Novak Djokovic: For the first time in my career I don’t have a long term plan
Novak Djokovic has hinted that he may not play many more tournaments this year, with the 24-time Grand Slam champion admitting that he ‘doesn’t have a clue’ what his plan is.
Djokovic was playing a charity exhibition match last night with fellow top 10 player Grigor Dimitrov in Sofia.
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The match was raising money for Dimitrov’s foundation, with the Bulgarian beating Djokovic 6-4 2-6 10-6.
While the match was more about the raising money and having fun, Djokovic was also asked by media about what the remainder of the 2024 season holds for him.
“We were having dinner last night and I said to the guys that probably for the first time in my career I really don’t have a long-term plan,” answered Djokovic.
“I really try to be in the moment and see what happens. I’m going to be playing here, I’m going to be playing in China and I will play an exhibition in Saudi and that’s all I know. Basically after that, I really don’t have a clue what I’m going to do.”
Grigor Dimitrov and Novak Djokovic wearing matching custom denim jackets 🤝 pic.twitter.com/MvLWtklXA5
— Eurosport (@eurosport) September 17, 2024
Djokovic is now set to head to the Shanghai Masters, where he is a record four-time champion, for the first time since 2019.
After that the only event Djokovic is scheduled to compete in is ‘The Six Kings Slam’ exhibition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, alongside Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune.
The 37-year-old went onto speak about how priorities have changed for him in terms of spending time with family, “I’m going to see how I feel. Family life is also extremely important to me, trying to be there for my children, for my wife and be part of the everyday normal life as I wasn’t for many years because of the nature of my profession.
“I had to travel a lot and be absent so I have to balance things out so let’s see. I am driven by records and results, of course, that’s no secret. That’s a big objective but I also have to prioritise certain tournaments over others.”
Djokovic will return to action at the Shanghai Masters, with the tournament getting underway on Wednesday 2nd October.
Inside the baseline…
This is not too much of a surprise from Novak Djokovic, as he mentioned the other day about how he was not prioritising qualifying for the ATP Finals anymore. When you have won everything to win in the sport then your motivation is likely to dwindle at some point, and it seems as though Djokovic is trying to preserve that motivation for the major tournaments and representing Serbia.
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