By Rory Carroll
INDIAN WELLS, California, March 7 (Reuters) – Novak Djokovic said that even at 38-years-old he still has long-term goals and is keen to defend his Olympic title from Paris at the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
Djokovic described his win over Carlos Alcaraz to claim the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Games as the biggest sporting success of his storied career, but the Serb will be 41 when the LA Games get underway.
“That’s one of the long-term goals, to reach the Olympics. That would be nice,” he told reporters after his second-round win over Kamil Majchrzak at Indian Wells on Saturday.
“It’s still a long way off. I think at my age and this stage of my career, every year seems like a longer period than it is for anyone who is younger.
“But I’ll try to make it, definitely one of the motivations, so I’ll try to be there.”
Andy Murray is the only man to successfully defend an Olympic singles gold medal. Djokovic, the winner of 24 Grand Slams, won bronze at the Beijing Games in 2008.
Playing in his first match since his impressive run at the Australian Open that included a thrilling five-set semi-final win over Jannik Sinner, Djokovic needed some time to shake the rust off but ultimately prevailed 4-6 6-1 6-2 over Majchrzak.
“It’s good to be back on tour,” he said.
“Five weeks with no official match, I knew that the first match in such a long time will be a little bit tricky with conditions that are quite challenging,” he said, referring to the wind gusts in the California desert.
Next up for the third seed is American Aleksandar Kovacevic.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Indian Wells; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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