Novak Djokovic Press Conference | 2024 US Open Pre-Tournament

Novak welcome back to New York how special was it to celebrate your gold medal out there during Kids Day and tell us a little bit about your last three weeks since the historical win in in Paris uh yeah it's great to be back in New York um hello everyone um it was a a very nice moment obviously that um I was allowed to experience by the USDA and US US Open an hour ago at the arur kids day uh um a great tribute video and um obviously some fun with hitting the Targets in the end and just U kind of sharing my my thoughts my emotions and experiences of reflection on the what is for me I think now when I look back uh the greatest um achievement and the greatest highlight of my career uh Overall winning the gold for Serbia um had some heartbreaking losses at Olympic games um worked very hard to try to get myself in a position to fight for gold and at 37 I thought you know I don't know uh could this be the last chance maybe so I had to push more than ever I that I have ever done and um turned out to be one of the best performances I had in years overall throughout the entire tournament and then of course in the finals against Carlos uh it was a a kind of a dream scenario really having my wife and children there um the entire nation watching uh just a very proud moment of experiencing the the golden medal you know around my neck with the Serbian Anthem and Serbian flag uh very very special and probably the most intense emotions I've ever had on a tennis court uh I was saying that carrying the flag being a flag bearer for my country in opening games in 2012 in London uh the Olympic Games was the best feeling I had uh over overall in my professional career surpassed every uh slam that I won uh until I won the gold medal and that was just I think the moment of when I achieved it how I achieved it um you know after years of of trying and the journey that was um um the way it was I think makes it even more unique question please introduce for the first time you came in New York is 2003 for Junior tournament uh I would like to know which memories do you keep from the first time you you discover the city and how did you enjoy the New York at 16 years old um yeah I I I do remember that I did not play a US Open uh junior uh match Outdoors we did play indoors because it was raining so we had to travel uh by bus uh to a a different facility to play so I didn't really experience the US Open at that point uh in time um but as soon after I played my my first main draw as a professional uh player and um I had a couple of great matches and some Marathon matches with g mon I remember and Mario anric and if I'm not mistaken my first first US Open as a pro so um yeah it was amazing to uh to be part of the Grand Slam and you know play on the outside courts uh just very different to to the to the stadium court and I remember the first time I I played at the ash Stadium it was overwhelming you know for a young player um so it's it's been quite a journey um really grateful for everything that I experienced since then back uh V for inside tennis so since 2008 you first competed in the Olympics uh you came all the way to 2024 to win your first gold there's been a weird stat at the US Open that no man has defended the US Open title since 2008 so what do you need to do differently this year as defending Champion to change the stat uh try to win the title I think for starters um yeah I I I didn't know about that I I knew that you know it was probably the case for 5 10 years but I didn't know it was that long so um uh yeah I mean I hopefully that changes this year I mean that's that's the goal you know the goal is always for me to to try to go all the way to the finals and and fight for the trophy I mean that kind of mindset or approach is no different for me this year um you know people would ask me you know now that you've basically won everything with the golden medal you know what it is else there to win and you know I I still feel um the drive you know I still have the competitive Spirit uh still want to make more history and uh enjoy myself on the tour I still hope to inspire many young people to uh watch tennis or play tennis um those are some of the reasons why I still keep on going and Grand Slams are the pillars of our sport they're the most important historical tennis events that we have um so if you don't get pumped and and and inspired to play your best tennis in Grand Slams it's hard to to do that anyway anywhere else um and US Open is uh a slam that holds um the biggest tennis court in the world Tenn Stadium you know night sessions at US Open are very famous most famous in our Sport and um I'm going to play my first match here in Monday night so I can't wait to be under the lights um the noise uh the energy of the stadium is just uh different from anything else so you know I look forward to it Howard hi no back Howard fendri with the Associated Press uh wanted to ask you as a top player as sort of Statesman of the game somebody involved with the ptpa and you went big thoughts about the game I wanted to get your perspective on what happened with Yanik uh and uh some players have wondered aloud whether it's a fair system whether different rules are applied to different players and wanted to ask your thoughts on that case well uh instances like this are the very reason why we founded ptpa um the ethos of ptpa is is the player is representing 100% the players uh rights um