ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

January 3, 2023

Novak Djokovic

Press Conference

N. DJOKOVIC/C. Lestienne

6-3, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Great start to the new season. Just talk about coming back here to Adelaide and the win today.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, of course it's great to be back. I've had success in Adelaide before in my career, 2007 to be exact, quite a long time ago, so it was nice.

Also it was a nice moment also to see my ex-coach, tennis coach. Dejan Petrovic is Serbian but born in Adelaide. He was with me at the time, and Marian Vajda, as well, so kind of brought back nice memories.

To see the packed house for my first match was definitely a very pleasant surprise, and lots of support, lots of love. That obviously motivated me and allowed me to express myself in the best possible way on the court with my game.

I thought I played very solid, competitive start. I think for six games, we were kind of close. He had also breakpoint. I managed to play solid in important moments and got rewarded with the break, and after that I didn't look back. I played really well in the second set.

Q. Was that the perfect afternoon? A great reception and a good but not overly challenging match?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, it was, I think, a very good first round to open up the tournament and the season. Obviously the first matches of the season after a longer break are always tricky. You don't know how you're going to start. You hope you can play as well as you do in the practice courts, but obviously the matches are something different, and competitive play you can't replicate on the practice court.

I'm glad that I managed to do everything well. I was concentrated. I was composed from the first to last point. We had some nice points, also. We had some good life, as well, on the court.

As you mentioned, a great reception. I couldn't ask for a better start to the season.

Q. It was almost like a mini-Davis Cup in Serbia.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, a lot of Serbian flags. I know that the Serbian community in Australia is big here in Adelaide. I didn't think so many of the Serbian people would come. I thank them very much because -- I hope they'll be coming every match that I play here.

Q. The on-court announcer asked you if Australia treated you well, and you said, yes, Australia treated me well in terms of tennis. You were very specific. How are you feeling about how you were treated in non-tennis way last year?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I mean, every experience and every day that I had so far my visit this year was positive. The people that I encountered on the beach or in restaurants or wherever I was kind of roaming around the city or of course here at the tennis, everybody was very welcoming.

I can say only thank you, and I feel great. That obviously reflects on my tennis and my game, the way I feel on the court, because that's something I want to focus on. That is the reason why I'm here, and hopefully it can stay that way.

Q. Obviously you must have been nervous coming back to Australia, but have those nerves been dispelled completely?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, look, I can say it was different coming into Australia this year than any other year certainly because of the events 12 months ago, but at the same time, 12 months is quite a long time, as well.

Already it's behind me. I've moved on. I'm looking forward to come because I always play very well and probably my best tennis throughout my career on Australian soil.

I came in early, almost a week before my first match. It's plenty of time. I don't actually recall when I came that early to Australia, so I had plenty of time to adjust to the time zone, time difference, and just, I guess, adapt to whatever is waiting for me here, expecting me here.

As I said, from day one people have been very kind, generous with me and my team, so overall a great experience so far.

Q. You touched on how positive everyone has been since you arrived here and that you've moved on and it's been 12 months, all those sorts of things. Can you take us into your psyche getting on the plane, coming to Australia, not knowing exactly what was coming and the reception you were going to receive?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I kind of was joking around with my team hoping that I can enter Australia this time, and that's what happened.

It was really, I would say, normal. As any other year coming into Australia except the last year, easy through the passport control, landed well. All was great. Got picked up by official transportation and got to the hotel and moved on with my day. There was nothing, really, that --

Q. But as far as what were you thinking before you reached Australia and you had that normal experience --

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: No, like I was looking forward to it, because if I was not looking forward to coming to Australia, I wouldn't be here. I want to be here.

I'm glad that I received so far the reception that I wished for.

The overall experience up to this moment is very positive.

There is no reason to focus on -- what you focus on, you become. If I focus on the negatives, that's what I'll attract, so I don't want to do that. I don't hold a grudge. I am here to play tennis, to enjoy sports and spread good energy.

Q. You mentioned you've been overwhelmed by the support you have received, particularly the Serbian fans.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yes.

Q. What are you expecting in Melbourne?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I don't know. I don't have any expectations. I just try to stay in the moment. Now my focus is on here, on Adelaide, try to do well in this tournament. Obviously Melbourne, Grand Slam, it's different. Obviously so many players, both on the women and men's side.

I'll be there also a week before my first match, as I normally do, training, getting used to the slight difference in the conditions and the speed of the court, and let's see. I mean, I hope that I'll be received well. That's what I'm hoping for, but I don't have any expectations.

