Novak Djokovic makes admission about his records as he offers advice to younger generation

Once part of the golden generation of tennis, the great Novak Djokovic has adopted a new role in tennis and he insists, “I want somebody to break my record in the future or all of the records”.

Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray were the flag bearers for tennis for more than two decades as they dominated the Grand Slams and No 1 spot in the ATP Rankings.

The Big Three of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, in particular, were a class above the rest as they shared 66 Grand Slams between them. Federer was the first man to 20 majors before Nadal went on to reach 22, but they were both surpassed by Djokovic, as he is currently on 24.

And that has pretty much been the case for most tennis milestones as Djokovic has managed to set numerous records in the past few years.

But his three main rivals have all retired in recent years with Federer hanging up his racket in 2022 before Murray and Nadal joined him in 2024.

Djokovic has found new rivals with Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz very much at the front of the sport, but during an appearance on the Jay Shetty Podcast, he admitted that the transition has not been easy.

“When Federer and Nadal and Murray, my biggest rivals, retired actually most recently in the in the last year or two, part of me left with them and I and I really feel that because and I thought it’s not going to be difficult for me to kind of shift my attention in terms of who are my principal rivals on the tour from them to someone else,” the former world No 1 revealed.

“But, you know, it is it is tough because I’m used to these names, these guys, these faces for 20 years and then new faces come in and it’s normal, how can I say evolution of our sport and it’s normal that you have new generations that are kind of come in and dominate the tour.

“I’m experiencing something I have never experienced before, but that’s that’s also fine, I’m trying to embrace this journey.

“But also I think what is very important to me personally and what I have expressed directly to all of my rivals currently today, the young guys who are going to be the carriers of the tennis for the next decade is that I’m here for them to share my experience even though it’s difficult because we’re facing each.

“But I still feel that in a way that’s also my role. It’s also my responsibility and it’s also a great opportunity for me to do that because it really fills my heart with joy that I’m able to convey my experiences, my knowledge, whatever that I can from my journey to a new generation.”

Besides his Grand Slam feat, Djokovic also holds the record for most weeks at No 1 as he spent 428 weeks at the top of the rankings, won a record 40 ATP Masters 1000 titles, also won seven ATP Finals titles and leads the all-time prize money list with $188,934,053, to name just a few of his milestones.

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Djokovic no doubt lives for records, but he wants the younger generation to better his milestones, and he wants to help them to achieve it.

The 38-year-old added: “Naturally, the tennis should get better and we all want tennis to get better to be better and I want somebody to break my record in the future or all of the records. Why not? I mean this is how it should be.

“If I can contribute in a way where I can say ‘hey aside from the barriers that we created in a rivalry, if you need help with I don’t know public relations, if it’s you know marketing, if it’s dealing with the outside world as well that is very difficult dealing with anxiety’.

“We all have that you know we all know how it is to feel alone you let yourself down or you let other people down mental challenges in a high-level professional sport are 100% present with everyone.

“It’s just a matter of how you deal with it, who you have in your support system that can help you. So, I feel like it it was great when I was able as a kid to ask some of the the the guys who were playing at the top level, you know, some of the questions that were interesting me and that just hearing from them two or three sentences of how they think that they were dealing with it and how that affected them was huge to me.

“Even if you heard it from someone else, but just hearing it from them, it just has this resonant power and impact and it did help me a lot.”