Novak Djokovic is getting fortuitous wins on the court at the Australian Open — but will not accept Ls in his press conferences.
The Serbian was not pleased with a reporter who asked how it felt “chasing” Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz at Grand Slams after facing a similar scenario earlier in his career with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Djokovic noted that the question ignored his own run of dominance between those two eras.
“I’m chasing Jannik and Carlos? In which sense?” Djokovic shot back. “So, I’m always the chaser and never been chased?”
The reporter then noted that he should have mentioned that Djokovic won an all-time best 24 Grand Slams, though that did not completely appease the 38-year-old tennis star.
“I find if a little bit disrespectful that you kind of miss out on what happened in between where the times when I started ‘chasing’ as you say Rafa and Roger and now that I’m chasing Carlos and Jannik,” Djokovic said. “There’s probably about a 15-year period in between where I was dominating the Grand Slams. I think it’s important to put that in perspective.
“I don’t feel like I’m chasing to be honest. Roger and Rafa will always be my greatest rivals. I have tremendous respect for what Jannik and Carlos are doing and they will continue to do for the next 10, 15, 20 years, God knows how many years they are going to play. They are so young.”
Djokovic reached the semifinals all four Grand Slams last year — and is now back again at this year’s Australian Open. His last three Grand Slam runs in 2025 ended with losses to Sinner or Alcaraz.
He will face Sinner in the semifinals of this Australian Open, with Alcaraz going up against Alex Zverev.
Djokovic is lucky to have even gotten this far, though.
He won his fourth-round match over Jakub Mensik in a walkover and dropped the first two sets Tuesday to Lorenzo Musetti before the fifth-seeded Italian had to withdraw with a right leg issue.
“I don’t know what to say except for I feel sorry for him,” Djokovic said after the match, according to The Tennis Letter. “He was the far better player, I was on my way home tonight. Don’t know what to say, these kind of things happen in sport. It happened to me a few times … I wish him a speedy recovery and he should’ve been the winner today, no doubt.”
Djokovic’s 15-year estimate of dominance may be a bit exaggerated.
He, Federer and Nadal were exchanging Grand Slam wins and the world’s No. 1 ranking for a number of years before Djokovic took over as the unquestioned top player in the world.
Djokovic won 12 Grand Slams between 2018-23 and was consistently No. 1 when Federer and Nadal were on the backend of their storied careers.
Now, staring down Alcaraz and Sinner is a different kind of challenge.
The Spaniard and the Italian have split the eight Grand Slams the past two years after Djokovic won the 2023 U.S. Open.
“Are they better than me and most of the other guys right now? Yes, they are,” Djokovic said. “The quality and level is amazing, it’s great, it’s phenomenal. Does that mean I walk out with a white flag? No, I am going to fight till the last shot, till the last point and do my very best to challenge them.”
