Djokovic before US Open: my biggest rival is myself
Promoting his documentary in the United States, Novak says that at this stage of his career his toughest opponent is himself, and that the crowd's energy matters more than ever.
- Novak Djokovic is currently in the United States, promoting his documentary ahead of the US Open.
- Before the New York Grand Slam he said his biggest competition is himself.
- He stressed that the crowd's energy and the respect he gets worldwide mean a lot at this stage of his career.
- He recently appeared on Kevin Hart's show.
This was not really a tennis press conference. It felt closer to a film premiere. Novak Djokovic sits in front of the cameras somewhere in America, a poster for the documentary he is promoting behind him, and instead of asking about his serve and backhand the reporters ask him about life, about age, about who his toughest opponent is these days. Then comes the line that raced across social media within hours.
My biggest rival, Novak says, is myself.
It sounds like a cliche until the man saying it is someone who has won everything tennis has to offer. With him it is not a pose. It is an accurate description of where he stands. When you are the age he is and still walking onto court against players who were born while you were already lifting trophies, the only serious opponent left is the one you see in the mirror. Motivation, fatigue, the head. It all comes down to how badly you still want to play.
Why talk about himself right now?
Because New York is close, and the US Open is not a tournament you turn up to just to fill a quota. Djokovic made it clear that what drives him comes from within, not from a list of rivals he needs to outplay. Woven into that was the thing that has clearly kept him going in recent seasons, the energy of the crowd. He said the respect he receives around the world means a great deal, and that this exchange with the stands pulls him forward at a point when many would have hung up the racket long ago.
Anyone who has watched his matches over the past few years knows exactly what he means. The hand cupped to the ear, the way he lifts a crowd to its feet when a match starts slipping away, none of that is showmanship for its own sake. It is fuel. Djokovic learned long ago how to make the stands give back what his body no longer offers on its own.
The layer I find more interesting is a different one. A man who chooses to sit in Kevin Hart’s studio talking about a documentary before a Grand Slam, rather than burying himself in training behind closed doors, is quietly rewriting his own rules. Djokovic is increasingly building a story that is bigger than the result of any single match. The documentary, the public appearances, the more open talk about motivation, all of it looks like someone who knows the final stretch of his career is here and wants to tell it his own way, right to the end.
What it means heading into New York
In practical terms, nothing changes about the fact that the same Novak who hates losing even a point in practice will be on court. Psychologically, though, this is an intriguing way to enter a tournament. When someone who has won it all says his biggest rival is himself, that is a message both to himself, a reminder not to ease off, and to the young challengers, not to write him off.
The US Open has always been special to him, and the New York crowd can be loud even when it is not cheering for him. If there is one thing he has learned over all these years, it is how to turn that noise into an ally. Whether his body will let him play the way his head demands remains to be seen.
So, do you believe Novak can go deep in New York again this season, or is his biggest rival this time simply the clock?
