Novak Djokovic’s parents ask son to bid adieu to tennis career
“Tennis is only one segment of his life, not his whole life,” says Serbian player's father
July 27, 2023
Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic’s parents want their son to bid adieu to his sports career and announce retirement after he failed to win the Wimbledon final earlier this month.
Novak lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final, where his 14-match winning streak at the venue also came to an end.
Novak, 36, is now entering into the veteran star role following Federer’s retirement and Rafael Nadal’s injury concerns. While the 36-year-old enjoys taking on the younger generation, it takes a lot of effort to compete at the highest level.
However, both of his parents think that their son has already achieved everything and that now wouldn’t be a bad time to say goodbye to tennis.
Speaking in a new documentary named Novak Djokovic – Untold Stories, Srdjan Djokovic said: “It’s all up to him. As far as I’m concerned, he can retire right now – he has won everything.
“As far as my wishes for him go, he has already fulfilled them all seven/eight years ago. The rest is this amazing bonus. Tennis is only one segment of his life, not his whole life.
“I expect him to be recognised for the things he will do after his career ends as well, after he leaves the tennis world, which I hope it will happen next year. And for Novak to slowly but surely… it’s not the end, but in a year-and-a-half let’s say.
“I think for some time that he should have stopped working this extremely difficult job. It’s physically and mentally challenging and very demanding – with him being fully dedicated for 30 years, and not taking his foot off the gas, there is not much time for other things in life.”
It must be noted that Novak has withdrawn from the upcoming Canadian Open as he is fully focused on the US Open which starts in August.
However, the 23-time Grand Slam winner dismissed all the questions regarding his retirement.
"Of course [the] journey is still not over," he said. "I feel, you know, if I'm winning slams, why even think about, you know, ending the career that already has been going on for 20 years,” he said.
"So I still feel motivated, I still feel inspired to play the best tennis in these tournaments the most, you know, Grand Slams. Those are the ones that count I guess the most in the history of our sport."
