ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

January 7, 2023

Novak Djokovic

Press Conference

N. DJOKOVIC/D. Medvedev

6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Novak wins his 33rd consecutive match in Australia. Tomorrow he'll attempt to win his 92nd career title. It will be the first meeting against Sebi Korda.

Questions.

Q. We've been waiting for the matchup all week. How do you think it went?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Great. Winning against him in straight sets, couldn't ask for more. Except that little scare with the hamstring, but everything else was great.

As the tournament progresses, every match I play better. That's something that obviously is something I wish for, something I work for, hope for. I'm hitting the ball very well. I obviously played a couple matches. Tomorrow we're going to have a late day session, still some sun on the court, so different conditions. Plays differently in the night. Ball bounces less and it's a bit slower. Obviously it helps when you're playing big servers, you can return their serve better.

I served extremely well. I think that helps when you play Daniil, who is one of the best defenders in the game, one of the best servers in the game. He doesn't give too many free points, you got to earn your points. In important moments I went for some big serves. They went in. He also went for some big serves and he missed.

Even though it was a 3-4 scoreline in the end of the match, maybe one or two shots, points decided the winner. That's also expected in matchups kind of like this one.

Q. We're keen to find out about what happened, what you felt, how you're feeling now?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Look, I'm not going to talk about it too much because I don't think it's appropriate. I don't want to reveal too much of what's happening.

I felt a pulling on the hamstring and I needed some medical timeout and I got one. After that when the pills kicked in I guess, after few games when it was warm enough, felt okay.

Q. In the second set you served particularly well. Are you conscious following the hamstring injury that you need to shorten the points to win quicker?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Not necessarily, to be honest. Let's see how it feels when I wake up tomorrow. Obviously playing day by day, having a little bit of an injury, it's not ideal. But it's not first time that I get to experience specific circumstances like this one. I know what to do with my team, with my physio.

Hopefully it will feel good. Let's see. I don't have so much time, but I hope enough.

Q. You've got Seb Korda next. Never played before. What does he do well? How will you approach that?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: One of the players that has kind of the cleanest striking technique that you can see on the tour. I mean, he's so talented. Everything seems very flawless with him. Just effortless, not flawless. The way he plays, the way he moves on the court, just beautiful-looking tennis. Going to try to make it ugly tomorrow (laughter).

No, I mean, joking aside, he's one of the players on the new generation that is coming up, one of the contenders for the top spots of the world. I'm sure it's just a matter of time when he's going to break through top 10.

He's got plenty of time. He's got a good team of people around him. Actually Radek Stepanek helps him out a lot. Radek was part of my team, my coach some years ago. I know how they work. I know how he plays. Even though I never faced him before, I did practice with him a lot. I know his game.

He likes to play very fast, flat. These kind of conditions here with the speed of the court suits him. Yeah, let's see what happens tomorrow.

Q. Can I get your thoughts on Carlos having to withdraw from the Australian Open.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, I saw that. I mean, obviously it's not good for tournament, not good for tennis. He's No. 1 in the world. Such a young player. A big name, big star in our sport already. I'm sure that many of the fans are disappointed. I hope for his speedy recovery. Whatever it is, I know he had injury end of last season that was different from this one, as I understood.

It happens that sometimes, even though if you have kind of longer period of time without an official tournament, that actually your body is not used to that kind of conditions and circumstances because as a tennis player you're constantly on the road, playing competitions. When you are out of that rhythm, body can react. You can have some injuries and difficulties when you come back to the tour and start pushing more and playing points, giving more intensity in the points, practice points, practice matches.

It's unfortunate for him. As I said, he's still young, got plenty of time. I hope he can recover and be back on the tour quickly.

Q. We saw you went to church last night. Can you talk about that experience, having that in Adelaide.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I was very happy to have the opportunity to go for the church service last night that started midnight. We finished the match I think it was 11 p.m. Once I was done with my commitments here post match, I took my brother and sparring partner as well to go to the church, be part of the service.

I think it's nice because it pays respect, first of all, to our religion, to our nation, to our people, but at the same time also an opportunity to be close to Serbian community that has been giving me a lot of energy and love this week. In general throughout my career, but especially this week with obviously coming back to Australia after the events that happened 12 months ago.

They were here for me from the day one and made me feel like at home. I felt that was the least I could do in order to feel closer to them.