Novak Djokovic has arguably put together the best tennis career of all time, and yet he's not sure whether it's enough.
Truly at the heart of every athlete's decision to stop playing are a few questions. "Did I do enough?", and "Should I keep going?" Djokovic has been at that stage for a while now, and he's not sure about the answer.
When you think about his achievements, you'd think that sort of attitude is pretty crazy. How could it not be enough when it's arguably the best career of all time? Well, part of it, at least for Djokovic, is, the desire to keep playing.
It won't ever feel right to just stop, but he'll have to. Time is brutal to all of us, and the 24-time Grand Slam champion is no exception. In a recent talk with Sport Klub, Djokovic discussed his struggle with his future retirement.
How to do it? When to do it? Should he keep playing? What event should he play? These are all questions he keeps asking himself, and there is no clear conclusion.
"To be honest, I’m divided. There’s always a part of me that is a young boy who just adores tennis and knows only about tennis…and that boy still wants to keep going."
"And then, on the other side, I’m the father of 2 children, and I’m away from my family, and every time I travel for an extended period of time it breaks my heart. So I’m always thinking about, how long should I play, how many tournaments should I play, is it worth it?"
It's a tough decision for sure and many players have struggled with it. Some make the decision easier than others but Djokovic never shied away from admitting that he does chase records.
He does care about his legacy, and he wants to win as much as possible. As of now, he's still competitive and winning, so retirement seems to be far away for now. But he's thinking about it, he admitted as much.
"I’m still hungry, I still want to compete, I still can run for hours, thankfully, but it’s more of an emotional aspect, it’s more of ‘what is the priority?’. Tennis has been the priority for 30 years, and I don’t want to miss out on too many moments with my children."
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