Novak Djokovic sits at the top of men’s tennis despite being on the wrong side of 30 and has admitted that he is having the form of his career right now.
The Serbian saw off Italian Jannik Sinner to cement his status as the year-end world number one for a record 8th time and in process also sealed the 400 total weeks as the ATP #1. His latest triumph at the season-ending Championships was also a record-shattering feat as he surpassed Roger Federer on the previous all-time list of 6 titles.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion’s heroics in 2023 drew comparisons with his historic 2013 season where he notched the three majors and put himself on the forefront of men’s tennis that was dominated by unrivalled Federer and Nadal.
Djokovic is now two ahead of his greatest rival Nadal in majors thanks to his Australian, French and US Open titles.
When quizzed whether 2023 was his best year yet, the World No. 1 rejected the idea that his ten year’s old version was the best he has been.
“10 years ago was 2013, so I would say Novak of today (is superior),” he said.
“2015 was one of the best years, probably the best year I had with 19 finals in a row in all the tournaments, three out of four slams. I had quite a great 18 months in 2015 and half of 2016.
“Again, the moments in time are different for me. I don’t try to play as much as I did play 10 years ago. I have to pick and choose the right tournaments and right periods of the year where I can perform my best.
“It’s tough to compare. But someone did ask me the same question not a while ago. The question was actually phrased like, who would win in the matchup?
“I said it would be an easy job for a 36-year-old, yeah (laughing). Joking, of course. I don’t know what the score would be. I would give my young self a hard time, that’s for sure.”
The legendary Serbian also suggested he was ready to extend the winning ways for the foreseeable future as he assessed he was still a few steps ahead of the next-gen challengers.
“I have always the highest ambitions and goals,” he added. “That’s not going to be different for the next year, that’s for sure.
“The drive that I have is still there. My body has been serving me well, listening to me well. I have a great team of people around me. Motivation, especially for the biggest tournaments in sport, is still present.
“It still inspires me to keep going. In the end of the day, people see you performing in the big tournaments, but they don’t see all the weeks & months of dedication day-to-day, week-to-week work, trying to build your form so that you can peak where you want to peak.
“For me, obviously those are Grand Slams, World Tour Finals and next year hopefully also Olympic Games. The mindset is the same.
“I’ll keep going. I don’t know whether I’m going to have as good of a year next year, but I’m going to keep this kind of freshness of mind and motivation to do that.”
There appears to be no signs of Djokovic stopping anytime sooner and if the evidence of the last season could be applied as a yardstick, the 36-year-old may already be a favorite to win all four GSs as well as the Olympic Gold in Paris in 2024.