THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 5, 2021

Novak Djokovic

Press Conference

N. DJOKOVIC/C. Garin

6-2, 6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You seem to be unstoppable. You follow holistic approach to life in general. How important is it for you and how do you think it helps you in terms of tennis career?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Thank you for the question.

Yes, I've said before that I just try to take anything that I do, that I consume, what I think, how I sleep, anything that really is part of my everyday life, into consideration when it comes to performance, recovery and preparation.

As an individual professional athlete, you need to really be striving to be at your best at all times because there is no one that can substitute you during the match. Everything is up to you whether you win or lose the match.

Being part of an individual sport has its advantages and disadvantages obviously. I feel like every single aspect of your life, also your emotional life, your relationships, your daily routines, your good and bad habits, whether it comes to food or whatever it comes to, sleeping, exercising, it all has an effect whether you like it or not down the stretch, especially in a long-term.

I believe that that kind of holistic approach is the right one. At least it works for me. My family lives by these principles. We try to have a conscious life, understanding that obviously we are humans, we all make mistakes on a daily basis, but we try to live consciously and be grateful for what we have.

Q. You've said before you often feel like 90% of your games you play not against your opponents only but the stadium as well. That probably comes with being No. 1. How does that affect your game at all or you?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: To be honest, that wasn't the case today actually. Today was great. I had support. It was a great atmosphere on the court I felt.

Look, I understand that most of the people, they want underdog to win in most of the cases. You just have to deal with that, accept it. Sometimes I'm able to just kind of let it go and keep the focus on what matters for me and on the match. Sometimes I get distracted. Again, we all are human beings. We all tend to lose our way in a way when we don't want it. But it happens.

I think the most important thing at that point is to go back, to center yourself. Yeah, that's all really. There are places where I'm enjoying more support, there are places where I'm enjoying less support. Again, it depends who I play against, depends on the day.

Q. You've only dropped one set so far throughout the tournament, in the first round. How do you feel your game is at the moment? Are you happy with every aspect technically?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yes, I am happy particularly with the match today. After third round, it was kind of up and down for me. Today was a very solid performance from the first to last point. I was mentally present. I was serving much better, using the court well.

Cristian played for his first time on Centre Court. You could see he was nervous, making a lot of unforced errors at the beginning of the match, which gave me an opportunity to win comfortably the first set, which I have used.

After that it was some close games in the second set, but I just managed to break his serve when I needed it the most.

From my side, as I said, I served well and am comfortable. That's probably affecting the game in general. When I'm able to serve well, get a lot of free points on my first serve, when I go quickly through my service games, it just gives me more confidence, allows me to relax a bit more on the return games and from the back of the court.

Yeah, just very satisfied with the way I played today.

Q. A few statistics. You've moved ahead of Boris Becker, all-time Wimbledon quarterfinals. Your 50th Grand Slam quarterfinal. You're just three wins away from your 20th Grand Slam.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Thank you for reminding me of that (smiling).

You always enjoy obviously hearing those stats. Again, it's a privilege to break records in the sport that I truly love. I'm devoted to this sport as much as I think anybody out there on the tour. I just try to do my best.

Of course, they are a motivating factor. I am aware that there are many records on the line. I'm not aware of all of them. Of course, they do inspire me to play my best tennis.

Q. Overall when you hear people refer to you as either the greatest player of all time or soon to be the greatest of all time, how do you handle that emotionally and try to put that into perspective?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, Willie, I don't really allow myself too much to think about that, to be quite frank with you. I feel privileged, as I said, and honored, of course very happy to be in this position to make history of the sport.

At the same time I need to go about my everyday routines and everyday life on the tour pretty much the same way that I feel it has reaped a lot of success for me. If I start, you know, giving away my attention and energy to these speculations and discussions and debates, I feel like it's going to derail me from what I feel is the priority at this moment for me, which is take it step by step, day by day, stick to stuff that make me feel good, that make me feel comfortable, confident, finally that make me prepare the best that I possibly can be prepared for the final stages of Grand Slams.

It's not a secret that I am trying to win as many slams as possible. I went for historic No. 1. I managed to achieve that milestone.

As I said in the previous answer, they are a motivating factor but they are not consuming my everyday life. I'm trying to balance things out as well for me. Of course, it's soothing to my ears and my ego, as well, that someone thinks of me that greatly. To be in that conversation is obviously an honor.

At the same time I just have to always work on getting my attention to the right things. I feel like that's the right way to go.

Q. Arthur Gore, who played his first Wimbledon in 1888, today you matched him with your 12th berth in the quarterfinals. You and Arthur are now third on the all-time list. You enjoy the history of the sport, not just as it pertains to you. Can you talk about your appreciation for the game and the fact that we're still talking today about a guy who played over a hundred years ago, and you will be one of the people in the future that we'll be talking about in a hundred years?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, that's wonderful to hear. Again, I'm honored. I consider myself a student of the game, but I probably should do my homework on the history a bit more. I was not aware of the fact what you just brought up.

It is also responsibility I feel like. Somehow once you step out on the court as the No. 1 player in the world, defending champion in Wimbledon, there's a lot that you also are expected to do, not just play tennis well, but carry yourself on and off the court in a right manner.

Obviously it's not always the case, but I try my best to be a good sport, so to say, a good representative, a good ambassador of this game, whether it's within the tennis ecosystem or outside of tennis, within the sports world, outside of sports world, in my country or worldwide.

There's the role that you have as the No. 1 player in the world in a very global, very popular sport that carries a lot of weight and responsibility and privileges.

I'm trying to enjoy those and use informations like the one you just came up with as something that inspires me and motivates me to keep going, keep striving to be better and win more matches.