Novak Djokovic details inspiration he is drawing from Tom Brady, LeBron James

• Tennis News
• Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic reveals he is drawing inspiration from sporting icons like Tom Brady and LeBron James, who managed to stay dominant forces in their respective sports even late in their careers. Djokovic, 36, won the US Open on Sunday and he won three out of four Grand Slams in 2023.

In the NFL, Brady - who retired from football after the 2022 season at the age of 45 - won his seventh and last Super Bowl in 2021. Meanwhile, 38-year-old James is still active and posting big numbers in the NBA. Djokovic, who is still dominating in tennis, has no plans to retire anytime soon.

Djokovic on drawing inspiration from Brady, James

"There are always changes happening, literally on a weekly to monthly basis in my approach to training, to recovery, to mental training. There's always something that I'm trying to add so that I can up my performance in my game at least for a few percent.

It's a constant process of trying to get better and trying to implement certain things that work for you and finding that formula. One of the biggest lessons I have learned probably mentally throughout my career is that even if you find a formula that works, it's not a guarantee, and actually most likely it's not going to work the next year.

You need to reinvent yourself, because everyone else does. As a 36-year-old competing with 20-year-olds I probably have to do it more than I have ever done it in order to keep my body in shape, in order to be able to recover so that I can perform on the highest level consistently.

I know I'm not the only one. There are a lot of great champions in different sports that thrive on this kind of approach to perfect themselves, their approach, their game, their performance, their recovery, every single day.

On and on. That's why LeBron James still keeps going at his age, or Tom Brady, you know, greats like that, that are inspiring," Djokovic said.