29. januar 2025 14:05

Djokovic: My father is trying to get me to retire

Autor: Tanjug

Izvor: TANJUG

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Djokovic: My father is trying to get me to retire

Foto: TANJUG/MARKO ĐOKOVIĆ

BELGRADE - Serbia's top-ranked tennis player Novak Djokovic says he is thinking about retirement, "about more how than when."

"I feel if I start to lose more and feel like there is a bigger gap, that I start to have more challenges in overcoming those big obstacles in big Slams, then I’ll probably call it a day," Djokovic said in an extensive interview with the GQ magazine, in which he also revealed his father Srdjan was trying to get him to retire from tennis.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion said he could sense "people trying to write his tennis obituary."

"And I don’t know if he’s going to be happy with me to say this, but I’m going to say it anyway. It starts with my dad. My dad is trying to retire me for a while now," Djokovic said.

"But he hasn’t been pushy. He respects my decision to keep going. And of course he understands why I want to keep going, but he’s like: 'What else do you want to do?'"

"He understands the amount and the intensity of the pressure and tension that is out there, and the stress that has an effect on my health, my body, and then, consequently, on everyone else who is around me, including him," Djokovic said.

The Serbian, who withdrew from his Australian Open semi-final match against Alexander Zverev last week due to injury, should next play at the Doha tournament, but that is now uncertain as he might be sidelined for a longer period of time, until the start of the clay court season.