Novak Djokovic brushed aside any retirement rumours after a misunderstanding in Italian and described being the year-end world number one for a seventh time.
The Serb spoke after a testing opening round robin win in Turin, where he managed to defeat Casper Ruud in straight sets.
Djokovic served 10 aces and won 90% of his first service points as he began his quest for a sixth title at the Nitto ATP Finals in successful fashion.
However it was his post-match comments that caused quite a stir where in Italian it was understood that he said that he would only play tennis for two more years.
In his press conference Djokovic described the comments as a misunderstanding and brushed aside any retirement rumours, “I didn’t mean it that way,” Djokovic happily said.
“‘Paio d’anni’ means couple of years. I said “couple,” meaning — I don’t know. I thought couple of years playing at the highest level, why not? I mean, it would be great.
“Look, I don’t have a number in my mind, you know, of the years I still want to play at this level. I don’t have a limit. I don’t want to impose a limit to myself at all, because I still enjoy playing tennis, and I really enjoy competition and playing at the highest level.
“Being No. 1 in the world, there is no reason for me yet to think about leaving tennis. You know, I really am in a good place at the moment. So I’m sorry if someone misinterpreted that.”
Adding on the topic of retirement, Djokovic also gave a reflection of where he feels he’s at in his career as he looks to add more grand slams to his collection in 2022.
The Serb won the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year and is still motivated by the challenges that this sport provides, “Well, I take care of my body along with my team pretty well, so I believe it won’t be for the injury actually, I hope it won’t be for that, that it will come on my own terms, whenever that moment arrives, that I’ll be very clear with myself that that’s it, you know, that that chapter of my life is done, that I can move on,” Djokovic reflected.
“But I just don’t feel that’s around the corner, so to say. I still feel like I have years in my legs and in my heart and in my head. As long as that’s the case, I’ll keep going, because I truly love the sport and I enjoy the competition, because it keeps me going, challenges me, motivates me, and that’s essential ingredients, so to say, for me to still keep on playing, because otherwise it will be very difficult to get up more or less every single day and train hard in order to stay at that highest level and compete for the biggest titles in sport and biggest achievements.”
Djokovic also spoke about lifting the year-end world number one trophy after his match with Ruud.
It is now the seventh time that the Serb has lifted the trophy, that’s more than any other player, and Djokovic doesn’t take the achievement for granted, “Feels amazing, and obviously feels even better when you win a match and you get your hands on that trophy that I have been blessed to lift for seven times now in my career, one more than Pete Sampras, who was my childhood hero,” Djokovic said.
“He was the one that got me going with tennis. You know, the first time I watched a tennis match was — I have said this before — it was his Wimbledon finals, I think ’91 or ’92, and, you know, he always was an inspiration to me and kind of dreamt of being a Wimbledon champion and No. 1 in the world like he is. Kind of fast-forward to today, it’s amazing to be in this position. I’m very grateful. But certainly it’s something that I am very much appreciating and not taking for granted.”
Djokovic will play Stefanos Tsitsipas or Andrey Rublev on Wednesday in his second group match in Turin.