Novak Djokovic has consistently spoken about the physical challenges face by his body at the top of the game and the 23-time major winner has now admitted that he has to work against the clock at 36 and as he bids to win his first title at Flushing Meadows since 2018.
The Serbian is facing the challenge of the younger lot on the tour with the defending US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz maintaining a 16 year age gap with the 2023 Wimbledon runner-up.
Despite on the twilight of his career, Djokovic has displayed the supreme tennis quality and the 23-time Slam champion has admitted that he is already battling against the tide of time and has to find new ways to win at the back end of his career.
“I would just say it’s different, you know. I said not in a way that recovery is more difficult nowadays than it was 10 years ago. It’s just different,” he declared.
“I have to have an approach that is different from what it was 10 years ago.
“I have to adapt to my, you know, to my life and changes. I’m the father of two children, a lot of things are happening off the court that are obviously part of my life that affects me in one way or another, my mental state, my emotional state.
“You know, I need to know how to handle all of these things and create a formula that works. So far, so good.”
The Serbian goat who will once again become world No. 1 after the conclusion of US Open, has the best coaching team on his side to sharpen his armory and along with that he has the most strictly managed diet on tour and also a very rigorous fitness regime – all helping him to continue his march towards greatness.
“I must say that I have really a lot of people around me, you know, in terms of the medical, you know, fitness, and physiotherapy, kinesiology, you know, aspect to make sure that my body is recovered and is in shape in order to compete at the highest level,” he stated.
“Mentally there is probably a lot more that I’m dealing with in my private life than it was the case 10 years ago. But that’s the beauty of life, you know. Things are evolving and moving on.
“I just feel that there is always, I guess, an extra gear that you have inside of you and you can find when you dig deep to handle, you know, and manage energy levels on and off the court if you’re really devoted to that and if you care about it, if you pay attention to that mental aspect as much as physical, of course.
“Because for quite a few years actually mental training was not really talked about much generally in the tennis world. And, you know, mental health is a subject that is quite talked about in the last, I would say, three, four years, which I’m glad.
“You know, it needs to be out there, it needs to be, you know, addressed in a proper way so that the players have a proper understanding of what they are going through and then have help and, you know, guidance, necessary guidance for them to overcome certain obstacles.
“At the end of the day, we are also people that are also, you know, have to deal with the private issues that everyone has, but then on that high level of individual sport, a lot of things, relationships with your close ones, can affect how you feel on a decisive point, you know.
“That’s why it’s so important to address everything holistically, multidisciplinary, so to say, because then you will just be more prepared. You will have more tools that you can use in a given moment.”