Novak Djokovic Sends a Message to NextGen

Novak Djokovic has continued his unbeaten run, and has extended his win streak to 18 matches. The Serbian has been immaculate with his serving, having dropped zero games while on serve. Djokovic has now overtaken Federer and is hot on Nadal’s tail on the ATP singles leader board rankings. However, its kind of a shaky future for tennis as the veterans are still dominating and overshadowing the young guns, while it should have been the other way around.

So what is it that the Next Gen are lacking? This was the question posed to Novak in his press conference. “Having the right and proper balance between on and off court responsibilities and duties, aside the fact that you are always there to perform your best, to give the maximum of your effort, not just for you and your opponent, but for all the crowd that is coming to see you”, said Djokovic.

What Djokovic means to say is that if one has the desire to get to the top, one must think of the bigger picture always. “As they climb the rankings ladder, they will also encounter a lot of pressure, expectations from the media, from the people”, said Djokovic. “It’s not any more about them being tennis players, it’s about them being complete personalities who represent this sport. I believe there is this responsibility of respecting your opponents, respecting everybody, respecting the sport, respecting and being grateful for the opportunity to be there.” It’s something of a cliche if you have read or seen the spider-man comics, where his uncle says something similar to Spiderman-“With great power comes great responsibility“.

“I think, in my eyes, that’s essential for anybody who is at the top. So this is something that young players will discover and will learn in the future that every single match, wherever they are, they always have to give their best.”