Novak Djokovic eyes ‘Golden Slam’ in 2024 after winning record seventh ATP Finals

TURIN – Novak Djokovic has no intention of slowing down after capping another incredible year with a record-breaking seventh ATP Finals victory on Nov 19 after beating Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-3.

At 36, the Serb is still tennis’ No. 1 player by some distance and he has racked up a host of new records this season, taking his Grand Slam tally to 24 and finishing top of the year-end world rankings for the eighth time.

He swept past young pretenders Carlos Alcaraz and Sinner on his way to triumph in Turin and is gunning for more glory in 2024, when Paris hosts the one major event he has not won – the Olympics.

Asked what else he can accomplish in tennis, Djokovic joked: “Well, you can win four Slams and Olympic gold.”

“I have always the highest ambitions and goals. That’s not going to be different for the next year, that’s for sure. The drive that I have is still there,” he added.

“Motivation, especially for the biggest tournaments in sport, is still present... For me, obviously those are Grand Slams and finals, and next year hopefully also the Olympic Games.”

The Olympics take place from July 26 to Aug 11 in the French capital, starting less than a fortnight after Wimbledon and finishing shortly before the US Open.

It is a major career goal sandwiched into an already long, draining season, one which will take its toll on all the top players, let alone one heading towards his late 30s.

“It is definitely one of the major goals for next year, other than Grand Slams,” said Djokovic.

“It’s going to be a very congested schedule with going from the slowest to the fastest surface in sport back to the slowest. Clay, grass, clay, then hard court. Obviously that’s a very demanding, challenging stretch of the year.”

Vanquished finalist Sinner hailed Djokovic as an “inspiration” during the trophy ceremony and is using the Serb as a model for his own bid for the sport’s top honours.

Both Djokovic and his coach Goran Ivanisevic predicted that Sinner, who claimed four tour-level titles this season, will one day win Grand Slams and top the world rankings.

Daniil Medvedev also suggested as much after the 22-year-old world No. 4 beat him in the semi-finals. And his performances at the Pala Alpitour have been cause for great optimism within Italian tennis.

“He’s an inspiration because he worked throughout the whole years before, when he was younger, in the right way to get to this point. That’s also one of my goals,” Sinner said of Djokovic.

“It’s not only about watching one season. You watch this season, and you say, OK, I played good. But you have to play well every season, and you have to get to a certain age, which is 35, 36, 37, whatever, and you can still feel the body in the right way.”

Djokovic took control early in the match, breaking Sinner at the first opportunity in game 4 and then comfortably serving out the opening set.

Such was his dominance that Djokovic silenced a partisan crowd who have been rambunctious for all of Sinner’s matches, and he immediately broke serve again at the start of the second set.

He reeled off 14 straight points from the start of the final game of the first set into the third game of the second, which was eventually won by Sinner to just hold his serve.

Sinner looked like he was going to be walked over but he showed huge heart and brought the crowd to their feet when he held his serve in game 7, a 15-minute mini-epic in which Djokovic had two break points, to stay at 4-3.

However, in the end he could not stay with Djokovic and surrendered the match in disappointing fashion with a double fault.
AFP, REUTERS