and making sure that you can cover every possible corner there is to cover so that the player is able um to not only endure on the tour but to live out of this Sport and we talked about the depth of uh the rankings and the players that are able to live out of this Sport and I think that needs to be improved um so there's there's a lot of uh topics that um are uh being talked about and being worked on uh from the ptpa standpoint and ptpa has not yet been I think acknowledged as much as uh we would like it to be acknowledged in the ecosystem uh there many reasons why but you know not going to get into that um and as as as far as janik's case um you know as I said these kind of instances are the very reason why we founded ptpa that is always advocating for um Fair protocols clear protocols for standardized approaches um to these kind of cases and I understand that the frustration of the of the players um is there because of lack of consistency um and as I understood his case was cleared the moment basically it was announced um but you know I think five or six months passed um since the the news uh was brought to to him and his team um so yeah I mean there there's there's a there's a lot of issues in the system uh we see lack of uh standardized and clear protocols um I can understand the sentiments of a lot of players that are questioning whether they are treated the same um and hopefully the the governing bodies of our sport will be able to learn from this case and have a a better approach for the future I think collectively there has to be a change uh and I think that's obvious um and many players uh without naming any of them I'm sure you know already who these players are have had similar or same pretty much the same cases where they haven't had the same outcome and now the question is whether it is a case of um the funds where a player can afford to pay a a significant amount of money for a law firm that would then more efficiently represent his or her case I don't know is that a case or not uh that's something that we really I feel like collectively have to investigate more look into into the system and and understand how these cases don't happen how meaning not the case itself but how how we can standardize everything so that every player regardless of his ranking or status or profile is able to get the same kind of treatment so yeah I would say that's that's probably the overall um I guess my opinion and uh observation of of this entire case of what we've been reading and observing and talking about the last few days time for one more in English J uh I know that gidy from Defector media I was wondering at this point of your career there's not much left on your checklist tennis wise so do your matchups against specific players factoring into your long-term planning for example after Wimbledon almost immediately you have this huge success against Carlos so how does that result impact your planning about hanging with these younger talents the ones you seem most likely to pose a challenge in the years to come um I mean i' I've been around quite a few years and um different generations of players are you know kind of switching and the new players exciting players coming on to the tour the new rivalries are being um created which I think is important for the tour in general um and U these kind of rivalries that I have with Yanik and Carlos in particular of course along with other other guys from the generation before like Z meddev tipas you know are the kind of matchups that um still bring that Joy of competition to me and um inspire me to really on a weekly basis when I'm not competing push myself to perfect the game and to give myself an ability to be able to run for hours with them um on the biggest stage um of course you know the there's there's a big age difference but you know that's still not I guess affecting me in a big way I I feel good about myself about my game about where I am and what I have achieved in the last several years excuse me so uh but of course I have to be a bit more select Ive in in my strategy of calendar and how I pick and choose events and where I want to be at my Prime and uh play the best tennis so when it comes to that it's grand slams and representing my country that's what actually in motivates me the most that's what drives me the most still um yeah uh and I that that that's related to the on court I guess competition driven motivation but then I have also a lot of things off the court that that still you know run my juices and I I love I love being you know part of part of the tennis tour um and um btpa that we talked about is is is also something that that motivates me that I you know have been working on for many years even before it was founded and tried always to advocate for players and even before that in in a player Council within the ATP structure so um I feel like it's also part of my responsibility as being somebody who has uh has a sound name and a status in sport and you know a lot of players look up you know to to me and and feather and adal you know the legends of the game and and they look for some kind of a guidance and they they they carefully listen to our words and and and actions and they you know hope to um to get that kind of leadership as well so that's that's what I personally feel I always try to you know balance things out but you know I think that I can contribute to uh certain things in a positive way and that's that's why I'm still here let's move to