Past midnight, some 45 minutes after cutting his on-court interview short \u2013 \u201clet\u2019s keep it short, I have no energy left,\u201d he had told Centre Court \u2013 Novak Djokovic walked in to meet the international press following his win against F\u00e9lix Auger-Aliassime. Fielding questions in both English and Serbian, the 39-year-old savoured a five-hour epic he rated \u201cas good as a final,\u201d yet kept returning to a sober reminder: for all the emotion of the moment, the tournament is still running, and his work here is not yet done.<\/p>\n
Like Messi. At 39, one scores goals; you win after five hours and 15 minutes.<\/p>\n
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: It would be nice to play 90 minutes like him. (Laughter.)<\/p>\n
What do you make of how late this tournament is going lately, with so many matches finishing after dark? It\u2019s shifted during your career.<\/p>\n
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I feel like I played more indoor tournament than outdoor, to be honest. But at the same time, it\u2019s exciting to be part of such an epic match that was played over five hours, whatever it was. I don\u2019t even know exact time. Just one of the best matches I was honestly part of in Wimbledon. I don\u2019t recall playing this long any match. Maybe Roger final 2019<\/a> comes close in terms of the time and length.<\/p>\n [editor\u2019s note: At five hours and 15 minutes, it was only the fifth match of Djokovic\u2019s career to run at least five hours \u2013 and the joint second-longest of them, level with his 2018 Wimbledon battle against Rafael Nadal and behind only their five-hour-53-minute Australian Open final of 2012. Djokovic has never lost any match of 4 hours and 55 minutes of play or more. His record there is 6-0 record, including, at Wimbledon, the 2018 semifinal with Nadal (5h15) and the 2019 final with Federer (4h57)]<\/p>\n But it was really, really super even. Anyone\u2019s game. Honestly, also Felix really played on a high level. He dropped his level a little bit in that super tiebreak. I used all my opportunities and hung in there, played the right shots. That was enough. The crowd was up on their feet, particularly the last 30 minutes of the match. They also recognized how special the moment is of us battling the curfew, as well, a few minutes earlier than 11. Yeah, just very proud to come out as a winner.<\/p>\n Can you put into words the emotions of a match like that?<\/p>\n NOVAK DJOKOVIC: There were a lot of emotions, a lot of tension, a lot of everything, a lot of ups and downs. In matches like this, something is always happening. What matters is to walk off at the end with your head held high, whether in victory or defeat. For me it was a real pleasure to be part of such an epic match \u2013 to play for five hours against a guy 15 years younger, at my age. Sometimes I have to underline it to myself: it really is out of the ordinary. I don\u2019t like to speak about myself in superlatives, but I have to be proud of a result like this, of this experience, of this kind of effort and energy.<\/p>\n I still want to go at least one more step further. But this was as good as a final for me.<\/p>\n How much harder has it become on your body?<\/p>\n NOVAK DJOKOVIC: The situation has changed a lot in the last two years, almost every day there are difficulties, new things I have to deal with. I don\u2019t remember the last time I played a match completely healthy. So this victory is even greater, because the effort \u2014 mine and my team\u2019s \u2014 only we know what it\u2019s like. So I can say I\u2019m very proud and, of course, thrilled by an experience like this. I hope I\u2019ll be fresh enough, and that I\u2019ll be able to play and recover well, without the bigger problems I had last year.<\/p>\n I know you said on court it\u2019s another semifinal, that you\u2019re not here just to make the semifinal. Are you ever surprised by yourself, by what you\u2019re capable of doing after so many years?<\/p>\n NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I mean, yes and no. I guess yes, at this stage that I\u2019m still able to battle these young guys that have 15 years less than me, that I\u2019m able to beat them at the tightest possible scoreline. Of course, in a sense, it is really a nice surprise. But at the same time, I always have the highest expectations for myself. I can be very self-critical, very hard on myself. At the same time, I try to also enjoy the moments like this. I don\u2019t know what tomorrow brings. To be honest, let\u2019s see. I\u2019m still in the tournament. I still want to go at least one more step further. But this was as good as a final for me. I gave it all that I had, gave it my best. I think it was really thrilling experience for us players, but also crowd present in the stadium, I\u2019m sure also a lot of people watching on TV. Glad to be part of another historic match.<\/p>\n You had that incredible run to the final in Australia, defeating Sinner in the semifinal. How do you feel now compared to then, and does it feel quite similar or not?<\/p>\n NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I mean, I had a very long semis against Sinner. This is quarters. Now I have to play Sinner in semis. There\u2019s difference, and difference in the surface. Obviously that was the first big tournament of the year for me, coming fresher from several months of break and preparation. It\u2019s a bit different now. But nevertheless, another great, historic run for me at the Grand Slams. This is what counts the most, honestly. I still try to prove to myself and others that I\u2019m able to compete with the best players in the world and beat them in the biggest stage. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve done in Australia<\/a>. It\u2019s what I\u2019ve done here. Hopefully I can do it few more matches here in London.<\/p>\n In the end, you have to stop and take stock: that at 39 I\u2019m still playing this way, still winning \u2013 it\u2019s out of the ordinary.<\/p>\n What kind of challenge does Sinner represent?<\/p>\n NOVAK DJOKOVIC: He\u2019s such a complete player, he\u2019s improved so much. Playing against him is the ultimate challenge you can have. Sinner is number one right now and the best player in the world, and that kind of continuity and consistency he has in his results is really remarkable.<\/p>\n You said on court that you won it with a big heart. Did the heart take over from a tired body?<\/p>\n NOVAK DJOKOVIC: As I said, there are ups and downs in matches like this, and it\u2019s hard to keep your concentration for five hours. Again, I have to point out: a guy 15 years younger, who is third or fourth in the world, motivated, playing at a high level \u2013 it\u2019s no small thing for me. But these challenges keep getting bigger for me on court, and I have to give much more to win on evenings like this. Of course, I had a break advantage, but one weak service game and I lost it \u2014 he came back. At this level you can\u2019t allow yourself those drops, because you get punished immediately. But in the end I managed to pull it out \u2013 physically, emotionally, psychologically. It was one of the most gripping matches I\u2019ve played recently, and one of the longest. In the end, you have to stop and take stock: that at 39 I\u2019m still playing this way, still winning \u2013 it\u2019s out of the ordinary.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Past midnight, some 45 minutes after cutting his on-court interview short \u2013 \u201clet\u2019s keep it short, I have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-787663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}