Novak Djokovic remains focused on making more history at the 2024 US Open and clapped back to people who have questioned his motivation after the Olympic Games.
Djokovic won his first gold medal at the Paris Olympics earlier this month. It was his fifth participation and the last realistic shot at winning the only significant title missing from his impressive resume.
Now that Djokovic was able to conquer 63 other men to the title, including his old nemesis Rafael Nadal and reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz, he completed what he called his "puzzle."
It was a very challenging season for Djokovic before the Olympics, as he did not win a title in the first seven months. That represented his longest barren spell without a trophy to start the year since 2005.
Recently, tennis pundits and former players commented that Djokovic might now play with a handbrake as he has nothing left to win or prove as he approached 40.
The Serbian holds the record for the most Grand Slams (24) and has spent the most weeks at No. 1 than any other player (428). Djokovic has also won the most Masters 1000 (40) and is the only the fifth player to complete the Golden Slam.
Djokovic used his most recent interview before the US Open to assure his fans that he still has a "competitive spirit" and that his self-drive knows no bounds. In fact, he could still break more records by winning the tournament the next fortnight.
He believes he has a duty to inspire aspiring tennis players. He regards Grand Slam tournaments with the highest esteem and has always desired to play his best tennis in them.
"You know, people would ask me, you know, now that you have basically won everything with the golden medal, what else is there to win? I still feel the drive. You know, I still have the competitive spirit. I still want to make more history and enjoy myself on the tour."
"I still hope to inspire many young people to watch tennis, play tennis. Those are some of the reasons why I still keep on going. Grand Slams are the pillars of our sport. They are "the" most important historical tennis events that we have. So if you don't get pumped and inspired to play your best tennis at Grand Slams, it's hard to do that anywhere else."
The US Open men's title has not been defended since 2008, when Roger Federer won the last of his five titles in New York. Djokovic has been close on multiple occasions to replicating the Swiss but has come up short. Asked what he would do differently this year to change that, Djokovic said his goal to win never changes.
"To try to win the title, I think, for starters (laughter). Yeah, I didn't know about that. I knew it was probably the case for five, ten years, but I didn't know it was that long. Yeah, I mean, hopefully that changes this year. I mean, that's the goal. You know, the goal is always for me to try to go all the way to the finals and fight for the trophy. I mean, that kind of mindset or approach is no different for me this year."
"US Open is a slam that holds the biggest tennis court in the world, tennis stadium. You know, night sessions at US Open are very famous, most famous in our sport. I'm going to play my first match here Monday night, so I can't wait to be under the lights. The noise, the energy of the stadium is just different from anything else. You know, I look forward to it."
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