THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 14, 2023

Novak Djokovic

Press Conference

N. DJOKOVIC/J. Sinner

6-3, 6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the press conference of Novak Djokovic.

Novak, back into the finals. Great performance today. Give us your initial thoughts on the match.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, it was a well-fought, straight-set victory. Each set was closer than it appears maybe on the scoreboard. I knew that he is going to try to be aggressive and hit from both forehand and backhand quite flat and fast, so I needed to be really sharp from the beginning, which I think I have.

I think I found the right shots at the right time. Serve was kind of going up and down, but I managed to make him play always an extra shot, especially towards the end of the match.

Yeah, he basically made some unforced errors to give me the victory in the tiebreak. Also he was two set points up in the third. But that's tennis, obviously. That pressure point moments, it's not easy to play the shots that you desire.

So it was, of course, great for me that I was able to finish the job in straight sets.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What has it been like to go through this tournament and get to this final? It's the first time you're not in the Grand Slam race anymore, or you're at the top of the Grand Slam race. That's not your primary focus as it has been. Has it been different mentally? Have you brought in other motivations? What has taken up that space?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: To be honest with you, I don't feel much difference. Ambition is always the highest for me: always to win the title. It's not changing regardless of the place in history books.

Maybe some people think that it would be a huge relief for me winning Roland Garros, being the only men's tennis player with 23 slams. It's not.

I mean, pressure is there. It's still very high. I still feel goose bumps and butterflies and nerves coming into every single match. So I'm going to be coming into Sunday's final like it's my first, to be honest.

I don't want to approach that finals in any more relaxed way than I have previous ones, meaning the intention needs to be clear. Goal and approach will be as serious and professional as it has been always.

Not much difference for me there.

Q. We often talk about experience. At some point do you feel it has this much importance, or against Carlos, that you're playing the best tennis than the rest of the field?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I can speak on my own behalf and my matches.

I obviously have more experience than most of these guys that I faced here, and that I will face on Sunday, as well.

Experience, yeah, could help a little bit I think maybe in some important moments, beginning the match, managing the nerves, managing the occasion, circumstances. Yeah, that's where experience could play a role.

But it's not going to be the deciding factor really. It's not going to affect that much on the game itself. So whoever on a given day is in a better state, I mean, mentally and physically, will be the winner.

Q. What are the feelings you experience in the moment when you win a major championship?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Huge relief. Obviously incredible joy, satisfaction, pride. It's kind of mixed feelings because Grand Slam is paramount of the pressure levels that you can experience as any other tournament. You can't compare it to any other tournament actually. It's an incredible amount of just dedication from a player to stay in the tournament and go all the way.

So, yeah, it's a huge relief just to finish the tournament. But to finish it with a title obviously is something that 128 players in the draw want to achieve.

Yeah, it's an ultimate showdown. Everything comes down to one match. All eyes of the tennis and sports world will be directed on this Sunday Wimbledon's final. It's probably the most watched tennis match globally. I look forward to it.

Q. You have won the last six of the eight Grand Slams. How do you manage to stay so strong for so long on all surfaces and against all players, even the new generation?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, it's no secret that Grand Slams are the highest priority for me, the highest goals on my priority list. Every time I start the season, I want to peak at these four tournaments. I try to organize my schedule, training schedule, and my preparation weeks, and all the tournaments, according to these priorities.

All the tournaments that I play are basically leading me up to Grand Slam. I'm really glad that this year, actually last several years, my Grand Slam seasons are amazing. The results are fantastic.

Yeah, I have a good team of people around me. We do things in a proper way on a daily basis. I think that gives us benefits when we get to the later stages of a Grand Slam. Most of the players are probably exhausted a bit physically, mentally, or maybe they don't feel like they can go a step further.

But for me, I feel that the job is not finished until I lift the trophy - hopefully - and play in the finals of a Grand Slam. I put myself, again, in that position. Of course, I'm very thrilled.

Q. On the hindrance call, it's obviously a pretty unusual thing to happen, especially in a Grand Slam semifinal. Have you had a chance to watch it back?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah.

Q. What is your opinion now on the call?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: First of all, I have to accept the decision from a chair umpire. That's it. It was quite a close call, I must say. I mean, it has never happened to me. I've never had a hindrance call for extended grunt.

