Novak Djokovic is ready to finish a calendar 12 months with no main for the primary time since his injury-riddled 2017. The Serb’s lone title of the 12 months is the Paris Olympics; that additionally marks his fewest of any season since his first 12 months on the senior tour in 2005.
The 37-year-old’s diminishing skill to rack up titles has led to chatter of his retirement, with many hoping to see him depart on a excessive moderately than being compelled to stop attributable to accidents.
Djokovic, although, doesn’t share the identical imaginative and prescient for his retirement and feels “sorry” for anybody who thinks he ought to stroll away.
“Deep down, I nonetheless really feel like I’ve a couple of extra Grand Slams to win,” Djokovic told La Nacion. “That is what drives me to maintain going, to really feel like I can nonetheless do it. Tennis remains to be my greatest voice for sharing the messages that curiosity me probably the most. I nonetheless benefit from the course of and all the pieces it provides me. Perhaps some folks assume I ought to retire with the Olympic gold, on a excessive. Others, quite the opposite, assume I ought to hold going so long as I’m a candidate for the Grand Slams. I’m leaning in the direction of the latter.
“Perhaps I’ll change my thoughts quickly, however now I really feel like I need to hold going. I really feel sorry for many who need me to retire, however I nonetheless have a while left.”
In recent times, Djokovic’s contemporaries, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal, have been compelled to retire after their our bodies gave up on them. Fearing that the identical might occur to “The Joker,” tennis legend Chris Evert predicted in August that he might retire if he wins his record-breaking twenty fifth main at Flushing Meadows, as he’d don’t have anything left to attain, particularly after profitable his elusive Olympic gold medal.
That prediction did not come true, as Djokovic suffered a stunning third-round loss on the U.S. Open. Apart from the twenty fifth main, which is able to assist him break the tie with Chris Evert for many slams, Djokovic has yet one more feat to tick off his bucket checklist: a one hundredth ATP title. He nearly achieved it last week earlier than falling to Jannik Sinner within the finals in Shanghai.
