Novak Djokovic is confident he will remain competitive in Grand Slam tournaments next season despite falling short in his pursuit of a standalone record of 25 Major titles at the US Open.
Djokovic was in superb form in the first week of the tournament in New York City, where he was hardly troubled until the quarterfinals. The Serbian survived a four-set tussle against Taylor Fritz to set up a blockbuster semifinal showdown against second seed Carlos Alcaraz.
While Djokovic showed his admirable fighting spirit throughout the contest, he was eventually overpowered and outmaneuvered by the Spaniard, who is 16 years younger. It was the second Grand Slam in a row that Djokovic had been beaten by either Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner in the semifinal stage.
Djokovic “not giving up on Grand Slams”
Speaking in his post-match conference after a straight-sets defeat to Alcaraz, which ends his interest in Grand Slams this season, Djokovic acknowledged that Alcaraz and Sinner are physically superior to him at this stage of his career and that it would be difficult to overcome either or both of them in a best-of-five match in the future. He stated that he has a better chance against them in a best-of-three format. Noetheless, Djokovic is not ruling himself out from contending for Major titles.
”It will be very difficult for me in the future to overcome the hurdle of Sinner and Alcaraz in the best of five in Grand Slams. I think I have a better chance, best of three, but best of five, it’s tough, ” the former World No. 1 said. “I’m not giving up on Grand Slams in that regard. Having said that, I’m going to continue fighting and trying to, you know, trying to get to the finals and fight for another trophy at least. But you know, it’s going to be a very, very difficult task.”
With the Grand Slam season coming to an end, Djokovic’s post-US Open schedule is unclear. He is expected to play the lucrative Six Kings Slam exhibition tournament in Saudi Arabia in mid-October, but besides that, he has not committed to play any Masters 1000s or the ATP Finals should he qualify.
Main Photo Credit: Robert Deutsch – Imagn Images
