Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

In 2011, when Novak Djokovic was 24 years old and he was at the top of his game, he looked like that he was on the top of the world. He won the Australian Open, beating Andy Murray in the final. From that period, he won 45 matches in a row, finally losing a match in the final against the mighty Rafael Nadal in the French Open final.

But he didn’t stop. The super fast Djokovic bested Nadal in the final at Wimbledon and the US Open.  He won three majors and some other spectacular ATP Masters 1000s, but in the fall, he was exhausted and could barely pick up the racket.

That’s why Djokovic thinks that so far in 2015, he has been impressive. He has won another three Grand Slam events titles this season, including at the US Open, when he overcame the great Roger Federer. He feels like he is more mature.

“I think it’s definitely more difficult to repeat something like that than actually doing it for the first time again. I’m a different player, a different person today than I was 2011,” Djokovic said. “As a father and a husband, experiencing different variety of things in my life, it’s completely different approach to tennis today. I feel more fulfilled. I feel more complete as a player today than I was in 2011. Physically stronger, mentally more experienced, and tougher, as well. Trying to use the experience from before into every match that I play, and especially the big ones like today. I think being in the situation before helped me to understand particular obstacles that are on the way and how I need to overcome them.”

Djokovic is thrilled that he was able to take down Federer, who is beloved throughout the world. On Sunday at the US Open, it sounded like almost every person were screaming for Federer. There were a couple of dozen who clapped for Djokovic, but that was about it.   Djokovic says there were a few more, but there were a solid 20,000 folks who were jumping up and down every time that Federer nailed a winner.

“There was a lot of support for Roger. There was some for me. I mean, for sure, I tried to focus on the ones that were supporting me,” Djokovic said.
“But I can’t sit here and criticize the crowd. On the contrary, I think it’s logical to expect that a great player and a champion like Roger has the majority of the support anywhere I play him. I would say super majority of places around the world are going to give him that support. Now, percentage-wise, more or less, I don’t know. I’m not there to judge who is supporting more or less. I’m there to play tennis. I accept the fact.

Everybody has a choice to support a player that they want to support, and he absolutely deserves to have the support he does because of all the years and success that he had and the way he carries himself on and off the court. No question about it. Me, I’m there to earn the support, and hopefully in the future I can be in that position.”

Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.