He also knows exactly who is left from the start of it. \u201cI\u2019ve seen it somewhere there\u2019s like three, four of us that played I think back in 2006,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it was Wawrinka, Monfils could be, and Cilic. I actually think that I played in my first US Open against Monfils, a five-setter (7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 0-6, 7-5), and here we are 20 years later (21 in reality, editor\u2019s note), we\u2019re both still grinding and representing the older generation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both men he named are in this draw and both are expected to be here for the last time. Gael Monfils, on a wild card, plays his opening match on Tuesday, his 40th birthday, and has said it will be the final Grand Slam of his career. Stan Wawrinka, also a wild card, is in Djokovic\u2019s quarter and could meet him in the second round if the Swiss defeats Matteo Berrettini.<\/p>\n
Years of private advice, and a format for it<\/p>\n
The method behind the durability has not been public, but it has not been idle either. Asked whether he would consider sharing it with a generation of players struggling with injuries and an expanding calendar, Djokovic said he already has, for years, and not only in tennis.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been doing that for years with athletes directly. Athletes, I purposely say \u2018athletes\u2019 because there\u2019s athletes from different sports that reach out,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to name names because out of privacy and respect, but I\u2019ve been doing that for years, absolutely. Whether it\u2019s me sharing or me asking also for advices, guidance, and just interactions with other athletes, because I feel like you can always learn.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then confirmed something new. \u201cWhen it comes to sharing that in a more structured way through different formats of maybe media or whatever it is or book, yes, absolutely,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cWe\u2019re working on that. It\u2019s going to come up in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two weeks of work after a short Cincinnati<\/p>\n
The same argument runs through his account of his form. Djokovic lost early at the Cincinnati Masters 1000 last week, his only match since Wimbledon, and rather than treating it as a warning he treated it as a block of preparation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like early losses anywhere, to be honest, but it gave me time to be preparing for US Open in a most adequate way,\u201d he said. \u201cI had almost few weeks, actually two weeks, to really train and get my body and mind into the right state, prepared for what\u2019s coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s different training and then getting out on the Arthur Ashe Stadium and playing best-of-five.<\/p>\n
He stopped short of promising the training would transfer. \u201cIf you ask me if I\u2019m prepared, I feel like I am, as best as I can be, but it\u2019s different training and then getting out on the Arthur Ashe Stadium and playing best-of-five,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cYou don\u2019t normally play best-of-five on the practice sessions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then came the one concession to age in the whole press conference. \u201cThe opening matches are always for me, particularly in the last few years, quite challenging,\u201d he said. \u201cSo hopefully I can overcome the first hurdle and build from there.\u201d The No. 4 seed opens against Mariano Navone of Argentina, a first meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He also knows exactly who is left from the start of it. \u201cI\u2019ve seen it somewhere there\u2019s like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":876362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-876361","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\/876361","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=876361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}