"I am sorry to disappoint them" - Serbian tennis superstar Novak Djokovic drops big retirement hint at Six Kings Slam

Already regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Novak Djokovic has little left to prove. However, the 38-year old continues to battle it out with his younger colleagues on the ATP tour, and recently painted a clearer picture on when he would finally hang up his racket.

Djokovic is competing at the Six Kings Slam exhibition tennis event for the second year in a row. The tournament features six top ATP stars battle it out for supremacy, with each player receiving £1.1 million for simply turning up, while the winner takes home a whopping £3.4million on top of that.

The Serbian faced World No.2 Jannik Sinner in the semifinals of the exhibition event, after receiving a bye in the previous round. Nonetheless, it was the Italian who prevailed, recording a 6-2 6-2 win over the former World No.1.

Prior to his bout with Sinner, Djokovic spoke to the press regarding his state of mind after a long 2025 season. The Belgrade native admitted to being in good spirits, and eventually touched on the topic of his impending retirement.

The eight-time Wimbledon champion shifted his focus to Grand Slams during the 2024 season. However, he has been unable to solve the Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz riddle, losing to either man on numerous occasions en route to a Grand Slam title.

Djokovic lost to Sinner in the semifinals of both the French Open and Wimbledon, before falling to Alcaraz at the same stage in Flushing Meadows. Although many fans have speculated on his retirement as he is one of the oldest men left on tour, the 38-year old revealed he had little plans to do so at the moment.

"It is not happening, I am sorry to disappoint them [the younger players]," said Djokovic at the Joy Forum in Riyadh. "Longevity is one of my biggest motivations. I really want to see how far I can go. If you see across all the global sports, LeBron James he is still going strong, he is 40, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tom Brady played until he was 40-something years old, it is unbelievable.
They are inspiring me as well, so I want to keep going, that is one of the motivations I have and then I want to also live to see, live meaning keep on playing professionally, what is coming for our sport and I am super excited about it.
“These are things I can't be openly speaking about at the moment but I feel in the next couple of years, I feel like tennis is a sport that can be greatly transformed and I want to be part of that change, not just part of their change but I want to be playing when we kind of rejuvenate our sport and set the new platform that is going to go on for decades to come."