Novak Djokovic might be 37, but it seems that he has no intentions to retire, at least according to his father, Srdjan Djokovic.
Djokovic is the most successful tennis player of all time. He managed to win 99 ATP Tour-level trophies, 24 of which are majors. No man or woman has ever won more Grand Slam trophies than the Serbian.
He also holds numerous other records. The 37-year-old enjoyed plenty of success at the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, and he also managed to win every major at least three times. On top of that, he won the gold Olympic medal in 2024.
That was likely one of the reasons why Djokovic was chosen as the best athlete in Serbia for 2024. The award was voted by the Association of Sports Journalists of Serbia, and the ceremony took place at the RTS Gallery in Belgrade, Serbia.
Novak Djokovic, who is likely preparing to compete at the 2025 Indian Wells Open, which starts on March 5th, wasn’t present at the ceremony. Instead, his father collected the award for him.
Srdjan Djokovic collected his son’s award, and also spoke about the 24-time Grand Slam champion, as per the Serbian publication Danas. As a father, he’s very proud of him.
At the same time, Srdjan admitted that he already told his son to retire from the sport last year. The 63-year-old is aware that his son managed to achieve probably everything a person could achieve on the tennis court, which is why he didn’t want him to keep going anymore.
However, Djokovic was never the one to give up. Also these days, the 37-year-old legend continues fighting despite struggling with different injuries. That’s why he told his father to let him do what he loves, and that’s playing tennis.
“I told him last year not to play tennis anymore, and he says to me: ‘Dad, let me do what I know best and what I love.’ Whatever he does in the rest of his career, he will be the best in the world.”
Srdjan also had one message for everyone, and that was to enjoy his son while he still competes. There are no guarantees that even this season isn’t the last in the Serbian’s career.
Of course, Srdjan didn’t want to say anything else related to retirement, as he knew his son would be mad at him after previously telling him to let him enjoy the sport that he loves.
“Enjoy Novak, I don’t know how long he will play, I don’t want to talk, so he gets mad at me. He will probably win something else by the end of his career.”
Djokovic will want to prove that there is no reason to think about retirement in the upcoming weeks. He will compete at the 2025 Indian Wells Open, where he lifted the trophy five times before.