Q. Can we look ahead a little bit in Adelaide; everybody is looking at a potential semifinal between you and Daniil. You've obviously both got to get there first, but the hottest ticket in town, would be a great way to test yourself before the Australian Open.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, it's still a long way. Obviously that's a matchup that would be -- I think very much wanted by tennis fans and everyone.

I have to be ready for anyone across the net, so if it's Daniil in semis, then it's great that I reached the semis, he reached the semis. But it's still a long way.

As I said, the first couple of matches, we all are still finding form, finding the groove on the court, so to say, this fine tuning, fine feelings that we have on the court. It takes a few matches to really start engines properly.

But for me actually, I felt quite comfortable on the court in terms of striking the ball. Let's see. Let's see. Obviously this is as strong of a 250 event that you can have. Daniil, Felix that lost yesterday, but you have so many top-10 guys, top-15 guys, Rublev. It's I think a fantastic field and great lead-up to Melbourne.

Q. Daniil spoke the other day that he hopes to be able to play Wimbledon. Obviously last season he didn't get to play here and the U.S., as well. Would you like to see every player be able to play every Slam?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Of course, of course, absolutely. I hope he and other Russian, Belarusian players will be able to play everywhere.

Q. What did Dejan teach you 15 years ago as a young player?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Dejan. He was my first professional tennis level coach. He was the first traveling coach I had, and I grew up watching him in Davis Cup, as well. He played for Serbia. He was a captain of the Davis Cup team, as well.

You know, he was somewhat of a role model for me, as well, him and his generation of Zimonjic, Vemic, and these guys. So him also being a local here, born in Adelaide, coming to Australia with him felt more comfortable. He took me around.

He already connected me with the Serbian communities here in Melbourne, and instantly I had lots of support and I felt at home even though I was still a teenager.

I remember that we worked on my transition game to the net. He was very aggressive in Australian style of -- Australia school of tennis, trying to use the short balls coming in, serve and volley, so forth. He was trying to have me improve my net game, my feel, my serve.

It was a great time. I think he was the coach that I had first time when I entered the top 100 in the world, so we had fun times together.

Q. He taught you how to say "Adelaide," as well?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: He taught me all the -- exactly, like "fair dinkum," "good on you," "blokes," stuff like this.

Q. You had an opportunity to play doubles with Pospisil, your friend. I was wondering how that came about, and what, if anything, the two of you have been up to in terms of the PTPA in recent months.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, unfortunately our doubles campaign ended very early. We lost. But we had fun on the court. I think we played a good match. It was the first time that we played together. He is for me one of the best doubles players in the world from the singles players. He has won a Grand Slam, as well, and played well I think with Jack Sock at that time when he was playing more doubles.

Q. You forget about the signs at a certain point, right?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: We talked about it prior to the match, but then we were kind of feeling each other. As I said, I thought it was good. We were a bit unlucky in the second. We won the first set. Second set was quite close.

Doubles is a whole different world, whole different game. It's not easy even if you return well. If you don't particularly hit your spots, the guy on the net is poaching, crossing, and it's such a different game.

For me, I don't play doubles much at all. I used to play more. I probably should play more because of the Davis Cup and the team competitions because now with the new format you can easily get to a result of 1-1 after singles and then you have to play decisive doubles.

It was fun, as I said. Vasek and I have been friends for many years. He has been unfortunate with some injuries, but I believe in him. I think he's got a big game. I think some of the things physically, as well, for him he's struggling with at the moment. I feel like when he improves that, I feel like he's going to improve, also, in the rankings because he definitely has the potential to be up high with singles.

When it comes to PTPA, a player organization that is 100 percent devoted to players. We don't have anything like that in tennis. We are proud of where we are at the moment. We've come a long way. That idea is not our idea; it has been there for over two decades. Many different generations of players tried to do the player organization and player association but they haven't managed because of many different reasons --

Q. Is it hard?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, it is. I think there's a lot of legal challenges along the way. We managed to overcome all those challenges, and we are gathering the right team of people with advisory board, people that are going to help with financing the association, of course people from the tennis world that will help us establish ourselves within the ecosystem, which I think is very important as we were not accepted and embraced by Grand Slams, ATP nor WTA, so it makes things difficult for us, but this association needs to live. It needs to be there because players don't have 100 percent representation in the tennis world, unfortunately. With the association they have that. Hopefully more players will be showing the willingness to understand what PTPA can do for them.

It's a process that will take a longer time just because we are not getting credibility from other governing bodies, so it will take longer, but we'll stay there, and it's something that hopefully can stay for many decades to come.