US OPEN

August 27, 2024

Novak Djokovic

Press Conference

N. DJOKOVIC/R. Albot

6-2, 6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please.

Q. Last year you played Djere and it went all the way to five sets. Play another Serbian. How does it feel for your next round?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, it's great. I saw him in the locker room, and we congratulated each other. It's a great win for him because he's been struggling a bit after his surgery to get to the desired level. I guess he hasn't had many wins, and this is a big win against Struff in the first round. Congrats to him.

It's great I mean for Serbian tennis, obviously, that two Serbian players are facing each other. It's a guaranteed third round for one of the Serbian guys. Hopefully it's going to be me, but Djere is a guy that really likes playing on a big stage.

I think he also loves the conditions here. It's a bit quicker. Ball stays low. He has a very flat backhand particularly and very good serve, great return. He's physically as fit as anybody.

I remember very well our match. It was a very tough match. I'm going to try to analyze that and hopefully do some things even better than I did last year.

Q. You have obviously played a million night matches here and elsewhere. I'm wondering, how do you prepare differently when you're going on court this late in the day as opposed to maybe an afternoon match? Has that routine that you go through changed at all over the years and as you gain more experience with this?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I don't think that aging helps really staying so late and playing very late. I can feel, you know, my batteries are low now. I'm shutting down.

But it's been a long wait, to be honest. I thought I'm going to go out on the court, like, 8:15 p.m. because Stephens was 6-Love, 3-Love serving and then all of a sudden it turns out to be a two and a half hour match or whatever.

Yeah, you just have to accept it, I guess. Those are the instances where you're scheduled second after 7:00, 7:30 or whatever the start was. I like playing night matches, but I love to start first.

So, yeah, hopefully I get more chances to play at night and am scheduled first so we can start at a more decent time and finish at a more decent time.

I guess for the fans there is something special about this late-night finishes, particularly post-midnight. For us I don't know. It's not really what you want, but, you know, if you get a W, then it's all good.

Q. Just curious, what does it feel like to play your first hard court match of this swing, I guess, at the US Open? And how far do you feel you are in your recovery with your knee and at what point will the knee covering come off?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I think it was a solid start. Look, I struggled with my serve and the rhythm on certain shots. Overall from the back of the court I thought I played pretty well.

It's always challenging to start, particularly when you haven't played on this surface for five, six months and coming off an Olympic gold and playing on clay. I haven't had any official matches before US Open. So I'm expecting to be probably challenged a little bit more in the opening rounds.

Hopefully I can play better each day. The good thing about slams is you have a day between matches where you can train, where you can really work on things and perfect your game. That's what I need. That's what I feel like I need.

So I'm going to hit the practice courts tomorrow and work on things that haven't really worked during the match and, yeah, keep striving to be better.

The knee is fine really. I haven't had any issues throughout the entire Olympic tournament and here first round. Knock on wood, it's all good.

Q. I'm sure you saw it was Dominic Thiem's last major appearance today. You've had some memorable matches over the years. I'm just curious what made Dominic such a difficult opponent to play against and how he made you a better player?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I would like to congratulate him on a great Grand Slam career. I know he's going to play I think his home tournament or maybe one or a few more other tournaments. I think that's where he is going to retire, in Vienna.

This is the only Grand Slam he has won. He has played I think another three finals. So just one of the nicest guys, really, on the tour for many years. He's been respected. He's been admired. He's been loved by his peers, by colleagues, by everyone on the tour. Of course, fans.

He put in so much work over the years, and I think he was a great example for many players that see what's happening, so to say, behind the scenes. He always puts in the extra work, and the tenacity and intensity that he brings on and off the court in everything he does is something really remarkable.

It's really unfortunate for a player of his caliber that was really almost on top of the world, and being a top-3, top-5 player for years to go through the injury of the wrist that really, yeah, made him struggle. He was never the same player after that. It's unfortunate.

But, again, I guess when he draws the line, he can definitely be happy with what he has achieved, and he'll be remembered.