“I Don’t Know How Many More Slams I’ll Have”

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday August 24, 2023

Novak Djokovic enters the US Open on the cusp of making history for tennis and rewriting the sports’ record books once again.

What else is new?

On Friday the 23-time major champion took to the podium in the main interview in Paris and told reporters that he still burns to win major titles more than anything. “Grand Slams are the biggest goals that I have in my career at the moment,” he said. “I always speak about that, that I aim to peak and perform my best in Grand Slams.”

Djokovic, seeded second in New York, and bidding for what would be his record 24th major title, says he doesn’t know how much longer he can keep up the trailblazing pace that has seen him win 11 major titles since turning 30, but the end is nowhere in sight.

“I don’t know how many more slams I’ll have,” he said. “I’ll still keep going. I don’t have an end in my mind at the moment. I also understand that things are different when you’re 36, so I have to be more appreciative, a bit more, I guess, present, treating every Grand Slam as maybe your last one in terms of commitment and performance.

“I see this every Grand Slam that I play right now as really a golden opportunity to make more history. Of course, there’s a big significance to that.”

Djokovic, who owns a 81-13 lifetime record at Flushing Meadows with three titles, last won the title in New York in 2018. Since then he has ran the gamut of difficulty, losing in the round of 16 when he retired with an injury to Stan Wawrinka, getting disqualified in 2020 after striking a lineswoman with a ball inadvertently, and losing the final to Daniil Medvedev as he made a play to become the first player to win the Calendar Slam since 1969.

Last year he was not allowed in the United States due to the fact that he didn’t receive the Covid-19 vaccine.

Djokovic, who made a show of intent last week in Cincinnati when he took out Carlos Alcaraz in an epic final that lasted three hours and 49 minutes, says there are no hard feelings about being banned from participation in 2022.

“There was no anger,” he said. “It was last year during the Open that I felt it’s a pity that I’m not there. I felt sad for not being able to participate. But this year, I mean, is this year. I don’t think about what happened in the last year, or the last couple of years. Just focusing my attention on this year’s tournament.”