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WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN

August 13, 2019

Novak Djokovic

Cincinnati, Ohio

N. DJOKOVIC/S. Querrey

7-5, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Being the reigning champ here at Cincinnati Open, how did you feel today stepping on the court? Did you have confidence? Did you have any pressure? How did you feel?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: To be honest, it wasn't the fact that I'm the reigning champion, it wasn't affecting so much neither positively or negatively, or didn't feel any added pressure or anything like that. It was just excitement to be back on the court competing, as it has been a while since the Wimbledon finals.

But at the same time, I had the nervous start, because, I mean, I didn't play a match for four weeks, I think. So it took me a little bit of time to really adjust, to also hit big serve that was coming sometimes more than 135 miles an hour. I made three double faults in the opening game. Didn't have the greatest of starts.

So it was a tricky match, quality opponent, big challenge. But I'm happy, you know, to be tested right away from the start and hopefully the next performance will be even better.

Q. First game, you cleaned it up considerably after that. Do you recall the last time you hit three doubles in a row?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, to be honest, as I said, it was quite a nervous start. I just didn't feel the rhythm of the serve. Then you start overthinking, and it's obviously not great being down a break and having one of the big servers on the tour against you.

But I just stayed calm as much as I could, and he played a sort of a bad game. I think when he was 3-2 up, he kind of handed me the break back. Once I was back in play, I started to feel more comfortable, had more looks on his serves, and after the first set I just felt big relief.

Q. Throughout the year, who are some of the players on tour that you like practicing with most? And what are the things you look for in a practice partner?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, again, it depends whether you practice a day or two days before your match. Knowing that you're going to have a right-handed or left-handed opponent affects who you want to practice with, specifically aiming to prepare yourself for that next match.

But, you know, I have practiced with a lot of different guys. It's hard to say one name that stands out or two names. I have just practiced with a lot of top guys over the years, especially top guys I feel like prior to the Grand Slam or few days before start of the big event. It's quite important, because you want to have that intensity in the practice session, especially if you're having a practice set and want to have a test to see where you're at and just get into that match play sort of situation.

And when you practice with one of the top guys, it feels like a match situation because you don't want to lose that practice set. So, you know, you have really match-like situation in terms of mental perspective but also game-wise.

Q. Regarding tennis in China, recently the WTA has gone into that lucrative market and there's huge prize money and stuff there. Would you like to see men's tennis more in China, given that I know you like those events?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I mean, me personally, I have had tremendous success on Chinese soil in my career, so of course I want to have more tournaments in that part of the world from that point of view (smiling).

Look, you know, the women's tennis has went pretty strong in that direction. They have, I think, almost 15 tournaments I think in the entire calendar there, and they have their finals, Masters.

I don't know whether men's tennis is going to get exploited even more in that part of the world. There is certainly financially a very strong market, and there is a big demand and I think big desire to see top men's tennis players. Beijing and Shanghai have been doing very well. They always get the best players of the world.

So we'll see. I mean, you know, the financial factor is very important but not -- I think it's not always a decisive one. So there has to be the right balance with the other swings of the other parts of the world.

Q. I'm just wondering, when you think about how much winning you have done over the past decade and about all your peers who have not been able to win as a result of that, do you ever feel bad about it?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: That's actually a good question. I have been talking with my team a lot about what is the definition of success, not just in tennis but in sport and in life in general. Sport and tennis, you know, are basically allowing you to grow your character through wins and losses.

Of course a lot of players will tell you, and it's true, that when you lose a tennis match, you learn much more than when you win it. When you win a tennis match, it kind of fades away quicker than a loss sticks with you for a longer time.

It actually defines you as a human being and as an athlete how you overcome that loss, how you deal with it, how you face it and how you allow it to kind of get you stronger and grow psychologically and emotionally or you allow it to control you and basically bring you down.

You know, sport offers those big life lessons in a very short amount of time on the tennis match, for example, in our sport, but I think what I like about college system in the United States is that you always feel you're part of the team. Whether you win or lose, you are contributing to your team on the court, off the court.

I think that sometimes I get a sense that there is too much pressure on the shoulders of young tennis players, that they have to be Grand Slam champions, that they have to get into top 10, that they have to do this and that, you know.

The fact is, and the stat is that only 0.5 or 0.6% of players worldwide that actually played tennis that have been, I guess, noted or recorded on some stats succeed into making to top 100 of the world professionally.

So what about 99.5% of the rest of the guys? You know, someone will say, well, that's life. Face it. But I still think we, as a society, and sports have to address this in a little bit softer way and I guess with more compassion for those young athletes that, you know, if you don't succeed in making it to the top of your sport, then you still can succeed in life. You know, it's not the end of the world.

Q. To be clear, you don't feel bad about all the winning?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I guess I answered your question. I'm pretty convinced you're smart enough to understand what I wanted to say. Yes, I do have a compassion for the other guys.

Q. It's obviously been a while since you played a match, but in terms of how much time you took without picking up a racquet post-Wimbledon -- Roger said he took 10 days -- how much time did you take off? How long have you gone without picking up a racquet maybe post-win or loss after a tournament maybe in the past couple of years?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: The longest that I didn't take a racquet in my hands when I was not forced to with injury was postseason. Two-and-a-half, three weeks I think sometimes. But mostly under two weeks. Somewhere between 10 and 14 days without a racquet.

Obviously you start to do some fitness and conditioning training without the racquet for several days or a week, and then you start to get the racquet in your hands and start off slowly.

It just depends, again, whether it's end of the season, and you know that you have a stretch of, say, five, six weeks with no tournament, then you obviously have more freedom or more time to get yourself ready and you don't need to rush with practicing hard on the tennis court.

But during the season, it's obviously less, because you still want to -- you don't want to have too long of a break, because then you kind of lose that feeling on the court.

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