I saw the replay. I saw that my grunt finished before he hit the shot. So I thought that chair umpire's call was not correct. I mean, my opinion.

Again, you have to accept it.

Q. You won another tiebreak. Why are you so strong in tiebreak? Why your opponents are losing?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Why not (smiling)?

Yeah, I am aware of the tiebreak streak. I think the longer the streak goes, I guess mentally the more resilient or tougher I am in these particular situations.

Coming into every tiebreak now, I feel I think more comfortable than my opponent just because of the record. I think that my opponents also know about that record. That mentally makes a difference.

I was down 3-1 in the tiebreak. He really gifted me the point with the double-fault, and I was back in the tiebreak. It could have been 4-1 for him. Who knows what kind of direction the tiebreak would go into.

Tiebreak is such in a way a gamble because one or two points can really decide the whole course of a tiebreak on grass. If you make one double-fault or if you miss a first serve, the opponent plays a great return, and you hold your serve till the end of the tiebreak, that can be enough.

That's why going into tiebreaks in grass, probably even more stressful than any other surface because you know that you won't maybe get as many chances to be in the rally.

Yeah, I mean, he didn't play such a great last three, four points. Made mistakes. I was just trying to stay in the point and make him play, make him play an extra shot, and it was enough.

Q. Towards the end of the second set, there were quite a few disturbances from the crowd. You seemed to be reacting to that. Can you talk us through your emotions towards the crowd?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: All love. It's all love. All love and acceptance (smiling).

Q. On that game when you had the hindrance, which is very unusual for you to have to deal with, then the time violation came almost immediately afterwards, what was kind of going through your head at the time? Were you having to concentrate on holding, not erupting?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I had to try very hard to -- exactly, that's exactly right. I was just trying to hold my things mentally together, and not really get upset, even though I was really upset because I didn't think it was the right call.

Then, yeah, I could have gone over. Probably I didn't see the time clock. I could have gone over. You can argue and say if you went over, even if it's the first time, you should get a time violation, which is okay. It's by the rules.

But at the same time, if it's the first time it happens, it happens in a game where you already gave me a hindrance, where it's a close game, rallies, in this particular situation, I feel like chair umpire should, yeah, just recognize the moment a little bit more.

But again, it was a very stressful game for me to survive and to kind of storm through. It was super important because if he made the break, he was very close, he had a break point, who knows what would happen from that moment onwards.

Yeah, luckily for me, I stayed calm.

Q. Preview of the next match.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Did Alcaraz win?

Q. Yes.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: This is probably the most anticipated finals I guess from the beginning of the tournament, from most of the people. Alcaraz, myself... It will be his first finals in Wimbledon.

He's so young, but he's incredibly consistent now, also on grass. Which I don't think many people expected him to play so well because his game is basically, yeah, built and constructed and developed for clay mostly or slower hard courts. But he's been incredibly successful in adapting to the surfaces and demands and challenges of opponents on a given day.

I see this as a great trait, as a great virtue. I see this as one of my biggest strengths throughout my career, that I was able to constantly develop, adapt, and adjust my game depending on the challenges basically. That's what he's doing very early on in his career.

Kudos to him. Amazing player. Great guy also off the court. He carries himself very, very well. He respects the history of the sport, respects everyone. No bad words about him at all.

His team, his family... I've seen him play in Queen's a little bit. Here he's been very impressive. I think he already developed a very accurate game on grass.

I think, judging by the performances that we have seen from all the players, I think this is probably the best finals that we could have. We are both in good form. We're both playing well.

I guess I want to take this title without a doubt. I look forward to it. It's going to be a great challenge, greatest challenge that I could have at the moment from any angle really: physical, mental, emotional.

He's one of the quickest guys on the tour. He can do pretty much anything on the court. I consider myself also very complete player.

We had a very good match until he started struggling physically in Paris. I think we really took the level of tennis very high. I think was great for the audience and great for us players to be part of that.

Obviously completely different conditions here. Grass is massively different from clay. Yes, I do have more experience playing in many more Grand Slam or Wimbledon finals than him. Still he's in great shape. He's very motivated. He's young. He's hungry.

I'm hungry, too, so let's have a feast (smiling).