Novak Djokovic has laid down a gauntlet ahead of the Australian Open, declaring that he can \u2018beat anybody\u2019 in the draw when at his best, including Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.<\/p>\n
The Serb has had a complicated last 24 months, reaching one Grand Slam final and five such semi-finals, but looking increasingly physically weakened towards the back end of tournaments.<\/p>\n
2025 saw Djokovic<\/a> defy age by winning titles in both Geneva and Athens, increasing his overall singles title haul to 101.<\/p>\n His last three Grand Slam semi-final defeats came to one of Sinner (French Open and Wimbledon) and Alcaraz (US Open), unable to clinch a set in any clash.<\/p>\n Since the former world No 1\u2019s victory at the US Open in 2023, the pair have produced a dominance not too dissimilar from that during Big Three era \u2013 sharing all of the last eight Grand Slams.<\/p>\n Despite the hurdles, Djokovic still believes that he can give himself opportunities to compete with the world\u2019s best, including over the next two weeks in Melbourne.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m missing a little bit of juice in my legs, to be honest, to be able to compete with these guys at the later stages of a Grand Slam,\u201d he admitted during his pre-tournament press conference.<\/p>\n \u201cI lost three out of four slams against either Sinner or Alcaraz. We know how good they are, and they absolutely deserve to be where they are.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are the dominant forces of the men\u2019s tennis at the moment. I\u2019m still trying to be in the mix.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously I\u2019m grateful to have the better ranking so that I could have eventually better draws in, you know, the first several rounds. That doesn\u2019t affect the way I approach [a] Slam.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, I know that my priority is really taking care of my body and trying to of course treat every match like it\u2019s finals, but at the same time, build momentum and also not spend unnecessary energy, you know, and hopefully I can go far again and get a chance to play them.\u201d<\/p>\n Roger Federer gives answer on whether he would coach Carlos Alcaraz after shock split \u2013 \u2018Never say never\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Supercomputer predicts Australian Open winners: Alcaraz & Sabalenka backed as Raducanu given 0.1% chance<\/a><\/p>\n Of course, a hypothetical victory at the Australian Open wouldn\u2019t just break Djokovic\u2019s drought, it would also give him the record for the most Grand Slam singles titles by any player \u2013 male or female.<\/p>\n The Serb is currently tied with Margaret Court on 24 titles.<\/p>\n Djokovic would also break the record for the oldest players to win a singles Grand Slam, with Ken Rosewall currently holding that record at 37 years and two months.<\/p>\n However, he has also noted that he does not want to induce any unnecessary pressure at the four biggest tournaments of the season.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, there has been a lot of talk about the 25th, but, you know, I try to focus myself on what I have achieved, not what I\u2019m possibly achieving,\u201d Djokovic commented.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, I hope it comes to that, but 24 is also not a bad number. I have to appreciate that and remind myself of the amazing career I had.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd also, you know, release some of that unnecessary pressure.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, obviously there is always pressure and expectations, but, you know, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s, you know, needed for me to really go far in terms of, you know, make-it-or-break-it type of thing, you know, it\u2019s now-or-never type of mentality. I don\u2019t feel it\u2019s necessary.<\/p>\n \u201cNeither does that allow me to excel and perform my best.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just, as I said, grateful to have another shot, particularly here, a place where I won 10 Grand Slam titles and been consistently playing well and reaching the final stages. Last couple of years also semi-finals, \u201924 semi-finals, \u201925. Had a great win against Carlos [Alcaraz] in quarters last year.<\/p>\n \u201cLook, I know that when I\u2019m healthy, when I\u2019m able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together on a given day, I feel like I can beat anybody. If I don\u2019t have that self-belief and confidence in myself, I wouldn\u2019t be here definitely sitting here and talking to you guys or competing.<\/p>\n \u201cI still have the drive, and of course I understand that, you know, [Jannik] Sinner and Alcaraz are playing on a different level right now from everybody else. That\u2019s a fact, but that doesn\u2019t mean that nobody else has a chance. So I like my chances always, in any tournament, particularly here.\u201d<\/p>\n The 24-time Grand Slam champion has landed in Sinner\u2019s half of the draw, meaning he cannot meet the Italian before the semi-finals, and the Spaniard before a hypothetical final.<\/p>\n He will get his campaign underway against Spaniard Pedro Martinez.<\/p>\n The post Novak Djokovic lays down Australian Open gauntlet and claims \u2018I can beat anybody\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Novak Djokovic has laid down a gauntlet ahead of the Australian Open, declaring that he can \u2018beat anybody\u2019 in the draw when at his best, including Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. The Serb has had a complicated last 24 months, reaching one Grand Slam final and five such semi-finals, but looking increasingly physically weakened towards […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Latest Tennis News<\/h2>\n
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