I can beat world number one and Grand Slam titles record, says Djokovic

Novak Djokovic said he is confident he will end his career as the greatest Grand Slam title winner of all time and break the record for weeks in the world number one spot.

The Serb has 17 majors, three back from the record of Roger Federer’s 20 and two behind the 19 of Rafael Nadal.

Before the coronavirus brought the 2020 season to a halt, Djokovic had captured an eighth Australian Open and was on an 18-0 winning streak for the year.

“I think that I still have things to do in this sport. I believe that I can win the most Slams and break the record for most weeks at No. 1. Those are definitely my clear goals,” Djokovic told the ‘In Depth with Graham Bensinger’ TV show.

Djokovic has been on top of the rankings for a combined total of 282 weeks.

Federer leads the way on 310 with the long-retired Pete Sampras on 286.

However, time is comfortably on the side of Djokovic who will celebrate his 33rd birthday on May 22.

Federer will be 39 in August while Nadal turns 34 in June. Djokovic even sees himself still playing at 40.

“I don’t believe in limits. I definitely want to go for a long time,” he said.

“But I’m aware that the amount of tournaments I’m playing is going to decrease very soon.

“I will not be able to play at this intensity, with this many tournaments and this much travelling, for a long time.

“I might be playing at 40, but then there will probably be a focus on the biggest tournaments and the tournaments that mean the most to me.”

Meanwhile, US tennis great Serena Williams spoke recently about how she met her husband, Redditt co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Williams posted a video of the couple on Instagram taking a “road trip,” which Ohanian says in the video was basically driving in circles around their home.

“This trip started in Roma 5 or 6 years ago lol I’m the worst with time lines. He sat at my table. I asked him to leave. He refused. I found that hot. I asked him if he liked truffles. He said yes. Eventually I said yes. And here we are. 5 or 6 years later @alexisohanian,” she said in a caption to the video.

Williams and Ohanian had their first daughter in September 2017. She had won the Australian Open earlier in the year when she was roughly eight to nine weeks pregnant.

She took a lengthy break from tennis during the pregnancy and her first tournament on return was at the Fed Cup in February 2018 in a doubles match with her sister Venus Williams. She made her return to Grand Slam tennis at the French Open that year.

She has since reached the final of the Wimbledon and US Open in 2018 and 2019 and was eliminated from the Australian Open this year in the third round.

Meanwhile, the ATP and WTA announced extension to suspension of their Tours on Friday. Both tours have now been suspended till at least the end of July and thus, the list of cancelled tournaments now exceeds 40.

“The ATP has extended the suspension of the ATP Tour through to July 31, 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” said the ATP. “The decision, made in close collaboration with Tour members, means ATP events in Hamburg, Bastad, Newport, Los Cabos, Gstaad, Umag, Atlanta and Kitzbühel will not take place as scheduled.

The extended suspension also applies to the ATP Challenger Tour and to men’s events on the ITF World Tennis Tour.”

Agencies