Djokovic hasn’t had enough yet: the 2028 Olympics is his goal

Winning his 24th major title on Sunday (local time) with his fourth US Open success puts him on a par with Australian Margaret Court, who had previously been ahead solo. And there is no doubt that Djokovic wants to take sole leadership in 2024; he is already the record winner at the Australian Open.

The Serb did not fulfill the competition’s hopes that “Djoker’s” hunger for the title had now been satisfied, even if he was considering the end of his career. “Occasionally I ask myself: Why do I still need all this after everything I’ve achieved? How long do I want to keep going? Of course I have these questions in my head,” said the 36-year-old about his mind games. But he immediately made it clear that he wanted to stay in the sport for a while.

Desire to win

“As long as I’m still playing at this high level and winning the biggest tournaments in this sport, I don’t want to get rid of or leave this sport when I’m still at the top.” After the 6:3,7:6(5),6:3 in the final against the Russian Daniil Medvedev, he is now back in the world rankings; he has held this position for 390 weeks – one of his records. Djokovic only seems to have really found the joy of winning in the past ten years.

After the US Open 2013, he only had six major triumphs, the Swiss Roger Federer (17) and the Spaniard Rafael Nadal (13) were still far ahead. Four years later, Djokovic had doubled his collection of trophies from the four biggest tournaments to twelve. What’s even more remarkable is that in the mere six years since then he has managed to double that figure. Since 2018, he has won more than half of these tournaments (23 in total, since Wimbledon was canceled in 2020, note).

Olympics in Los Angeles as a goal

His coach Goran Ivanisevic makes it clear that his protégé wants to face the oncoming youth for a long time to come; he even expects the 41-year-old to be there in five years. “He plans to play at the Olympics in Los Angeles,” said the Croatian. The short-term goal is now to achieve an unprecedented 25 major triumphs. “If he wins 25, he will think: If I win 25, why not 26? There is always one more,” said the 51-year-old Ivanisevic.

Djokovic himself did not want to commit to a target number of Grand Slam triumphs. “I just stick to the fact that they are my most important tournaments, where I play my best tennis.” For now, however, he was only interested in the moment, the celebration of the 24th of the major titles. “It means the world to me. I’m really living my childhood dream,” Djokovic said. “Making history in this sport is truly something remarkable. It’s hard to describe in words.”

“Perfectly prepared”

Djokovic also tries to convey the realization of his childhood dream to his children. Both Stefan, who was born in 2014, and Tara, who is three years younger, were among the spectators on Sunday – with their mother Jelena. “When I became a father, one of my wishes was that I would win a Slam in front of them and that they would realize what was happening, that they would be old enough to understand it.”

For Ivanisevic, Djokovic’s exceptional position has a lot to do with the years of competition with Federer and Nadal. “He was lucky that those two were there too. They pushed each other.” And Djokovic can do that particularly well. Ivanisevic: “If you tell him that he can’t do something, it only gets worse. Then he shows you that he can do it. He always tries to find a way to do it.”

The former Wimbledon winner went so far as to describe the current success as the greatest achievement in sports history. This was only possible because Djokovic left nothing to chance. “He pays attention to his body, to every detail – to be perfectly prepared.” Medvedev took it all with humor. “This is our third Grand Slam final, probably not our last. I don’t know when you plan to slow down.”