Novak Djokovic faced Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon 2024 final on Sunday and the hype for the match was at an all-time high. The Serb lost in straight sets, 2-6, 2-6, 6-7 in what turned out to a dampener for him and his fans. Ironically, the 7-time Wimbledon champion spoke about the weight of expectations on him ahead of the match and perhaps, uncharacteristically let out a weakness of his.
At 37, Djokovic is not getting any younger no matter how dedicated he remains to his fitness and game. He got a reality check while facing the 21-year-old Alcaraz, who was in red hot form and managed to defend his title.
The 7-time Wimbledon champion also addressed comparisons to Roger Federer, the man who continues to hold the record of winning the most number of men’s singles Grand Slam titles on grass, i.e. 8.
“Obviously I’m aware Roger holds 8 Wimbledons. I hold 7. History is on the line. Also potentially my 25th Grand Slam. Of course it serves as great motivation but at the same time it’s also a lot of pressure and expectations.
“Every time I step on court, even though I’m 37 and competing with the 21 year olds, I still expect myself to win most of the matches and people expect me to win 99% of the matches I play.
“I always have to come out on court and perform my best in order to still be at the level with Carlos or Jannik or Sascha or any of those guys… Daniil,” Djokovic was quoted as saying in the pre-match press conference.
There was a hint of vulnerability in what Djokovic said about pressure. Over the years, his mental strength and bravado have been his go-to tools, making him stand out from the rest. But this time, it sounded different and perhaps that vulnerability was evident when he played Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final and hardly competed at his almost superhuman level.
Djokovic thought he could replicate his 2018 season comeback this year. This is because of the similarities that exist this season for him, as before the Wimbledon final, he was without a Grand Slam title since the month of January. However, despite his injuries, drop in rankings and no title wins, he went on to win the Wimbledon title 6 years ago.
While Djokovic was full of praise for Wimbledon bringing out the best in him especially when he is down and out, the trophy wasn’t in his destiny this time. And neither is he 31 years of age.
“This year hasn’t been that successful for me. It’s probably the weakest results for the first 6 months I’ve had in many years.
“And Wimbledon, historically, there have been seasons where I wasn’t maybe playing at my desired level and then I’d win a Wimbledon title and things would change.
“For example that was the case in 2018 where I had an elbow surgery earlier in the year. My ranking dropped out of top 20. Losing in fourth round of Australian Open and quarters of Roland Garros and just not playing the tennis I wanna play… and then I won Wimbledon. Then I won US Open.
“Then later on I became #1 very soon. So Wimbledon just extracts the best of me. It motivates me to always show up and perform the best I can.
“I’m aware of what’s on the line. It always is. Any Grand Slam I play now there’s always history on the line. I will try to use that as fuel to play my best tennis,” Djokovic concluded.
In fact, since 2005, Djokovic would go for the first time into the month of August without any title to his name. So it would be interesting to see whether Djokovic would still believe that he would use ‘creating history and records’ as motivation to keep playing tennis, let alone win more titles going ahead.
Djokovic would have to forget his loss at Wimbledon 2024 quickly to prepare for the Olympic Games in Paris. The Serb would still fancy his chances there, in best-of-3 knockout matches. With his experience of winning so much on clay and having never won the Olympic gold, he has all the motivation for bouncing back at Roland Garros in few weeks’ time.
