"His toughest match right now is always the guy in the mirror": Novak Djokovic's 'mind control' and motivation is mindblowing believes Rick Macci

Tennis coach Rick Macci believes the world number one Novak Djokovic is his own biggest rival. The 36-year-old is often regarded as the greatest player in the history of men’s singles tennis in the Open era, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles.

Macci, while talking on the Match Point Canada podcast, heaped praise on Djokovic and stated that he is his biggest rival which is what keeps him motivated.

“He doesn’t mind if people are against him. He sort of clicks things in his mind and his mind control is amazing. He is all about the competition,” he said. “Let me think about it, 24 Grand Slams, seven ATP Finals. We could go on and on.

“The numbers and the money is mind-boggling to keep the motivation up. What’s the motivation? Simple: I love to compete and that should be the goal of any coach, to become the best competitor you can be.

“When you have that success to still wanna go out there and knock you out, it’s not about anything other than what he expects from himself. He knows his toughest match right now is always the guy in the mirror. It’s always himself.”

Djokovic recently won the ATP Finals in Turin where he defeated the local star player Jannik Sinner in the final with a score of 6-3, 6-3.