Novak Djokovic gives Carlos Alcaraz reality check | Sports News

Tennis legend Novak Djokovic has opened up about his ongoing dedication to the game as he makes a extremely anticipated return to the Madrid Open after a three-year absence.

The Serbian phenom, on the method to his thirty eighth birthday, stays a relentless competitor, boasting notable achievements this season comparable to defeating Carlos Alcaraz on the Australian Open semis and advancing to the Miami remaining.

Nonetheless, the 24-time Grand Slam champ is no longer the sweeping drive of his prime. Once a half of the Big Four’s grip on tennis, Djokovic has skilled some shocking early match exits lately, because the new technology struggles to command the sport with the identical consistency as him and his well-known contemporaries.

Yet, Djokovic factors out that budding skills like Alcaraz haven’t but reached the zenith of their powers, differentiating them from the storied period of himself, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray.

During the span of almost twenty years, few gamers outdoors the Big Four laid declare to main clay courtroom titles, with Nadal usually dominating the scene. Fast ahead to right this moment – the clay panorama is way more assorted, with athletes unable to keep up the extent of fidelity week in and week out that Djokovic and his friends carried out effortlessly, culminating in extended victory streaks now thought of uncommon.

As the only lively remnant of the Big Four, Djokovic candidly speaks on present tennis dynamics and places into perspective the youth of champions like Alcaraz in comparison with when the Big Four have been on the top of their prowess.

“It’s not something that is common, it happened once in every five seasons or something,” Djokovic feedback, referring to the spectacular successive wins he achieved alongside Federer, Nadal, and Murray.

“Yes, there was domination, obviously, from Rafa on clay, or Roger on grass, me on hard court would win, whatever, three, four years in a row, Indian Wells, Miami, back-to-back. But that also came, for me personally, that level of I guess dominant tennis and achievements, when I was 23, 24 years old and then after that. So between, let’s say, 23 and 33 is when it was really happening. And now Carlos is still not 23.

“We need to do not forget that his age and what he has achieved for his age isn’t additionally regular. I’m sure that we’ll see a lot of him on the large stage with trophies sooner or later in, no matter, 10 years, 15 years, as long as he is taking part in.”

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“I imply, the competitors is at all times there. I feel each technology has its totally different competitors. It’s arduous to check eras. The final 20 years was dominated largely by the 4 of us. Obviously when the three of my largest rivals retired, you may really feel there’s a shift, not solely in phrases of the generations of gamers which are sort of now, all of a sudden, the principle focus and a spotlight is on them.”

Despite recognizing the time has come for the younger generation to take center stage, Djokovic confessed that he’s motivated to keep flying the flag for his own generation, prolonging their time in the spotlight. “I assume it takes a little bit of time for people to simply accept the truth that Roger and Rafa aren’t taking part in, and Murray, and I assume sooner or later myself, however I’m nonetheless attempting to remain there and symbolize the older guys, the older technology. Hopefully that brings the constructive impact to the tournaments and to the tour itself,” he explained.

“That’s additionally one of the explanation why I keep on taking part in is as a result of I really feel prefer it additionally helps tennis nonetheless thrive on the eye and crowd coming in and watching tournaments and getting . If you see the numbers really of the attendance within the Grand Slams as properly and a few, like Indian Wells, it is record-breaking crowd in the previous few years. Which is nice information that it should not be depending on the large stars or legends of the sport that retired.

“It should be, it should, the sport should outlive everyone, the sport will outlive everyone, and the sport is more important than anybody individually. So we are all here in the service of a sport as well.”