Boris Becker has said that he hopes Novak Djokovic "will play forever" after his victory against Carlos Alcaraz at the Cincinnati Open final, and ahead of his bid for a fourth US Open title.
Djokovic won his first tournament in the United States in two years at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati this week. The 23-time Grand Slam champion prevailed over world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz 5-7, 7-6(7), 7-6(4).
It was a dramatic match that lasted three hours and 49 minutes, making it the longest Best of Three final in ATP Masters 1000 history. It also served as a re-match of the Wimbledon final last month, where Alcaraz defeated seven-time SW19 champion Djokovic in a five-set thriller.
Speaking to Eurosport Germany, former world No. 1 Becker suggested that the Cincinnati Open final was one of the greatest.
"These are the duels that make the tennis heart beat faster: the most successful player of all time, Novak Djokovic, against the primus, the best in class, also No. 1 in the world rankings. You can't imagine anything better. It was a fabulous match in Cincinnati," he said.
The German tennis star added that he hoped Djokovic would "play forever." This comes after the 36-year-old's father Srdjan expressed his wish for the Serb to retire next year.
Moreover, Becker went on to talk about Alcaraz, highlighting the significance of the interactions between him and his coach, and how they show the importance of coaches in general.
"What I particularly liked at Alcaraz's side was his coach," the 55-year-old said.
"Carlos' coaching for his protege was really good listening after every point. According to the motto, 'is the coach important?' I think this question was answered by this final, and also with Novak the coaches stood up and supported him loudly.
"But that's what you want to see, just this pure emotion and this passion. So both players left their heart on the court," he added.
Boris Becker says Djokovic era isn’t over “I don’t think it’s the end of the Djokovic era & I hope not bc the Alcaraz Wimbledon Final was an excellent example of how a tennis match should be. We won millions of new fans thanks to that. I don’t think Novak will stop performing”
