Novak Djokovic brushed aside retirement speculation in the Australian Open press conference. The tournament is slated to start Sunday and will end Feb. 1 at Melbourne Park.
Djokovic had an impressive run in the 2025 season, winning two titles at the Geneva Open and the Hellenic Championships. Along with this, he also proved his prowess by advancing to the semi-finals of all the Grand Slam tournaments. He capped off his season in Athens, where he defeated Lorenzo Musetti to secure the Hellenic Championship title.
Outside his performance on the court, a topic that made headlines the entire year was the speculation around his retirement. However, the Serb dismissed the rumors in several interviews. Most recently, he faced the same question at the Australian Open press conference, where he forcefully shrugged off the discussion, saying:
“I’ve been asked a lot about when the end day is going to come for me, but I don’t wanna talk or think about it yet. I’m here. I’m competing. When that arrives and kind of becomes ripe in my head, I’ll share it with you, and we can all discuss a farewell tour. Right now I’m still #4 in the world, competing at the highest level. I feel there’s no need to draw the attention to that discussion.”
The 38-year-old is currently vying for the 25th Grand Slam title of his career.
Novak Djokovic makes bold claim about beating Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open 2026
Along with talking about his retirement rumors, Novak Djokovic also mentioned his competition with the top two, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. The Serb lost three out of four majors against these two in the 2025 season. He lost to Sinner in the semifinal round of the French Open and Wimbledon, and the Spaniard prevailed over him in the semi-final of the US Open.
In the recent press conference in Australia, he opened up about beating the duo in the upcoming major. Exuding confidence in himself, he said that if health will be on his side, he feels like he can beat anybody (as quoted by FirstPost):
“I know that when I’m healthy, when I’m able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together on a given day, I feel like I can beat anybody. If I don’t have that self-belief and confidence in myself, I wouldn’t be sitting here and talking to you guys or competing,” said Novak Djokovic”
He added:
“I understand that Sinner and Alcaraz are playing on a different level right now… but that doesn’t mean that nobody else has a chance. So I like my chances always, in any tournament, particularly here.”
Novak Djokovic is currently scheduled to play in the first round of the Australian Open on January 19 against Pedro Martinez. This showdown will take place in the Rod Laver Arena.
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