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From hard court to clay: Novak Djokovic training in Rome. Image: keystone
Djokovic: “I can’t promise this will never happen to me again”
After his disqualification from the US Open a week and a half ago, Novak Djokovic made his first statement to reporters. So far, the tennis player had limited himself to a statement he shared on social networks.
Now Djokovic faced the media before the clay court tournament in Rome. “I felt great in New York and then something so unfortunate happened,” he said, recalling the exclusion. “It was a shock how the US Open ended. That could have happened earlier in my career, also to other players. “Djokovic, angrily, had thrown a ball in the game against Pablo Carreño Busta and inadvertently hit a linesman on the neck. For this reason, the number 1 of the world was disqualified according to the rules.
“I have accepted it and I want to look forward,” said the Serb, who understands the referee’s decision. “The rules are clear,” says the 33-year-old. Djokovic got philosophical when he spoke about the linesman. He is very sorry for what he did to her: “It was very unhappy for both of us, but maybe it had to be that way. Sometimes life has such unpleasant surprises in store. “
“Part of my personality”
There are simply things that cannot be foreseen, Djokovic said. He is aware that sometimes he has an outburst of anger: “It is part of my personality. In my career I have had many ups and downs and sometimes I was able to control my emotions better, sometimes less. I cannot promise or guarantee that something like this will never happen again. I do not know. Of course I try to prevent it from happening. But everything is possible in life. “Try to see the incident as a great lesson and learn from it.
A little fun is always good …
Video: watson / leb
Djokovic believes that he will not forget what happened so quickly: “This is something you will think about for the rest of your life.” However, he does not believe the incident will prevent him from successfully returning to the ATP Tour. He is happy that things are happening in Rome: “The sooner I return to competition mode, the faster I can process this memory.” His shoulder, which was slightly injured against Carreño Busta, is also better.
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Federer’s records in sight
Now sports should be back in the spotlight. Novak Djokovic announced once again that he wants to hold on to Roger Federer’s records. “I want to be at the top of the world rankings longer than Roger and win as many Grand Slam tournaments as possible,” he said. The Swiss is still ahead in both rankings: he was number 1 for 310 weeks, Djokovic is currently 286 weeks old. As for the Grand Slam title, it is 20:17 for Federer, the Spanish Rafael Nadal has won 19 times one of the four most important tournaments in the world.
«My starting position is good. I hope to be healthy and continue to play well, ”said Djokovic. In Rome he enjoys a bye in the first round, his first rival in the Italian capital will be the winner of the match between Tennys Sandgren and Salvatore Caruso.
