AUSTRALIAN OPEN

February 7, 2021

Novak Djokovic

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Finally you're starting your title defense tomorrow night against Jeremy, a player you know well. How do you see that matchup?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I have a very good score against Jeremy, I think that helps. I haven't played him in a while now. He's a very experienced player. He's been on the tour for a lot of years. He has a big serve and big forehand. His game kind of revolves around those two shots.

Obviously playing ATP Cup and having four matches, two singles, two doubles, on Rod Laver Arena helps to prepare well for Australian Open I think. I've never experienced that kind of lead-up to Australian Open before. So that's a positive obviously of having already quite a lot of match time on the court where I'll start my Australian Open 2021 tomorrow night.

Obviously night session, plays different, a bit slower. I've had historically a really good score playing at night here in Melbourne, so I look forward to it. I'm feeling good. I've been playing really well. Hopefully I can build on that form from tomorrow.

Q. You've often said this is like your backyard on this court. From memory, you'll try to be the second man ever to win nine or more titles at the same major in the Open Era. Are you able to put into words what it is really like when you walk out there to rekindle a friendship with the court and start your challenge?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, it's a love affair. Probably something similar maybe not like Rafa has with the French Open, but I've been feeling more comfortable on the court each year that I've been coming back. I mean, the more you win, obviously the more confidence you have and the more pleasant you feel on the court. It just feels right.

If you're in the right state of mind, regardless of the surface, you have a better chance to play at your best.

When I stepped on the court this year for the first time in the practice session, I relived some of the memories from last year, also the other years that I won the tournament here.

Yeah, it just gives me great sensation, great feeling, confidence. It feels right. It feels like the place where I should be and where I have historically always been able to perform my best tennis.

Hopefully can be another successful year.

Q. You and Nick Kyrgios are probably two of the most loved tennis players in Australia.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Really? Okay (smiling).

Q. I was wondering what you thought of the tweet he sent about you at the start of the quarantine? Also, do you think the Australian Open is a better tournament when he's up and running, playing well?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I'll answer your second question first.

I've said this before. I think he's good for the sport. Obviously he's someone that is different. He goes about his tennis, he goes about his off court things in his own authentic way. I have respect for him. I have respect for everyone else really because everyone has a right and freedom to choose how they want to express themselves, what they want to do.

My respect goes to him for the tennis he's playing. I think he's very talented guy. He's got a big game. He has proven that he has a quality to beat any player really in the world in the past.

Off the court, I don't have much respect for him, to be honest. That's where I'll close it. I really don't have any further comments for him, his own comments for me or anything else he's trying to do.

Q. You won all eight titles in Melbourne with Marian. Are you in touch with him?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yes, Marian is more than a coach to me. He's a family member. He's someone that I can proudly call a friend, mentor, really a member of the family. He's been very close to me, to my brothers, to my parents, my wife, over the years.

I got to spend couple of weeks before coming to Australia with him in Spain training, the off-season. He became a grandfather for the second time with his second daughter. Obviously times are changing rapidly. Since the first tournament that we had together as a player and coach, I think was 15 years ago almost in 's-Hertogenbosch in Netherlands on grass. I remember the first match I played was three tiebreaks, I saved four match points and won that match.

He said he's gotten his first gray hair from that match onwards. It's funny. It was such an amazing journey. It still continues with Marian. I try to be very loyal to my team members, whether it's a coach or physiotherapist, fitness coach, trying to build relationships that will last for a long time.

A lot of people have stayed for very long time. Some people stayed a bit shorter. But Marian is a constant. Marian is always there. Yeah, I love him very much. I appreciate everything he has done for me on and off the court.

Q. You've obviously been there and done it, won 17 slams. Do you still get nervous going out there?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Every match, every match. Every single match. I mean, I don't know. I don't want to speak on behalf of the other athletes, but I just feel like it's almost impossible to eliminate that kind of pressure, anticipation, the nerves coming into any match really for an athlete. I mean, at least in my case.

It's just that I managed over the years to train myself, I think with the experience and with also the dedication that I had off the court to the mental preparation, that helped me react better to those kind of emotions.

Sometimes I don't manage to overcome the pressures and the stress and nerves. Sometimes I do. It really just depends. Even though I've been blessed to experience a lot of success, I mean, especially here in Australia, but also in my career, I still feel that those failures, if you want to call them that way, even though I don't believe in failures, I just believe in opportunities to improve, kind of the lessons to be learned, but in those matches you lose, big matches, that's where you learn the most. That's where you're facing the kind of wall mentally. You're upset.

You have a lot of different things happening, and you feel like you let yourself down. That's where it's the biggest opportunity for you to really address that and become stronger, more capable. You can get to know yourself a little bit on deeper levels.

It still happens to me. Every single tournament, regardless of my previous success, of course I do feel that I have more confidence, more experience, maybe more training in understanding how to deal with these specific situations when I'm coming on the big court, being expected to win 99% of the matches that I play.

But it's still there. It's still there. I don't think it's ever going to go away. I mean, especially when the occasion is big, when you're playing for the biggest trophies.

Q. You historically use the crowd, the ones that cheer you, sometimes the ones that don't cheer you, you use that as motivation. Over the last 12 months with no crowds, do you have to use other methods to fire yourself up on the court?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I definitely miss the crowd. I think every tennis player, every athlete for that matter, plays in the live sports, misses the crowds. That's one of the biggest motivations that we have. The source is where we draw our energy and strength and motivation.

But, you know, this kind of circumstances in the world that we have in last 12 months obviously forcing all of us to adapt and to accept the change and to accept the current situation. We hope it's only temporary.

But nevertheless, we're still going to have the crowd here in Australian Open, which is different to most of the other tournaments where we didn't have the crowd. Of course, it's going to be in a less of a capacity. Is crowd still there? I don't know, things are changing day-to-day.

It's great that at least you have, even if it's a small percentage of the people attending the match, it's still something. It still feels that you're not I don't want to say alone on the court, but especially at my age right now and stage of my career, I'm looking to feed off that energy from the crowd.

We are also entertainers. We like to exchange that vibe and energy with the crowd. So when you play in front of an empty big stadium, it just feels very strange.

I certainly hope very soon we'll have the crowd back on stadiums.

Q. You spoke earlier about your love affair with the courts in Melbourne and your success there. What is it about your talents and your style of play that have made you perform as well as you have?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I historically have made my best results on the hard court, even though I grew up playing probably mostly on clay. Although the first tennis ball I ever hit in my life was on a hard court. I actually played mostly on clay in my junior days back in Serbia.

But my game style suits the hard courts most, I guess. But I have a feeling, and I've talked with a lot of players, that the courts are quicker and quicker here each year in Australian Open. A lot of players have been actually noticing that and commenting on the speed of the court this year. It's really, really very quick. Comparing to, say, five, six years ago, it's a lot quicker than it used to be. So it obviously favors big servers. You have to adapt your game.

I think with my return, I've managed to win a lot of matches against big servers on these kind of courts. I improved my serve, I think also alongside Goran Ivanisevic, one of the biggest servers ever, he improved a lot to the method of my serve.

I think in these kind of conditions you really need to have a complete game in order to go all the way. I've managed somehow to always adapt very well to Rod Laver Arena. Whatever the speed or conditions, somehow that court has always been my favorite court.