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Novak Djokovic recently admitted that longevity is now one of his major goals and Mats Wilander believes it ties in nicely with his Grand Slam ambition.
Djokovic recently took part in a wide-ranging interview with CNN as he talked about not being allowed to compete at the Indian Wells Open and Miami Open due to his unvaccinated status, playing in the same era as Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer and his dreams for the final stages of his career.
On the latter topic he said: “Right now, it’s Grand Slams and longevity. We focus on ambitions, achievements and goals, which is of course super important, but I always try to remind myself about and talk about my passion and love for the game.
“There is no pressure to keep going. Right now, I’m celebrating my 20th year in professional tennis so I’m experienced enough and have achieved enough, but at the same time, what is enough? It’s never enough and you always want to do more, so I have that mentality.”
Former world No 1 Wilander was asked to dissect Djokovic’s comment and the Swede winner believes the Serbian’s main aim is to add to his 22 Grand Slam titles as he knows the longer he plays the more Slams he will win.
The 35-year-old Djokovic currently holds the Grand Slam record with Nadal and many believe the player that ends up with the most majors will go down as the greatest tennis player of all time.
“I think he’s playing a percentage game right now,” Wilander told Eurosport’s Arnold Montgault.
“With longevity, that means he’s going to win another two to five Grand Slam titles because his average is obviously more than one Grand Slam victory per year. I think he’s up at 1.3 or 1.4 Grand Slam victories a year since the first day that he won the Australian Open.
“I think he knows ‘if I just stay healthy, I’m going to have my opportunities and I’m going to be winning more Slams’, whether it’s at Wimbledon, whether it’s even at Roland-Garros, of course, the Australian Open, and then as well at the US Open.
“Longevity means, ‘hey, guys, I’m not old, I feel young’. He looks young, and he’s going to be winning majors as long as he’s healthy.
“He’s going to win, on average, one Grand Slam title per year that he still keeps playing. I think that’s what he’s telling us.”
Source:Tennis 365