"It was pressure I never felt before" says Novak Djokovic on pursuing calendar Grand Slam

ATP
Monday, 08 November 2021 at 05:00
Djokovic Novak Wimbledon2015

Novak Djokovic almost completed the calendar grand slam this year but the Serbian admitted it was pressure like he never felt before.

The Calendar Grand Slam has not been done in 50 years and there is a very good reason for it. Trying to achieve it is virtually impossible as it takes a lot of effort and a tremendous amount of mental fortitude to deal with the pressure of possibly doing it. Novak Djokovic knows his best as it was the pressure that negatively impacted him at the US Open final.

Remembering that he said:

“I was very blessed to be in a position to fight for a Calendar Slam. That happens once in 50 years or maybe more so. Being able to win four Slams in a row, not in a calendar year, but in 2015 and 2016, helped me to understand how to deal with the situation even though it was a bit different. But it was still a paramount kind of pressure that I’d never experienced in my career.

He explained in detail what had happened in the final against Medvedev admitting to underperforming:

“Unfortunately in that most important match against Daniil in the final, I underperformed in my opinion. Nothing to take away from his performance, his win, it was remarkable tennis from his side the entire tournament so he deserved it, but I was a bit disappointed knowing that I could have done better."

He did not dwell too much on it saying life goes on:

“But life goes on, family, two kids, I was really looking forward to kind of putting tennis on the side for a bit and just do other things, spend quality time with the family, rejuvenate and regroup and then find the drive again, find the motivation."

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