“It’s a lot of pressure and expectations”: Djokovic eyes Federer’s record as he prepares for Wimbledon final

Novak Djokovic acknowledged that he is pursuing Roger Federer's historic record of eight Wimbledon titles. The Serbian, owner of 7 crowns at SW19, will play the title match on Sunday against Carlos Alcaraz, in a repeat of the 2023 final, in which the young Spaniard emerged victorious after nearly five hours of play.

The world No. 2 arrived at Wimbledon with doubts about the level he could show just a few weeks after undergoing surgery for a meniscus tear in his knee, but he managed to reach his 10th final in the iconic grass-court tournament, seeking his 8th title there.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion has had an easy run at the All England Club. He has only dropped two sets throughout the tournament, the last against Alexei Popyrin in the third round. He then swept past Holger Rune (15th seed) in the fourth round, advanced directly from the quarterfinals after Alex De Minaur (9th) withdrew, and dispatched Lorenzo Musetti (25th) in the semifinals in straight sets.

Djokovic now has the opportunity to equal Roger Federer's record at Wimbledon if he secures the 8th crown there. Additionally, he could finally surpass Margaret Court with the 25th Grand Slam title and become the player, male or female, with the most Grand Slam trophies in history.

Both milestones are on Nole's mind, who anticipated that it will be an extra motivation when he faces Alcaraz on Sunday: “Obviously I’m aware that Roger holds eight Wimbledons. I hold seven. History is on the line. Also, the 25th potential Grand Slam,” said Djokovic.

“Of course, it serves as a great motivation, but at the same time, it’s also a lot of pressure and expectations. Every time I step out on the court now, even though I’m 37 and competing with the 21-year-olds, I still expect myself to win most of the matches, and people expect me to win, whatever, 99 per-cent of the matches that I play.

“I always have to come out on the court and perform my best in order to still be at the level with Carlos or Jannik (Sinner) or Sascha (Zverev) or any of those guys, Daniil (Medvedev),” he added.

Djokovic also commented that if he wins the title, it will be a boost at this stage of the season to channel his ambitions in 2024. “This year hasn’t been that successful for me,” the world No. 2 stated. “It’s probably the weakest results the first six months I’ve had in many years. That’s okay. I had to adapt and accept that and really try to find also way out from the injury that I had and kind of regroup."

The Serbian arrived at Wimbledon without any titles yet this season, something that, since his first title in 2006, only happened in 2018. Precisely that year, Djokovic won his 4th Wimbledon and ended a great season with the US Open title and two Masters 1000, in addition to the year-end world No. 1: “Wimbledon, historically, there have been seasons where I wasn’t maybe playing at a desired level, but then I would win a Wimbledon title and then things would change.”

“For example, that was the case in 2018 when I had elbow surgery earlier in the year, dropped my rankings out of the top 20, losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open, I think it was quarters of Roland Garros, and just not playing the tennis that I want to play,” the world No. 2 commented.

“Then I won Wimbledon and then won the US Open and then later on became No. 1 very soon. Yeah, Wimbledon just extracts the best of me and motivates me to really always show up and perform the best I can,” Novak Djokovic added. “Of course, I’m aware of what’s on the line. It always is really. Any Grand Slam that I play, there’s always history now on the line. I will try to use that as fuel to play my best tennis.”