Novak Djokovic: 'It's a natural cycle, things change'

• Tennis News
• Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic has completely reworked his schedule. The Serbian tennis player used, in recent years, to appear in few tournaments during the long tennis season: the priority was the Grand Slam and Masters 1000 tournaments, in addition to the participation in his home tournament, the ATP in Belgrade.

This year, however, things have changed for the former world number one. Not being vaccinated against Covid19, he could not play the Australian Open and the US Open, but only Roland Garros and Wimbledon, a tournament that he won for the seventh time, but which did not award any points.

For now, from the Race to Turin, Djokovic would not qualify for the ATP Finals. However, a rule would allow the Serb to be present in Italy: a Slam winner can qualify if he places between ninth and 20th. Therefore, it could be the Career points that lead Novak Djokovic to accept a wild card for a 500 tournament.

The tournament announced the presence of Novak Djokovic on its social profiles: he will be the fourth seed of the Astana Open, which will be held from October 3 to 9. After Tel Aviv, a 250 tournament, the Serbian will participate in a 500 tournament, which will start the Slam champion's schedule in October; It will also be the first time in this tournament that it is held in Kazakhstan, which he was born only two years ago.

An October that already promises to be fiery for the Wimbledon winner: in addition to Astana, he will fly to Paris to defend the French Masters 1000 title, which he won last year against Daniil Medvedev.

Djokovic on his rivalry with Nadal

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal went from rivals to teammates this past weekend at the Laver Cup.

"Everyone is my rival. Whoever I step out on court against is my rival and I want to win against him. When it comes to who is my biggest rival, it is Nadal, without a doubt. He's still there," Novak Djokovic said. The 21-time Grand Slam champion went on to recognize that younger players taking over the mantle from established stars of the sport is a natural order of things in all sports.

"It's a natural cycle, things change. They transform to some other players - the responsibilities of carrying on the game. I think it's normal to expect that it will eventually happen. But we are not giving up that easy, Nadal and myself, we are still trying to go strong," he expressed.