Novak narrows focus to tennis immortality

Novak Djokovic will no longer sweat the small stuff, with the former No. 1 pointing his competitive efforts achieving more tennis history.

The winner of 24 Grand Slam looks to be searching for fresh motivation after his Olympic gold medal, with the somewhat unfocused Serb blown out of the US Open in the third round by Alexei Popyrin.

With his standing now down to fourth in the rankings, the 37-year-old Djokovic insisted to Serb media that he’s hunting big game only from now on in his sport.”My main priorities are playing for the national team and Slams,” he said during this week’s Davis Cup play.

“Everything else is less important. I said a million times how much it means to play for the national team.

“The way you show it is by, first and foremost, playing for the national team when you get the call, with fight, dedication in both practice and matches.”

Djokovic insisted that he will not chase ranking points but is seeking to add to his legend.

“Usually in my career I used to have my schedule ready six months in advance, but nowadays that’s not the case,.

“Now it’s more spontaneous. Firstly, I need to physically, emotionally and mentally rest in order to even start thinking what I want to do next, in what way, how much and where.”

he added: “Torino (November ATP Finals) is not my goal at all, to be honest. I am not chasing ATP Finals, I am not chasing the rankings. 

“As far as I’m concerned, I am done with those tournaments for my career. Whether I will play others this year or in the future, I can’t say right now.”

He revealed that getting psyched for anything but the top tier of competition is becoming more and more like hard work.

“It’s true that I’m focused pretty much solely on Grand Slams and Olympics this year and playing for my country, really. That’s something that really drives me the most today.

“The other tournaments, these are huge tournaments, very important tournaments, tournaments that are part of the ATP Tour that I was part of and still am part of for so many years, and have been integral to my career and my success.

“But yeah, it is becoming a little bit more challenging for me to push myself every single tournament to be really at the top.”