Avant sa reprise à l'ATP 250 de Brisbane, Novak Djokovic est passé devant les médias. L'occasion pour lui de parler de son nouveau coach Andy Murray, de son envie de participer à plus de tournois qu'en 2024 mais aussi et évidemment sur les deux affaires de dopage qui ont secoué le monde du tennis, concernant Jannik Sinner et Iga Swiatek. S'il n'est pas dans l'attaque personnelle comme Nick Kyrgios, Nole rejoint l'avis de l'Australien à propos du manque de transparence dans ces deux affaires.
Photo / Video : @TennisAustralia
Photo / Video : @TennisAustralia
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00:00I had the greatest success of my Grand Slam career in Australian Open, so I love coming
00:14back to Melbourne, but also, of course, other cities in Australia where I won tournaments
00:22in Adelaide, I played in Sydney, in Brisbane, in Perth with ATP Cup, with United Cup, played
00:31many different competitions over the years and always had a really fun time, great support,
00:38also strong Serbian community in this country, which is always nice to see and nice to feel,
00:45so yeah, I look forward to another season, I always am excited to start a season in Australia
00:54as everyone else, because it's a happy slam as they call it, you know, the Australian
00:59Open for a reason, most of the players really feel good and Australians love their sport,
01:05you know, they have a tennis culture, strong sports culture across all Australia and they
01:11know how to appreciate athletes and what we are doing and we are trying to give them
01:17back with strong performances and entertainment so that they can get the value for their ticket
01:23and yeah, I hope that I can kick-start this season in the best possible way in Brisbane.
01:29You know we're going to ask you about Nick Kyrgios, the doubles partnership, how did
01:33it come about, he reckons he's doing you a favour and giving you the pleasure of playing
01:37Absolutely he's doing me a favour, look we talked about playing doubles in Wimbledon
01:47actually, earlier this year when we practised, during Wimbledon we practised several times
01:52as he was doing commentating and we kind of joked around, said you know when you come
01:59back on the tour I said we should play doubles and I didn't expect it to be so early already,
02:05it's going to be his first tournament back after a while but it's great, we were communicating
02:12last couple of weeks about it and decided to play so I really look forward to it, it
02:18should be fun, I saw him yesterday, he came into the gym and he started saying Idemonole
02:24you know in my language, he's like I can't wait to say that after a good point on the
02:28court so yeah it should be fun, Nick is quite a character and we have had quite an interesting
02:35history of relationship, him and I, from not that great at all to getting along really
02:42well now so it should be fun for us on the court but also for everyone watching.
02:47You've led him beautifully, I wanted to ask what would it be like for Yannick Sinner right
02:51now, he's the target for Nick, he's called him the Grinch and all these sorts of things
02:56and he called you a tool in the past on social media, what's it like when you're getting
03:01targeted by Nick on social media, what's that experience like?
03:06I mean it's not pleasant but at the same time we live in a world where everybody has the
03:12right, particularly on social media, to express themselves and Nick has been really vocal
03:19about things and particularly the doping case with Yannick and you know he has some fair
03:29points, I think he has some fair points when it comes to the transparency and inconsistency
03:34with protocols and with case to case comparables, I mean we had plenty of players that we've
03:44seen in the past and also currently that are under suspension for not even being tested
03:52on the banned substances, for missing the doping tests and whereabouts, some players
04:00that are lower ranked waiting for their case to be resolved for over a year, so the issue
04:06is the inconsistency, there's transparency, we've been kept in the dark with Yannick's
04:11case, I mean I'm not questioning whether he took the banned substance intentionally
04:17or not, I believe in a clean sport, I believe that the player will do everything possible
04:22to be playing fair and I know Yannick since he was very young so it doesn't strike me
04:29as somebody that would do such thing but I've been really frustrated as most of the other
04:37players to see that we've been kept in the dark for five months since he was receiving
04:42that news which was I think April this year and then the announcement was August just
04:48before US Open so ATP hasn't really talked in depth about it, why have they kept that
04:55case away from the public, right and then we see Halep's case for example on the WTA
05:03Tour and now Iga Sviatik's case, it's not a good image and not a good look for our sport,
05:11of course you don't want to see that because I believe that in the last 20 plus years that
05:20I've been playing on a professional tour that we've been one of the cleanest sports, at
05:24least I believe that we are, we have been, so I will keep on believing in that clean
05:30sport and yeah I'm just questioning the way the system works really and why certain players
05:39are not treated the same like the other players and we see maybe some ranking reasons behind
05:46it or maybe some players have more financial backing or stronger teams, legal teams to
05:55tackle these cases and to deal with them, it's why PTPA is there, now PTPA is trying
06:01to help, I think with Tara Moore for example, the British doubles player, I think she has
06:06been suspended also for almost 18 months, she was trying to find out where her contamination
06:14came from and then as I understand she was waiting for a very long time to have a hearing
06:21and every month or every week that you don't play tennis and don't compete, it's a huge
06:30burden on your career and it makes it that much harder to come back and yeah so those
06:38are some of the things that we really mind and I personally, again I'm not going to go
06:45into the specific details of the cases of how they evaluate if somebody took it intentionally
06:52or not or contamination, I believe again that players are doing their best to stay clean
06:58but I question the whole process.
07:00What about bringing on Andy Murray as coach, what's that been like, this sort of extended
07:07break that you've had?
