THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 8, 2022

Novak Djokovic

Press Conference

N. DJOKOVIC/C. Norrie

2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Novak, another final. How does that sound?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Good (smiling). Very good.

Obviously it's always a goal to get to the championship match. For me at least, every tournament I play on, particularly Grand Slams. Of course, I'm very satisfied and pleased that I am putting myself in a position to win the trophy.

Good match today. Didn't start off well as I did in most of my matches here in Wimbledon. Didn't feel so good at the beginning. A lot of mistakes. Just didn't find my rhythm. Nerves were kicking in for both of us. He handled them better and was a better player for a set and a half.

One poor game from his side 4-3 second set, the match turned around. I think the momentum shifted. I started feeling better, serving better, just getting him to move around the court, making him work.

Solid, solid three sets after that. I know I always expect from myself that I can play better than I did. But I have to be pleased with this win.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It seemed like you were blowing kisses at a bit of a troll in the Centre Court crowd. Was that the case and were you surprised by the reaction of the crowd?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: No, I was blowing kisses to somebody that was cheering for me.

Q. Nick was in earlier talking about your bromance that's been blossoming over the past few months.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I'm sorry. I can't hear you.

Q. Nick was in earlier saying you've kind of developed a bromance.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: A bromance (smiling)?

Q. Just wanted to hear how your relationship has evolved over the past few years till now.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I don't know if I can call it a bromance yet, but we definitely have a better relationship than what it was probably prior to January this year.

But when it was really tough for me in Australia, he was one of the very few players that came out publicly and supported me and stood by me. That's something I truly appreciate. So I respect him for that a lot.

Q. You mentioned January. Are you feeling as though Australia has become your nemesis this year?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I don't think Australia is becoming a nemesis. I don't know what you were referring to exactly, whether it's because I'm playing in Australia in the finals or because...

Q. The turmoil in January, now you have an Australian standing in your way of another Wimbledon title.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Look, whatever happened in Australia is now behind. It's been six months since that moment. I am really pleased to be in another Grand Slam finals.

Obviously the beginning of the year was quite turbulent for me emotionally. It wasn't something I ever faced before. As I said, I'm just looking forward to this final and hopefully giving it all and winning.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the tension, maybe how you balance between the smaller picture of playing well in the moment, winning a particular match, and the bigger picture, things that are at stake. You mentioned being nervous at the beginning today. The kinds of history you're striving for, how those two play in your mind.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I'm aware of what's on the line. I mean, every match, every Grand Slam that I get to play at this stage of my career, there is a lot on the line. I don't know how many Grand Slam opportunities to win the trophy I will still have, as I will have in few days' time.

So, of course, I'm approaching it with positive attitude and self-belief and willingness to win. There's no doubt about it.

How do you balance that? Well, it's really subjective. Every player is different. I can't, and I don't want to speak about all the details and routines that I have that make me feel well-balanced and prepared. But there are things that I do in order to make myself mentally, emotionally, and physically well-prepared.

Again, that's not a guarantee because on the court a lot of things can happen. There's so much going on, pressure and expectations. Sometimes you're able to handle it better than your opponent; sometimes not.

But the experience that I have at this level, playing in the finals against someone that has never played a Grand Slam final, could be slightly in my favor. But at the same time, knowing who he is and how he goes about his tennis and his attitude on the court, he doesn't seem to be falling under pressure much.

He plays lights-out every time he steps out onto the court. Just a lot of power in his serve and his game. So I'm sure he's going to go for it. No doubt he's going to be aggressive. I expect him to do that.

I'm going to make sure I get ready for that one and let the better player win.

Q. Can you clear something up? There have been pictures of you this week looking like you're inhaling or something out of a bottle. Could you share with us perhaps what that is? Is it an optical illusion?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Magic potion (laughter). That's all I can say. It helps.

Q. So it's...

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: You'll find out soon, but I can't speak about it now. You'll find out soon.

Q. You touched on your experience and Nick playing his first final. Can you recall when you played Roger in the US Open final, your first Grand Slam final. He was one of the all-time greats. Now Nick is playing you as one of the all-time greats.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Back in 2007?

Q. How you were feeling going into that.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, it's quite a long time ago. I can't really recall the sensations I had. But, of course, I was overexcited. I didn't really feel too much pressure to win the match because for me it was already a huge achievement reaching the finals. Of course, most of pressure was on Roger to win because he was expected to win, he was the favorite to win.

I understand that situation might be quite similar. Even though Nick is not as young as I was in 2007. So I think that helps him because he's more mature mentally, he has more years in his legs on the court, and more matches, big matches.

Actually, he's a big-match player. If you see his career, the best tennis he's played is always against the top guys. That's why we all respect him, because we know what he can come up with.

It's going to be interesting match.

Q. Given the trajectory of Nick's career, are you surprised that he's going to be on the other side of the net from you in a Wimbledon final? Do you prepare in a different way to play someone who can be as erratic as he is on the court?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I mean, in a way it's a surprise because his ranking. He has never reached a Grand Slam final. So maybe not too many people are giving him big chances to reach the finals.

