Novak Djokovic fires very early Australian Open message to Carlos Alcaraz
Novak Djokovic has admitted that he’s more motivated than ever to continue fighting at the top of the sport due to his rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz. The Serbian superstar heads into the winter break as world No 1 having dominated the 2023 season.
Djokovic ended up with three Grand Slam titles as well as winning the ATP Finals last week. The only major Djokovic failed to win was Wimbledon, where Alcaraz pulled off a stunning upset against the 36-year-old.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion went on to win 20 of his next 21 matches to finish the year after that loss to Alcaraz, winning all four tournaments he competed in. Alcaraz failed to build on that historic win at Wimbledon, but he’ll be expected to be Djokovic’s closest challenger once again when next season gets underway in Australia.
But Djokovic insists he’s learned from that defeat at Wimbledon and feels he now has the upper hand over Alcaraz heading into the New Year. When asked about Alcaraz’s win over him in the summer and how impressive the feat was, Djokovic said: “It would be more correct to ask Carlos this question, but not having a guilty conscience I can answer calmly.
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“When I lose a match, first of all I try to look forward. If you analyse what happens carefully, you observe that there is always a reason, a cause capable of explaining it.
“So what I do is learn from defeats. Then when I have to live this experience in a Slam final, the defeat does nothing but motivate me and encourage me even more. In fact, after Wimbledon I won all the matches I played with the exception of the match against Sinner in the group stage in Turin.
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“So if I look back, I say it was crucial to lose to Carlos in London because he motivated me for the rest of the season.”
Alcaraz ended up missing the 2023 Australian Open due to injury and he was unable to get past the third round on his two other appearances at the major.
It’s the only remaining slam that Alcaraz is looking to reach at least a semi-final having done so at the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open this year.
But Djokovic reigns supreme in Melbourne and he’s won the last four singles titles there.
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