US OPEN

August 31, 2021

Novak Djokovic

Press Conference

N. DJOKOVIC/J. Rune

6-1, 6-7, 6-2, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: If you could, start off by telling us about the match, how you felt about the match, your level of play early in the tournament.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Sure, sure. Look, it's tough to talk about third and fourth set because he barely moved.

My side, I started great. Played a really, really good first set. After that, I don't know, I was 4-3 serving in the second set. Everything was working well, but then I just lost the first serve. Very low percentage of first serves. Credit to him for fighting. He had the crowd behind him. It was tough to play in my first match, even though I had till tonight tons of experience playing on this court, for him it was the first one.

Still you get nerves. You still are feeling a little bit rusty at the beginning. Yeah, obviously I'm pleased with the way I finished the match. Again, it was not a fair battle, so to say, on the court with his unfortunate injury and cramping.

It's a tough rule, as well. If you have cramps like this, that is creating such a hindrance to your game, you're unable to move, unfortunately the rule is such that you can't get any medical timeout for cramps.

It's a great line. I mean, really, understand from one hand, from one hand, players should do everything in order to avoid cramps. But, again, it can happen. When it happens, it doesn't look really great for the crowd, for anybody, that he doesn't get at least one medical timeout.

But rules are rules, I guess.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. (No microphone.)

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I followed Olga ever since she was very, very young. Her father is one of the greatest basketball players of all time in our country. Played in NBA, as well. She's got the great genes for sport.

She won the WTA title I think in Russia few years back. She broke the top 100. Then she struggled in the last couple years really to find that level and be consistent.

But still she's really young. I mean, she's 20 years old. She's got the goods. She's really, really strong, fit, tall, lefty. Don't have many good lefty servers I guess in both men's and women's game. I think it's quite an advantage, if she's serving well, she can do damage to a lot of players.

The more matches she's winning on this stage, the more comfortable she's going to feel. So, yes, we've been speaking a lot. I've been trying to help her out as much as I possibly can, her team, her family, with guidance on and off the court, some advices.

I'm really glad that she managed to qualify, win a first round. Tomorrow is a match where she has nothing to lose, really. She's playing against probably the first favorite to win the title, on the center court.

She's excited. She was asking me about how it feels to be on the big stage. Of course, you can say something, but then you really need to experience it.

Hopefully she can use that to her own advantage, the motivation and inspiration, to be at the biggest stage to play against one of the best players of the world.

She's a really nice girl. She's pumped. Let's see. She doesn't have much experience really. It's going to be the first match on the center court of really any slam for her. I'm hoping for the best for her.

Q. New York is a funny place in that the crowds are always rooting for upsets, but they also like to witness history. What is your relationship to this as you're going to be marching through the tournament, absorbing the noise you're hearing in that very large stadium?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: It's the largest stadium in sport. Definitely the loudest and the most entertaining stadium we have in our sport.

Yeah, I mean, obviously you always wish to have crowd behind you, but it's not always possible. That's all I can say. I mean, I don't know. I've been focusing on myself and what I need to do. I guess I have to just see how it feels on the court and try to keep it together. That's all I can do.

Q. Seeing what young Rune went through, it reminded me of your long journey, the learnings you made over the years of your diet, how to prepare yourself. Was there a year or moment, an epiphany, when you felt confident that you know how to manage your body and your health?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, it was always dependent from the people I had around me. I always looked to have, as well as my parents, create an environment around me which would be stimulative environment, environment filled with people that care about me, people that have expertise, have knowledge in our sport, and obviously preparation, recovery, training, biomechanics, tactics.

You've got a lot of different elements that need to fall in place, so to say, in order to create your own individual formula of success.

I did struggle with injuries and retirements early in my career. That's why I can relate to Holger, what he's going through. We just had a little chat in the locker room. It's an emotional moment for him. It's not easy to see that. He's really sad. I understand that. I've been through that.

I just told him that he handled himself extremely well. He didn't want to stop. I thought he's going to stop the end of the third. He just kept going with dignity, finished off the match. He deserved definitely my respect, the respect of a lot of people. He's still very, very young, 18 years old. He's got plenty of time ahead of him. I'm sure we're going to see a lot of him in the future.

Q. Coming into this tournament, what do you consider the biggest obstacle for you other than the people across the net, and how do you work on handling it given all that's at stake?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I guess as always you have tons of expectations and pressure from just the whole tennis community, including myself. Obviously I would like myself to win, to go far, to win the title and make the history. Without a doubt that's something that inspires me.

But I am focused on trying to be the best version of myself every day. I know it sounds like a cliché, but there is a great power in being present and working on mentally and emotionally being in the moment and trying to handle it in such way that would benefit you.

I have my own routines that differs probably from all the other guys. I just try to do things, surround myself with people, have a trajectory and journey in this tournament that suits me, that I know has worked in the past.

There are things that you can always rely on, go back to when you are experiencing a little bit of a turbulence in terms of emotions on the court or off the court. When it gets too much, then I've developed a mechanism where I feel like I can mentally handle that.

But it's not a guarantee, right? I do have a formula for many years that has worked well for me, that got me to where I am. At the same time, it's not necessarily a guarantee that it will work every single time.

Of course, you have to be flexible, open-minded, and rely also on your environment and the people that support you, that are there for you, so they can deflect also some of the things that are coming in off the court that you don't need to think about, handle, and just focus on what matters these few weeks.

Q. How do you stay right in the moment? You do it so well. Could you take us a little further and share a little bit about what your formula is.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Thank you.

Well, there is no secret potion or one thing that I would highlight or say this is the biggest secret of my success or being able to stay in the moment.

It's a combination of various factors and elements in my life, in my approach to everyday life, my training, my recovery, my mental work. As I said, an environment.

I know that everything matters. In the end of the day, it all affects and contributes to the performance in one way or another. But then also we have to consider the fact that when you're on the court, also there are some unpredictable things that can happen, whether it's on the court with your opponent, whether it's the sensations that you have, whether it's the crowd around, whatever it is.

The importance of the moment, you go through really a roller coaster of emotions on the court. Just every time I lose that concentration and focus, I try to bounce back and bring my attention back to the moment, which I think conscious breathing helps a lot. That's one very, very simple way to stay present, as I'm trying right now (smiling).

Q. Back to the crowd, the second set, them chanting "Rune." What was going through your mind?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I didn't know what they were chanting honestly. I thought they were booing.

I don't know, yeah, it was not ideal atmosphere for me to tell you that. But I've been in these particular atmospheres before, so I knew how to handle it.