“Alcaraz wants to make history, but maybe it’s a little early for him to think about that”

The Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic is clear that both the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz and the Italian Jannik Sinner can beat his record of ‘Grand Slams’ “if they do things properly” and, of Murcia, he assures that he will complete the four “very soon” ‘greats’ and that he should not yet focus on being “the story”, while he does not doubt that he still sees himself competitive to continue with a career marked by the rivalry with Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal.

“It’s too early, but people say my records will never be broken. I doubt it, I mean, Carlos could be next, even Jannik. If they take care of their body, if they do things the right way, focus on longevity and in the long term, then they can do it,” says Djokovic in an interview in ‘GQ’ magazine, whose February issue he is on the cover of.

Regarding the Murcian, remember that “he has done something that no one has done in history at such a young age.” “So the odds are on his side. He is going to complete his ‘Grand Slam’ very soon,” he warns of the El Palmar player, who only needs the Australian Open that begins this Sunday.

“Even he himself has said that he wants to make history, that he wants to be ‘the best ever.’ I respect that kind of mentality of ‘Hey, I think I have what it takes,’ but maybe it’s a little early for him to think about the history,” the one from Belgrade advises him anyway.

In an extensive interview in which ‘Nole’ touches on many topics, the winner of 24 ‘grandes’ admits that, at 37 years old and with few things to achieve after winning the long-awaited Olympic gold last summer, he has not yet thought about retirement. “If I’m still physically capable and I still feel like I can beat the best players in the world at Grand Slams, why would I want to stop now?” he remarks.

In any case, he is “thinking about how and when” he wants to end his career, something that is not on his mind “so intensely.” “How would I like to finish it? If I start losing more and I feel like there’s a bigger gap, that I start having more challenges to overcome those big obstacles in the ‘big ones’, then I’ll probably quit. But right now I’m fine, I’ll continue go ahead,” he confesses.

He also talks about his rivalry with Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer, which he describes as “eternal.” “It’s something that leaves an incredible mark and legacy on this sport. It’s something that will last forever and that I’m very proud of, I’m very happy to be part of that group. They have been an integral part of my success and the history I made of this sport. The rivalries with them have hardened me like nothing has throughout my career,” he says.

NADAL’S ‘INTIMIDATION’

And between the Swiss and the Spanish, he does not hide that the second was more “intimidating” and he does not forget any of his ‘rituals’ before the games, such as playing the music very loud in his headphones so that everyone could hear it. “I saw somewhere that when they asked him about it he said he never did it to intimidate. I was like ‘Uhh, I’m not so sure,'” he points out.

“But he was famous for that. He wanted to make his presence felt and say he was ready for a battle. That’s very intimidating for a lot of players and if you don’t have confidence in yourself, if you don’t have the self-belief and a game plan clear about what you want to do from the beginning, it’s going to eat you alive,” Djokovic acknowledges.

The Serbian insists on his belief that neither Nadal nor Federer accepted him “at the beginning” because of his ambition to want to beat them. “And because of that stance of trust, they probably distanced themselves from me even more. And that’s fine, I accepted it as it is, I understood the message I received, which was that we are rivals and nothing more. And to be honest, it’s very difficult to be friends on the circuit. If you are the biggest rival and you compete constantly and you are one, two and three in the world, it is difficult to be close, go out to dinner and take family trips,” he adds.

For this reason, the one from Belgrade would like to “have a drink or two with them.” “And just open up and talk about the things that bothered them, or vice versa. And I think I would also love to pick their brains and understand what they were thinking, how they handled certain situations on the court and the pressures on your shoulders when you’re on top. of the game. And I have my observations because I observed them as they observed me over the years, but it is different when you hear it from the person themselves,” emphasizes the former world number one.

Starting Monday, the Balkan will seek his twenty-fifth ‘Grand Slam’, a figure not reached by any male or female tennis player, at the Australian Open, a tournament that he has won ten times and where he experienced a difficult situation in 2021 when he was deported by the authorities for not having been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

“They proclaimed me the number one villain in the world and even today, 99 percent of people don’t know why I was deported from Australia, on what basis. People think I was deported because I haven’t been vaccinated, that I wasn’t vaccinated and that “I tried to enter Australia by force, which is completely false,” explains ‘Nole’, who insists that he is “neither for nor against vaccines.” “I’m all for the freedom to choose what’s best for you and your body, so when someone takes away my right to choose what I should take for my body, I don’t think that’s right,” she points out.

Finally, Djokovic does not avoid talking about issues related to politics, a world in which he sees himself “outside” despite being a person with a lot of impact in his country. “I have to say that a lot of people ask me if I want to be a politician one day because they think I should run for the presidency of Serbia. And right now, I’m not interested in that because I think that the political scene or the political world in our region is not It’s not good at all,” he admits.

“I don’t see how I could, personally, prosper and be able to give my country what my country deserves in a way that is not, how can I say it, manipulated. There is so much manipulation going on right now even if you go into politics with good intentions and , I have to emphasize this, I am not educated for politics So even in the future, if I thought about something like that, I would first go through a period of education, but I don’t think that currently, without this education, I would be able to throw myself into it and prosper. in that environment, and offer what I think I want offer,” says Djokovic.