Novak Djokovic has no intention of walking away from tennis anytime soon as he draws inspiration from one of the NFL’s biggest names.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Tom Brady by continuing his career as a professional athlete in his 40s. Djokovic is 36 and is currently the oldest player in the world’s top 40 on the ATP Tour. Despite being a veteran of the sport, the Serbian has won three out of four Grand Slam tournaments this year with the only exception being Wimbledon where he finished runner-up.
Speaking to reporters in Ridayh on Tuesday, Djokovic says he has learned a lot from Brady who he describes as a ‘great example of a champion.‘ Brady played 23 seasons in the National Football League and won seven Super Bowls before retiring earlier this year at the age of 45. He used to play for the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“Tom Brady is a great example of a champion in his sport and someone that has had such a great career and longevity,” Reuters quoted Djokovic as saying.
“He has put a lot of hours and a lot of time into self-care, into recovery, into making sure that in a way every aspect of his body and mind is covered so that he can have a long-lasting, successful career.
“I know him personally and I learned a lot from him, from his example, and hopefully I can have a career that goes up to 40 or maybe even beyond — let’s see.”
The world No.1 returns to the court on Wednesday to play an exhibition match against Carlos Alcaraz in Saudi Arabia. The Riyadh Tennis Cup also held a women’s match earlier this week which saw Aryna Sabalenka beat Ons Jabeur in three sets. The event was previously known as the Diriyah Season Tennis Cup in 2019 and 2022.
“Our era is coming to an end, but you have Alcaraz emerging which is great, and I was very happy that I had four very good matches with him this year,” Djokovic said of his rivalry with the Spaniard. “Each match attracted a lot of attention, we had a lot of great highlights and it’s good, it’s good for our sport.”
Djokovic will be hoping the match will set him on good footing heading into the upcoming Australian Open where he will be aiming to win the men’s title for a record 11th time in his career.
“I feel great in my own body right now and I’ve been playing some really high-quality tennis,” he states. “2023 was one of the best seasons I’ve had in my life and why stop while you’re still playing great? So I’ll keep going and take [each] year, one by one, and see how far I go.”
Djokovic has won 98 ATP titles so far in his career and earned more than $180M in prize money.
