The Serb still hasn’t had enough
«Djokovic will 30 Grand-Slam-Titel»
Novak Djokovic has been able to call himself 21-time Grand Slam champion since last Sunday. But the Serb is far from having enough. He has a completely different goal in mind.
Published: 11:47 am
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Updated: 32 minutes ago
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When Roger Federer (40) celebrated his 20th Grand Slam title by winning the Australian Open in January 2018, many believed this was a record for eternity. The number seemed far too far away for everyone else.
Four and a half years later, the tennis world looks different. Rafael Nadal (36) and Novak Djokovic (35) have won six and nine major titles respectively since then and overtook the maestro, who won no more. They stand at 22 and 21 triumphs respectively.
“He wants to reach number 30”
Impressive numbers. But Djokovic, who triumphed at Wimbledon for the seventh time last weekend, is not satisfied with that. On the contrary. The 21 titles are just another step towards what he’s aiming for. “He wants to reach number 30,” reveals his former coach Bogdan Obradovic (55) in an interview with “BBC 5 Live”. “That’s what Novak wants.”
A crazy and ambitious goal. But can Djokovic, who is still not vaccinated against Corona, even achieve it? At the beginning of the year he was not allowed to take part in the Australian Open, and he will probably miss the US Open (from August 29th) for this reason. And since he still has no intention of getting vaccinated, this issue may continue to haunt him.
number in my head for a long time
Nevertheless, Obradovic is optimistic. “He’s going to play for the next five years and he’ll probably have 20 opportunities to reach that number. We’ll see,” he explains. Djokovic would have to win not quite half of these 20 Grand Slams in order to achieve his goal. In five years he will be 40 – as old as Federer, who is currently working on his comeback.
But where does this crazy goal come from? Apparently Djokovic has had the number 30 in his head for a long time. At least that’s what Obradovic claims. He first met him when he was nine years old. “After that, when he was 13 years old, we started working together for the next 18 years, which is a very long time. He always talked about it and I know his idea.”
As ambitious as Djokovic is, he will do whatever it takes to achieve that goal. Even if it seems unattainable. (bir)
