24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic traveled to New York to participate in the year-ending Grand Slam, the US Open, which begins on Sunday, Aug. 24.
The No. 7 seed hasn’t played in any other tournaments since his Wimbledon semifinal loss to World No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
Novak Djokovic Reflects on the Changing Priorities in His Life
Djokovic was asked how he felt “coming in cold” for the US Open after not playing professional tournaments since July in his latest US Open press conference. He replied, “Obviously, I didn’t have any matches since Wimbledon. So it is the right term in a sense. But I’ve put in a lot of training in the last three, four weeks.”
He added, “And I decided not to play because I wanted to spend more time with my family. And to be honest, I think I earned my right and have the luxury of picking and choosing where I want to go and what I want to play. And to be quite frank with you, I don’t enjoy the two-week Masters events anymore.”
Further elaborating on his reasons for emphasizing Majors, Djokovic said he aims not to have a heavy schedule across the year, considering he is at the stage of his career where he can choose which tournaments he wishes to play.
Furthermore, the 24-time Grand Slam champion said he wanted to spend more time with his family and be there for them on special occasions.
Djokovic said, “I don’t actually have any schedule other than Slams, to be honest. I kind of feel in a moment what I want to do and how I want to balance things out with other priorities in life and family being, of course, the main one and being there for the important dates, speaking of which I’m going to miss out, well, maybe going to miss out on my daughter’s birthday.”
He added, “It is 2nd of September. So if I’m doing well, I’m still here. But those are types of things that I really don’t want to be missing anymore. So it’s just on a personal level for me; it’s really important to be there, to show up for the people that have been showing up for me for all these years playing tennis.”
The Serb married his childhood sweetheart, Jelena, in 2014. Together, the couple are proud parents to two children: son Stefan, who was born in October 2014, and daughter Tara, who was born in September 2017.
Djokovic begins his US Open quest with a first-round clash against unseeded local Learner Tien at the iconic Arthur Ashe Stadium.
