Novak Djokovic says it is \u2018difficult to accept\u2019 that his level has \u2018dropped so much\u2019 over the past few years and has revealed what would ultimately force him into retirement following his recent Wimbledon defeat.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the Serbian superstar lost 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to defending champion Jannik Sinner in their Wimbledon semi-final.<\/p>\n
The victory improved the Italian\u2019s head-to-head record against Djokovic<\/a> to 7-5, with Sinner now having won six of their last seven meetings.<\/p>\n Although he left SW19 without the trophy, the former world No 1 still made history by surpassing Roger Federer\u2019s record for the most men\u2019s singles match wins at Wimbledon. Djokovic now sits alone on 107 victories.<\/p>\n He also became the second-oldest man to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals in the Open Era.<\/p>\n However, Djokovic will undoubtedly be disappointed after missing out on an eighth Wimbledon title, which would also have been a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam singles crown.<\/p>\n The 38-year-old is currently tied with Margaret Court on 24 major singles titles, and the opportunity to claim a historic 25th Grand Slam remains one of the key motivations behind his decision to continue competing.<\/p>\n Andre Agassi names only player from his generation who could compete with Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner<\/a><\/p>\n Pat Cash tells Alexander Zverev how he can beat Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final<\/a><\/p>\n Speaking to Serbian media after his semi-final defeat to Sinner, Djokovic gave a rare and honest insight into his physical and mental state, while also indicating what would eventually persuade him to retire.<\/p>\n \u201cAs for how much longer I\u2019ll keep doing this, honestly, I don\u2019t know. I said the same thing last year \u2013 I hope people respect my decision and stop constantly asking when I\u2019ll retire, when I\u2019ll win the 25th Grand Slam, or when this or that will happen,\u201d he pointedly commented.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the time comes, it will come. There are far more reasons to celebrate than there are to be disappointed.<\/p>\n \u201cMy biggest motivation is still my love and passion for this sport. That\u2019s why I still want to go out and compete.<\/p>\n \u201cThen there\u2019s the competitive drive. To compete at the highest level you have to train for weeks, make sacrifices with your team and give up many things to be ready. I\u2019m not complaining \u2013 those are decisions I make willingly because I still enjoy being on the court.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s not like it used to be. It\u2019s difficult to accept that, despite everything I\u2019ve achieved and all the experience I have, my level has dropped so much.<\/p>\n \u201cI know where the ball is going. Mentally I\u2019m ready for every situation, but my body slows me down. I constantly feel like I\u2019m half a step behind my opponent. That drives me crazy because I still want to be the best and beat whoever is across the net.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll keep moving forward with optimism and continue representing my country in the best possible way. We\u2019ll see how much longer I can keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n While the exact timing of his retirement remains uncertain, Djokovic has repeatedly stated that he would like to continue playing until the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, when the Serbian great will be 41 years old.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The post Novak Djokovic reveals when he will retire from tennis after Wimbledon loss \u2013 \u2018My level has dropped so much\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Novak Djokovic says it is \u2018difficult to accept\u2019 that his level has \u2018dropped so much\u2019 over the past few years and has revealed what would ultimately force him into retirement following his recent Wimbledon defeat. On Friday, the Serbian superstar lost 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to defending champion Jannik Sinner in their Wimbledon semi-final. The victory […]<\/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-2471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2471","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=2471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Latest Tennis News<\/h2>\n