Australian Open: Novak Djokovic - 900 wins are just the beginning
With his first round win over Jan-Lennard Struff , Novak Djokovic entered an elitist circle: The Serb is only the sixth player in history to achieve 900 victories on the men's tour. Understandably, the 32-year-old was in a joke after the match.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Jan 20, 2020, 06:40 pm
Jimmy Connors, Roger Federer, Ivan Lendl, Rafael Nadal, Guillermo Vilas. By January 20, 2020, the list of those players who had at least 900 victories on the men's tour could be read. Now this elite circle is one player richer: Novak Djokovic's four-set win over Jan-Lennard Struff was his 900th success on the tour - and after the game he sent a small, if not too serious, announcement to his competition ,
"I'm just getting started," said Djokovic in a cheerful on-court interview with John McEnroe. A little later, however, the world ranking second became more serious again: "I am very proud of all my achievements. At the same time, I have to remember how grateful I have to be to still play at a very high level."
Djokovic, the connoisseur
"I grew up in Serbia, where there was no great tennis tradition. At the time everything seemed pretty impossible. But here we are 20 to 25 years later and I cannot take things for granted. I try to enjoy every moment "continued the 16-time Grand Slam winner.
In any case, he had planned at the beginning of the year to enjoy things on the court more. "But that is easier said than done. Especially when you are in my situation and you are expected to win a lot of my matches," the 32-year-old admitted.
It remains to be seen whether Djokovic can really enjoy the Australian Open. But the long-standing world number one will only be really happy when the eighth Australian Open title jumps out at the end. According to many experts, the signs are not too bad anyway .
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