Novak Djokovic has fired back at claims that he should retire, telling his critics and doubters critics that his victory over Carlos Alcaraz proved that he still has the game to compete at the highest possible level.
Although the Serb won the Paris Olympics last year, he didn’t manage to register any triumphs on the Tour and that led to some arguing that he couldn’t anymore compete against the Spaniard and Jannik Sinner.
But at this past Australian Open, it was the 37-year-old who sent Alcaraz home after coming back from a set down to beat the world 21-year-old in the quarterfinal 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4.
Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic© Australian Open/YouTube
Unfortunately for Djokovic, he couldn’t back up that huge win in his next match against Alexander Zverev because a muscle tear forced him to retire after losing the opening set of his semifinal match.
The current world No. 7 maybe didn’t manage to win the Australian Open but he definitely felt that he would have a strong shot at making it all the way had he stayed healthy.
Djokovic: If I didn’t believe I could compete at that level, I wouldn’t be here
“I hope that the 100th trophy can come to Doha right now, I’ve been chasing it for a long time, since October last year, but about that and then – it will come when it needs to come,” the record 24-time Grand Slam champion told Vijesti.me.
“Thank God, I know it will come, we’ll see when and where. As for the Grand Slam, it’s a bigger challenge, a more difficult undertaking, but I believe I can – if I didn’t believe I could compete at that level with the best tennis players in the world, I wouldn’t continue to compete.
“I think I proved by winning against Alcaraz at the Australian Open that I can still compete for the biggest trophies.”
For now, Djokovic’s short-term is obviously to win next week’s ATP 500 tournament in Doha and achieve a very unique milestone by reaching 100 titles.
Tennis World USA