(Reuters) -Novak Djokovic acknowledges the generational shift in tennis that has brought a new crop of players into the limelight but the 24-time Grand Slam champion says he has no intention of quietly fading into the background.
The 37-year-old won three out of the four major titles in 2023 but has not been able to reproduce that kind of form since, being shut out of the game’s biggest tournaments last year as Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz took two apiece.
With the retirements of Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Andy Murray, Djokovic is the last member of the “Big Four” still standing and the Serb said he wanted to continue giving to the sport.
“The last 20 years were dominated mostly by the four of us and when three of my biggest rivals retired you can feel there’s a shift,” Djokovic said at the Madrid Open.
“Not only in terms of the generations of players (who now have) the main focus and attention on them, but it takes a bit of time for people to accept the fact that Roger and Rafa are not playing, and Murray, and one day myself.
“But I’m still trying to stay and represent the older guys, the older generation. Hopefully that brings the positive effect to the tournaments and to the tour itself,” he added.
“That’s also one of the reasons why I keep on playing, because I feel like it also helps tennis still thrive on the attention and crowd coming in and watching tournaments and getting interested.”
Djokovic, who is eyeing his 100th tour-level title before the French Open starts on May 25, said no player would ever be bigger than tennis.
“The sport should outlive everyone, the sport will outlive everyone, and it’s more important than anybody individually,” he added.
“We’re all here in the service of the sport.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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