07:08Andy has been with me for about 10 days of the preparation period before me coming to
07:16Australia and spent some time on the court, off the court, being on the same side of the
07:23net is actually great for a change you know because he's been one of my greatest rivals
07:30and you know it's, in a way it was strange for me to share all this kind of insights
07:36about how I feel on the court, sharing kind of some of the secrets of what I'm going through,
07:44what I'm thinking about, how I see my game with somebody that has been always one of
07:50the top rivals but I'm so glad and very thankful that he has accepted to work with me here
07:57in Australia, he's going to come to Melbourne, we're going to spend a week before Australian
08:04Open and Australian Open together and then we'll see afterwards whether we'll continue
08:10working and for how long but the 10 days that we spent together were terrific, I enjoyed
08:17every bit of it, he's very meticulous, he's very dedicated, so professional, it doesn't
08:25surprise me because I've known him so many years as a player and obviously it's a new
08:32experience for him as a coach and it came somewhat as a surprise to him and me that
08:38you know we are pairing up as a coach player but I think it's an amazing news I mean for
08:43me because he has a unique perspective on my game as one of the greatest rivals that
08:49I've had, he knows you know the pros and cons of my game and he has also played up to recently
08:58on the tour so he knows all the other best players currently in the world, the youngsters
09:04and their weaknesses and their strengths and their gains so I look forward to it, I really
09:12do, I think he's bringing some new freshness, fresh look to my game and I think I'll be
09:19able to benefit from that no doubt on the tennis court but also that kind of champions
09:27mentality that he has I'm sure that will match very well.
09:30Last year was certainly a bit of a setback for you compared to the heart of 2023, what
09:35do you need to do I guess to get back there?
09:38Well it's been an interesting year in which my main focus and priority was to win a golden
09:47medal in the Olympics and I've achieved that, you know had the surgery of the knee but I
09:55managed to play soon after that the Wimbledon finals which was also a surprise to me to
10:02be honest and it was a great tournament period between Roland-Garros Wimbledon and Olympic
10:10Games but you know overall I've had I guess more losses and ups and downs in this season
10:18than I've had in the previous season so I'm looking for a good start of the season, I'm
10:25looking for a more consistent level of play across all the tournaments that I'm going
10:30to participate in, I'm planning to play a bit more tournaments this year than I played
10:37last year or I mean last season so you know hopefully also the level is going to go up
10:43and as a consequence I'll be able to yeah hopefully win a few tournaments and get my
10:49rankings higher.
10:50You'll be up against an Australian, you think you can go into that match?
10:55I do, I think it's a great test you know he's had a great success also in doubles on a big
11:02stage and he's very talented, very quick player, just loves to play I think on the surfaces
11:08like here in Brisbane where you know ball kind of skids through the court, stays low
11:14and you know I've seen him play you know he's a very very talented player from back of the
11:19court and obviously with the home crowd support I'm sure it's going to be a great atmosphere
11:25and a perfect test for me for the first match of the season.
11:29What's your assessment of the men's game at the moment, does it feel quite fluid in the
11:33top 20, top 50, does it feel like anyone can sort of win a grand slam at the moment?
11:41I think you have the main favourites in Sinner, Alcaraz and probably Zverev at the moment
11:51he's in red hot form, he's ended up the year as number two as well and he's edging closer
11:58and closer to his first grand slam title so I guess those three guys probably be the primary
12:05favourites on the men's side and then of course you always have Medvedev, Fritz, Rublev,
12:17all these guys that are able to, they've shown that they can win big tournaments and Medvedev
12:23is a grand slam winner in the past and former number one so I think if I play on a high
12:31level I'm in contention as well, to some extent it is open but at the same time you
12:37do have clear favourites in Alcaraz, Sinner and Zverev I think, particularly Sinner the
12:43way he has been playing end of last year, the entire season but he ended the season
12:48on a really high note so he's a defending champion as well in Australia so it will be
12:55interesting to see how he starts and I think for me personally I haven't had any official
13:05tournament for quite a while and so that's one of the biggest reasons why I chose to
13:11play the first week of the year and trying to get hopefully more than one match under
13:16my belt coming into Melbourne.
13:19You know you're a few months off turning 38, can you picture yourself still going at 40?
13:27Yeah I can picture myself, honestly the way I'm feeling today and the way I'm playing
13:33I still think that I can go strong for years to come, how long that's going to be or how
13:40long I'm as well going to feel motivated to keep going, that's something that is really
13:47unknown yet to me and unpredictable. I love this sport, I love competing and I love coming
13:55back to Australia, a place where I've had tremendous success in the past so obviously
14:02the crowd, the atmosphere, the competition, that's what gets me going as well along with
14:09of course the opportunity to make more history of this sport and it has been giving me so
14:15much and I feel like the longer I'm playing as well, the more I'm giving back to this
14:21sport as a kind of a favour back to what this sport has allowed me to achieve and see the
14:30world and hopefully I'm still making people happy that I'm playing, that I'm competing
14:36and hopefully I'm contributing in a positive way by still being out here and competing
14:43on the tour.
14:44You mentioned that one of the things you enjoy is seeing the world, is there something about
14:48Australia, something about Brisbane that stands out to you that you enjoy?
14:53Look, I think, and this is not just me, I think most of the players really feel so welcome
15:02in every Australian city, I think the consistency of the support for tennis across Australia
15:09is something that really blows me away every time I come here. As I said at the beginning,
15:15Australia has nurtured over the years a great culture for this sport and all the sports
15:21to be fair and we come in the middle of summer holiday time for Australians so most of the
15:30kids don't go to school so they have free time so they come to tennis, they really show
15:36their support, show their love and as a tennis player to find yourself in that kind of ambience
15:41and atmosphere is the best, it really motivates you, it gets you going, it creates that incredible
15:50drive and a push, a rush of energy to perform your best and to play in such a great atmosphere,
15:57it extracts the best out of you.
16:00Thank you guys, thank you so much.
16:05you