Djokovic Eyes Final Push After Shanghai Defeat

The gap is narrowing. Andy Murray is hot on Novak Djokovic’s tail in pursuit of year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. For four of the past five years, the Serbian has sat atop the tennis world come November, but following a semi-final defeat to Roberto Bautista Agut at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, his continued reign is not guaranteed.

Despite suffering just his second loss at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event since 2010, Djokovic is optimistic for a strong finish to the season, which will culminate with a title defence at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

“It’s not over yet,” said Djokovic. “There are a couple of big tournaments still along the way in Paris and London. I’ll try to get ready for indoor season where I always, in the last couple of years, played pretty well. I’ll try to get better.”

When you’ve been as dominant as Djokovic has over the past few years, expectations and standards are high. Having fallen in the final of the US Open (l. to Wawrinka) and in the Shanghai semis, the World No. 1 for 119 straight weeks admits he’s looking to bring his game back to basics. He says that spending time with family and bolstering his mental state is essential.

“There are definitely things that I need to regain from the emotional and mental point of view. I’m focusing on that more, so it’s a transition somewhere in between. Maybe I’m just exhausted by the amount of matches I have had in the last 15 to 20 months. So maybe all in all that’s the cause of me feeling this way.

“But again, as I said, I had to experience this sooner or later. I knew I could not go on playing on highest level for so many years all the time, but it’s good to experience this so I can hopefully get better in the period to come. I guess we all, as humans, experience those kind of oscillations every day, and sometimes things don’t go the way you want them to go.”

Before heading to Paris for the final ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the year, time at home with family is the Serbian’s top priority. His son Stefan turns two on 21 October.

“I’m going to celebrate my son’s second birthday. That’s an event I look forward to. I’m going to do a lot of things off the court, plenty of things off the court.”