Novak Djokovic-“Not Easy for Next Gen to Break Through”

Novak Djokovic recognized the fact that someday the dominance of the familiar names in the sport of tennis would come to an end. However he said that there was a lot more work for the Next Gen to do before they could emulate the kind of successes that the big names have been having. Djokovic said that the new generation had really powerful serves owing to the kind of physique that they have built.

“The new generation of tennis players, they bring a lot of power in their game, especially with the serve”, said Novak Djokovic. “I think (Alexander)Zverev, you know, Coric, Khachanov, big, big servers”, he added. “Physically they’re also very strong. Seems like they physically mature a lot, maybe quicker than maybe my generation did’, said the US Open champion. “But I guess it takes them maybe mentally more time to put things together and emotionally than our generation”, said Djokovic.

However Djokovic praised the current generation for hanging on for so long and dominating the sport in a fashion that no-one else has. “But at the same time, you know, (Rafael)Nadal, (Roger)Federer and I, Andy(Murray), I mean, Stan (Wawrinka), this kind of generation has dominated the sport for the last 10 years in terms of Grand Slams, and (Juan Martin)Del Potro, of course. It’s definitely not easy for the Next Gen to break through there”, said Novak Djokovic.

“But eventually it’s going to happen”, he continued. “One of them will win a slam But I think overall it’s good for our sport to see new faces, like Tsitsipas and the players I mentioned already, that he won now the Next Gen final in Milan, that is completely different competition, where lots of experimental new changes were tested that possibly can be on our tour, as well”, said Djokovic pointing a finger at the numerous new rules that the Next Gen Finals has implemented. “I think we are headed in the right direction because we need to somehow attract the younger generation to our sport. We definitely need some changes.”