THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 16, 2023

Novak Djokovic

Press Conference

C. ALCARAZ/N. Djokovic

1-6, 7-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4

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

Novak, another epic final. Didn't go your way this time. Give us your thoughts.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, I mean, as I said on the court, I've won some epic finals that I was very close to losing. Maybe this is kind of a fair-and-square deal I guess to lose a match like this for me here. Even though it hurts, it's never easy to lose a close match.

Credit to Carlos. Amazing poise in the important moments. For someone of his age to handle the nerves like this, be playing attacking tennis, and to close out the match the way he did... I thought I returned very well that last game, but he was just coming up with some amazing, amazing shots.

Yeah, congratulations to him and to his team. What a tournament for him. What a match today to be part of. I hope, yeah, everyone enjoyed it.

I move on.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can I ask you about the two code violations you got. The first one, the timing of that, the crucial time of the match. The second one, can you sum up your frustration?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: There's no much to talk about that. Second one was frustration. I had break points in the second game. Yeah, just tough, tough couple of points. He played amazing to break my serve, which was enough to win the fifth.

The first one was the time violation, so yeah. Not a great moment again, but you just kind of have to accept it.

Q. You fought hard to get back into that match. I'm wondering if you have to have a regret, is it the point to get up a break in the fifth or the tiebreak in the second?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I would say tiebreak in the second. The backhands kind of let me down, to be honest. Set point, I missed the backhand. He did play a backhand that was quite long in the court, had a little bit of a bad bounce. But I should not have missed that shot.

Then on 6-All, again, another backhand from middle of the court in the net. Just two very poor backhands. That's it. The match shifted to his side. It turned around. He just raised his level so much in the third. I wasn't myself for quite some time.

I managed to regroup and regain the momentum midway in the fourth. I felt that the momentum shifted to my side. That was my chance. That was my opportunity. That break point, I think I played a really good point, kind of set up that drive volley.

It was very, very windy today. The wind kind of, yeah, took it to an awkward place where I couldn't hit the smash, I had to hit the drive volley kind of falling back. I saw him perfectly running to the opposite corner. I kind of wanted to wrong-foot him with that drive volley, and I missed. Obviously he made a break the next game, which was obviously enough to hold the serve till the end.

Some regrets. I had my chances. I think I could have closed out that second-set tiebreaker better. But credit to him for fighting and showing some incredible defensive skills, passing shots that got him the break in the fifth.

He was a deserved winner today, no doubt.

Q. Do you feel like this is the beginning of a big rivalry?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I would hope so, for my sake (smiling). He's going to be on the tour for quite some time. I don't know how long I'll be around.

Yeah, I mean, let's see. It's been only three matches that we played against each other. Three really close matches. Two already this year in later stages of Grand Slams.

Yeah, I hope we get to play in US Open. Why not? I think it's good for the sport, 1 and 2 in the world facing each other in almost a five-hours, five-set thriller. Couldn't be better for our sport in general, so why not?

Q. Are you surprised how quickly Carlos adapted to clay, the hard courts, then to grass, and he's beating you and winning trophies?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: To clay, no, I'm not surprised because he grew up on clay. His game is obviously suited and developed for clay, probably slower hard courts.

But, yeah, grass, I must say he surprised me. He surprised everyone how quickly he adapted to grass this year. He hasn't had too many wins on grass in the last two years that he played. Obviously him coming from clay, having the kind of style that he has.

I think Queen's helped him a lot. He was close to lose that first match, opening match, in Queen's. Then he started to gain momentum, more and more wins against really good players.

Wimbledon courts are slower than Aorangi courts or maybe Queen's courts. It's more suitable for I guess the baseliners like he is.

I must say the slices, the kind of chipping returns, the net play, it's very impressive. I didn't expect him to play so well this year on grass, but he's proven that he's the best player in the world, no doubt.

He's playing some fantastic tennis on different surfaces and he deserves to be where he is.

Q. If you had to pick one quality that you think is his greatest strength, what would it be? Is there anyone else you've played in the past or have seen play to whom you would compare Carlos?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I think people have been talking in the past 12 months or so about his game consisting of certain elements from Roger, Rafa, and myself. I would agree with that. I think he's got basically best of all three worlds.

He's got this mental resilience and really maturity for someone who is 20 years old. It's quite impressive. He's got this Spanish bull mentality of competitiveness and fighting spirit and incredible defense that we've seen with Rafa over the years.

And I think he's got some nice sliding backhands that he's got some similarities with my backhands. Yeah, two-handed backhands, defense, being able to adapt. I think that has been my personal strength for many years. He has it, too.

I haven't played a player like him ever, to be honest. Roger and Rafa have their own obviously strengths and weaknesses. Carlos is very complete player. Amazing adapting capabilities that I think are a key for longevity and for successful career on all surfaces.

Q. On the racquet smash, you spoke about few regrets during the match. Do you regret that? We don't often see that kind of reaction from you. What did you feel in that moment?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: It was a frustration in the moment. I answered to your colleague two minutes ago about that. There's not much to say about that.