Novak Djokovic’s 6-3, 6-3 victory over Jannik Sinner consecrated him even more as the greatest tennis player of all time with seven ATP Finals victories, surpassing the six of another legend, the now-retired Roger Federer.
The Serb has 98 ATP tournament victories and is closing in on Federer’s record of 103. Having won the Australian Open, Roland Garros and the US Open this season, he is now the only player to have won 24 Grand Slam tournaments, one more than Spain’s Rafa Nadal. Indeed, ‘Rafa’ is hoping to return to action in Melbourne in January 2024 after a long injury lay-off.
However, ‘Nole’ is already 36 years old and the Olympic gold has eluded him, with just one medal to his name in four appearances. The Balkan was beaten by Nadal in the semi-finals at Beijing 2008 and finished on the podium only once by beating American James Blake for bronze.
Four years later in London, he lost to Andy Murray of Great Britain in the semi-finals and to Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in the bronze medal match. He fared far worse at Rio 2016, when Del Potro ousted him 6-7, 6-7 in the first round and at Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021) he lost to Russia’s Karen Kachanov in the semi-finals and to Spain’s Pablo Carreño in the consolation final.
As a result, Djokovic sees the Paris Games as one of his targets for next year. “It is definitely one of the main goals for next year, apart from the Grand Slams. It’s going to be a very busy schedule, going from the slowest surface to the fastest and back to the slowest. Clay, grass, clay, then hard court. Obviously, it’s going to be a very demanding, challenging part of the year”, he said.
“I will have to talk to my team and see how we can plan our preparation and training so that I can play my best tennis where I want to”, ‘Nole’ added.
Meanwhile, the Balkan tennis great’s season is far from over and he will be in Malaga this week in a bid to win the Davis Cup for Serbia for the second time, after beating France 3-2 in the 2010 final in Belgrade, where he won both matches in three sets against Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon.
Source : insidethegames