I think between us players, we always know how dangerous he is, on grass particularly, because of his game, because of his attitude on the court being so confident, just going for it, being a very complete player.

It seems like mentally he's at a better state than what he was, where he was, some years ago. As I said, of course as time passes by, you're maturing, you're understanding yourself what you need to do in order to get yourself to the best possible, optimal state of mind, body, and soul in order to perform your best.

These are the occasions where he loves, where he thrives, in a big stage. So in a way it's also not surprise for me that he's there.

Honestly, as a tennis fan, I'm glad that he's in the finals because he's got so much talent. Everyone was praising him when he came on the tour, expecting great things from him.

Of course, then we know what was happening throughout many years with him mentally, emotionally. On and off the court, a lot of different things that were distracting him and he was not being able to get this consistency.

For the quality player that he is, this is where he needs to be, and he deserves to be.

Q. On Cam, this was obviously a huge step forward for him. Is he somebody that you can see getting to this stage of a slam again and maybe even further?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yes, absolutely. He's all-around player, as well. Very professional guy. I see the things that he's doing off the court. I even saw him today, I didn't want to interrupt him, but it was actually funny but in a good way, that he brought his little scale to weigh himself after the warmup because we were kind of in the same part of the locker room. So I saw him doing that.

I was thinking to myself, Wow, there is a scale in the locker room, but he doesn't trust it. He brought his own. So I thought, Wow, this is professionalism on another level - or something else, I don't know (smiling).

It seemed to me that he's really being very precise with his weight, how much liquids he's losing. I guess that's the main reason for it. He's very thorough about his chores and his preparation and his recovery. I like to see that because I have that kind of approach, as well.

With this kind of approach, I feel like you're always going to get chances. You're always going to get rewards for being so professional.

Q. You're so experienced now. Does it not matter when you play a guy who is in front of their home crowd, or is it still a bit more difficult?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: With this situation today, you mean?

Q. Yes. You're playing a guy who has such loud support.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Look, it's never pleasant to have the whole stadium cheering for your opponent. Of course, it's something that I expected coming into the match. It was logical for that to happen because he's hometown hero, they wanted him to win. I knew what kind of environment I'm going into.

But I felt like I was maintaining my focus pretty well considering. I sat down, wasn't playing well, feeling well, but somehow I managed to turn the match around.

Yeah, I mean, you could see today on the court that he dropped the focus a little bit a few times, and that's where I stepped in and really started to control the pace of the match, exchanges from the baseline. He was asking for the support of the crowd and he was getting it.

It was not easy to close out the match for me. Even though I was a break up in the fourth, I felt like I was constantly being chased by him from early in the set when I made that break. I felt a lot of pressure to serve it out.

But I did serve well. I think when you serve well, it's a big relief in these kind of circumstances, these kind of matches. It helps a lot playing on grass.

Speaking of the next matchup, I'm going to have one of the best servers we have in the game. That's going to be a different matchup because I was playing lefty, now I'm playing righty. There's a lot of tactical adjustments that need to be made.

Q. Obviously you don't want to fall behind today or the quarterfinal or last year in the final. Do you think there's a part of your personality where you actually really enjoy solving the problems at that point?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I'm forced to be. I'm in the situation where I have to find solutions. I mean, I'm not the only one. Look, every player that goes out on the court needs to adjust and adapt and accept circumstances and find solutions in order to win a tennis match.

For me, arguably it's on a different level because I have to deal with different things that are also off the court, the crowd being maybe on the side of my opponents most of the times. This is something that throughout my career I've been used to.

The more you experience these kind of situations, not the better you feel, but just more prepared you feel. You know what to expect.

It's always really about handling your own nerves better than maybe your opponent is his own. This internal battle is always the greatest.

In the practice sessions where you don't have the crowds or expectations, you play great. Then you come to the match and you realize it's amazing how the whole game can fall apart really just because you feel you're tense, then no shots are really working properly. Your feet are static and slow.

Something happens in a match, then all of a sudden it's completely different and you're flying, everything flows. All the time there are these, let's say, challenges that you're facing internally but also externally. It's really a constant battle. All these obstacles that you have to face.

Really, I think it's an amazing exercise to stay in the moment because being present is I feel like something that is the best state that athlete is looking for because then you're able to, I guess, exclude or switch off certain things and distractions and really focus only on the next point.

That's the zone that everybody talks about that is really difficult to reach but very easy to lose.

Q. The serve with Nick. You played a lot of guys over the years. You haven't played Nick in a while. What is it about his serve that makes it so great?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I mean, his motion for the serve is so fluid and just very quick. He can hit any angle really. He tosses it forward so he can come in, serve and volley. He puts himself in a great position to be aggressive or to stay back. But he's always one meter in front of the baseline.

Yeah, it's tough to read his serve. I haven't practiced with him or played with him since the last time I lost to him in, what was it, '17 I think.

On grass I would assume it's even tougher to read his serve and to return because he has so many free points. You could see that throughout this tournament, as well. He just puts additional pressure on your serve. He moves well. He's got great hands. So very complete player.

I guess it's going to be a game of small margins. I hope I can be at the desired level, then really it's a mental game in the end, who stays tougher and calmer in the decisive moments.