"It seems to me that we have competition in our blood": Swiatek believes in shared competitive spirit with Djokovic, won't stop due to 23rd Grand Slam title

Wednesday, 26 July 2023 at 20:30

World number one Iga Swiatek believes that Serbia’s legendary tennis player Novak Djokovic is not stopping because of his competitive nature.

The 36-year-old has suffered a rather surprising defeat in the final of Wimbledon 2023 against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in a five-set thriller with a score of 1–6, 7–6(8–6), 6–1, 3–6, 6–4.

Many saw that defeat might be the start of the downfall of the 36-year-old who remains the most successful men’s singles player in the history of the sport in the Open era, having won 23 Grand Slam titles in the process.

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Swiatek was asked the reason why Djokovic is still so competitive, unlike his fellow competitors like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who have either retired or are at the end of their careers.

In response to that, the four-time Grand Slam winners stated that was down to the competitive nature of the elite-level athletes.

“You have to ask Novak (laughs),” she said. “It seems to me that we have competition in our blood. When I play matches, I don't think about statistics and records. That was definitely his goal, but I'll admit it's always like we want to go out to the match to win it.

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“Regardless of which round it is or what tournament it is. In a way, if we as players thought about all these points, numbers, statistics, it would be much harder then. That's not why we play tennis to think about it.”

That result against Alcaraz, which was Djokovic’s first defeat at the Centre Court in Wimbledon in 10 years, halted his march towards equaling Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon titles.

As things stand, the Belgrade-born remains the joint second-most successful player in the history of the competition, having won the title seven times, equal with former world number one America’s Pete Sampras.

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Azeem Siddiqui

Azeem Siddiqui is a seasoned sports journalist and data analyst with a strong background in both digital media and live sports production.

He began his journalism career working with partners of The New York Times and has since contributed to several leading international sports publications, including Fox Sports Asia, Calciomercato, and GiveMeSport. Since 2023, Azeem has been part of the TennisUpToDate team, where he has played a key role in sustaining the platform’s growth and ensuring tennis fans receive timely and reliable coverage of the sport’s biggest stories.

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