in your career. But I feel like I'm probably the most complete that I've been as a player right now in my entire career.”
It was only around three years ago – he was vague, but say around the time of his 13th Grand Slam win at Wimbledon in 2018 – that he realised it would be possible for him to catch Roger Federer’s record. (The Swiss won his most recent Grand Slam at the Australian Open earlier that year.)
“Before that it seemed a little bit out of reach,” smiled Djokovic, who surpassed Federer’s record of 310 weeks at the No.1 spot in March. “I've always believed I could play my best tennis in Grand Slams and give myself a good chance to win any slam really on any surface because I know what I'm capable of. I know I have a very complete game that has proven to be successful on all surfaces in the past.
“But only the last two-and-a-half, three years I started to realise that actually I can reach the weeks of No. 1, which was my primary goal actually in the last two years, and also Grand Slams. It's really incredible that it's all coming together in the same year. That's something that I didn't expect.”
He is, of course, now three-quarters of the way to becoming the first man to achieve the calendar-year Grand Slam since Rod Laver in 1969. Until this weekend, he had intended to make it a ‘Golden Slam’ – going to the Olympics in pursuit of a gold medal. His three previous Games have yielded just one bronze, in 2008. But this weekend’s revelation that no spectators will be allowed in Tokyo has him hesitating.
“It’s not great news,” he mused. “That was really disappointing to hear. I also hear that there's going to be a lot of restrictions within the Village. Possibly you would not be able to see other athletes perform live. I can't even have my stringer, who is very important part of my team. I'll have to think about it. My plan was always to go. But right now it's 50-50.”
That total on-court experience, including spectators, is crucial to him. It helps him remain only in the moment of each point, rather than getting down on himself for a mistake made – yes, even Djokovic gets down on himself.
“I've been very fortunate to be so strong in the decisive moments of the biggest tournaments throughout my career. I lost also quite a bit of finals of Grand Slams where I felt like I was close to winning, but then I folded. As Michael Jordan used to say, ‘I failed, I failed, I failed, and that's why I succeeded in the end’.”
He confessed he did feel the weight of history approaching before his semi-final and final here. So does he now consider himself the greatest male tennis player of the Open era?
“I consider myself best and I believe that I am the best, otherwise I wouldn't be talking confidently about winning slams and making history,” he said, before adding politely: “Whether I'm the greatest of all time or not, I leave that debate to other people.”
It may not be a debate for much longer, if Djokovic’s ambitions continue to be fulfilled.
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