"I can still compete with ANYBODY" 💪 | Novak Djokovic sends US Open warning

[Music] Lexis presents tennis on Sky Sports that great to see you after such an incredible summer that Olympic moment incredibly special for you I'm quite jealous of your work life balance you've been celebrating how much this year do you feel that you've got that absolutely right as you come into this tournament well I try to you know enjoy the moment and I think I earned the right to really celebrate it in a in in in a great fashion with of course my closest people but also with Serbian people the way they welcome all of us Olympians that managed to win a medal at the Olympic Games was just uh exceptional it was um Unforgettable experience um I've been lucky to experience the balcony the traditional balcony where they welcome the athletes for many decades already few times in my career but this one I think it stands out because it was with Olympic gold and you could you could sense that passion and that kind of relationship with people you know when you win a goal for Serbia for them the Olympic Games it just surpasses everything else and so this year you tried to get that work life balance right yeah I mean I I I did try you know of course I struggled a bit for the first five six months of of the year to kind of find my level of tennis desired level uh then you know unfortunately had that the knee injury that prevented me from continuing my ringos campaign this year uh managed to recover in time for for Wimbledon played finals and one Olympic Games so I think the last three big events have have been uh quite successful for me I I I satisfied with the way I played with I felt and kind of like raising the form as I went along and um Olympics has been the absolute focal point most important event of the Year for me but other than Olympics is the grand SLS you know and we are here in New York another time another year and I'm just uh glad that I I'm I'm still feeling good in my body you know I still feel if I feel well if I'm you know mentally present and I guess have Clarity of mind and and I'm playing well hitting the ball well I feel like I I can still uh fight for trophies you know compete with anybody out there feeling well and looking fantastic in that Su thank you very much thank you you too thank you very much it feels FY like a massive weight has been lifted off his shoulders by winning that gold medal yeah I think he's the the only tennis event he hasn't he hasn't won in his life the only one he won all the tournaments in the calendar it's amazing but for me the most impressive thing with Novak is is the way he still finds the will to keep competing against players that sometimes are 16 years younger than him we have the example in the in in the Olympic finals where he's playing Al karath probably the best player in the world right now 16 years younger than him and he was able to challenge him physically and mentally so this is for me the most impressive thing he's 38 37 38 years old now he won everything that you can win in tennis and he and he still you know have the the ambition and and the will to to to to win it's it's it's really amazing he's got strapping as you can see there on the knee this was in practice his first practice against hul garon he actually cut it short to discomfort everyone thought he had done the same again against binka but they actually moved that practice session inside to Arthur atch I mean he's got to Tim he's got to expect some niggles at his age and with the amount of tennis he's playing well he mentioned it himself in the interview that at 3738 it's it's not going to get any easier but that's what he's done just such an incredible job of of of not only maintaining the hunger and desire to be out on the match court but it's all about the the practice and the medic ation the injury prevention and uh yeah his his athletic ability is is second to none and so you know he he's he talked about his work life balance the way that he's got his schedule right he he doesn't play you know much tennis outside of the majors but because he has the experience and the ability to really come in and and hit the ground running he doesn't need a lot of matches to play his way into form and and uh you know his his career is about numbers and you know the one number that perhaps is left is is 24 slams and that's the same as Margaret Court he would love to get that 25th right here to basically have all the records well we saw that when he pulled out of Cincinnati where he was defending Champion it's not about the M he's got the golden mes he's won them all at least a couple of times it's not really about the number one ranking anymore he's held that for enough times it's about the Grand Slam titles and is being as good and as great as he possibly can be yeah of course I mean it's not about winning Cincinnati or Madrid or any other tournament in the C it's about he said in the interview he said about only winning gr slams and uh and the Olympics which was the only title left in the in his CV so we'll see now from now how is he reacting to this you know emotion because it's it was big for him I when when he yeah it was massive emotion for him winning the go but uh I mean it's it's really impressive the way he's playing and the way he he has his body at 38 years old I think the the the reason why the Olympics was so impressive because even by jovic's standards realistically La is going to be 41 is he going to be able to contend that I I don't think so gr slams is still could he play for another you know eight another couple of years he's got opportunities so Paris Olympic gold in singles that was his last chance and he he knew it we all knew it and for him to go out there and play against alz and play the way that he did you know on Clay when he had had an injury at Roland garos to win I think it was his uh his his greatest achievement right there it looked like he partied hard and so he should