Novak Djokovic makes firm retirement statement as Nadal and Federer ‘occupy his mind’ | Tennis | Sport

The 36-year-old admitted that his rivals had been occupying a lot of space in his mind but didn’t want to write off their achievements despite surpassing them. He continued: “Countless hours of thinking and analyzing and what it takes to win against them on the biggest stage, you know, for me and my team, it was just those two guys were occupying my mind for the last 15 years quite a lot. In a professional sense.

“So it’s amazing to know that I’m one ahead of both of them in Grand Slams, with Rafa, but at the same time, everyone writes their own history. So, you know, I still think that everyone has a unique journey that they should embrace and stick to.

“But of course having the three of us, with Andy of course, as well, that we cannot forget, in the last 20 years, it’s kind of reached the golden era of the men’s tennis, as people like to call it. So I’m really grateful to be part of this group of guys.”