Novak Djokovic hopes to continue his Wimbledon career after being knocked out of the tournament in straight sets by Jannik Sinner for the second year in a row.
In what he describes as a ‘good old blowout,’ the 24-time Grand Slam winner failed to break Sinner throughout their latest match on Centre Court. The defeat occurred three days after Djokovic played for more than five hours in the quarter-finals against Felix Auger-Aliassime in one of the longest matches of his career.
“I was just half a step late in any shot. It’s as simple as that,” the 39-year-old said of his loss to Sinner.
“He was a level or more better than I was. I was not sharp enough, not reactive enough, not balanced enough to play him. That’s it. There’s not much I could do on the court.”
Wimbledon is only the fifth tournament Djokovic has played this season. In recent months, he has prioritised playing in Grand Slam events and trying to peak in them. Whilst it hasn’t yielded him any titles, he has maintained consistency by reaching at least the semi-finals in six out of the last seven played. His best result during this period was in January when he was runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open.
It is a streak that few players on the Tour have managed to achieve, and plenty of others could only dream of doing so. However, Djokovic is still not satisfied.
“For me, it’s good but not good enough because I’m blessed and cursed to be used to something of the highest degree in terms of results and achievements,” he explains.
“I’m telling myself, ‘Look, this is amazing that you’re still able to play at such a high level and push the youngsters to the limit for Grand Slam titles,’ which is true. But at the same time, I always have the highest expectations for myself.”
It is these expectations that drive Djokovic to keep on playing. He is the oldest player currently in the top 100 and one of the oldest in history to have ever played a Wimbledon semi-final.
“I still enjoy the thrill of competition,” he explains. “Maybe I don’t enjoy all the hard weeks that are leading up to a big tournament, putting myself over and over again through a lot of pain, physically mostly.
“I’m glad that this tournament, the body held up pretty well. Pretty much every other tournament in the last two years, it was always something.”
Djokovic has now played 83 Grand Slam events across a 21-year period. When he made his debut at the 2005 Australian Open, Sinner was two-and-a-half.
“The tournament was positive in terms of the attitude on the court, the fighting spirit, the dedication. It’s still there.” He summarised of his latest Wimbledon campaign.
