Tennis world No 1 Novak Djokovic stated he has unfinished enterprise on the Olympics and will probably be gunning for gold at Paris 2024, including that he’s eager to return to Australia regardless of his deportation this yr.
Djokovic’s quest for an Olympic gold in Tokyo led to a semi-final defeat to Germany’s Alexander Zverev, marring an in any other case stellar 2021 by which he gained the primary three Grand Slams and reached the ultimate of the fourth.
A day after his loss to Zverev, he went all the way down to Spain’s Pablo Carreño Busta within the bronze medal match to return empty-handed from Japan.
“An Olympic medal, particularly gold, is at all times a giant want,” the 34-year-old instructed Radio Tv of Serbia forward of his return to aggressive motion subsequent week. “Sadly, I didn’t have an opportunity to struggle for it prior to now. I plan to be in Paris in 2024.
“I rewound my match with Zverev in Tokyo many instances, making an attempt to determine what went mistaken. I performed fantastically as much as that time, however I did really feel I used to be operating on fumes, each mentally and bodily.”
Final month after an 11-day rollercoaster involving two visa cancellations, two court docket challenges and 5 nights in two stints at an immigration detention lodge, the unvaccinated Djokovic was deported on the eve of the Australian Open.
It disadvantaged him the possibility to win a record-extending tenth Australian Open and a males’s file twenty first Grand Slam title.
“I’ll at all times bear in mind all the great issues which have occurred to me in Melbourne,” he stated. “Regardless of all this, I’ve an excellent reference to Australia. Outcomes that I’ve had in Melbourne prior to now present you the way I really feel once I go there.
“The whole lot that has occurred this yr was completely sudden. It is going to be laborious to neglect, however I wish to come again to Australia sooner or later and to play on the Rod Laver Area once more.”
Djokovic stated in an interview with the BBC this week that he’s ready to overlook Grand Slams and different tournaments reasonably than have a Covid-19 vaccination, however added that he was not an anti-vaxxer and has an “open thoughts” for future.
Djokovic will begin his 2022 season at subsequent week’s ATP 500 Dubai Tennis Championships. He instructed reporters in Dubai, the place guests aren’t required to be vaccinated, that he has missed tennis.
“The whole lot that has occurred will have an effect on my return in Dubai,” he instructed Serbia’s state TV. “I’ll attempt to channel all this vitality, to show it into gas each mentally and bodily. There may be additional motivation, certainly.”
