Daniil Medvedev made a Novak Djokovic retirement joke as he paid a classy tribute to the Serbian tennis great following the 2023 US Open final.
Djokovic beat Medvedev in straight sets to register his 24th Grand Slam singles trophy as he equalled Margaret Court for the most in the history of the sport.
The 36-year-old reached all four major finals this year – adding his Flushing Meadows triumph to his Roland-Garros and Australian Open titles – and is set to regain the world No.1 spot from Carlos Alcaraz following his run in New York.
With Roger Federer now retired and Rafael Nadal set to follow next year, there has been talk of when Djokovic will decide to hang up his own racket, with his own father suggesting in July that it is time for his son to call time on his career.
But with Djokovic still dominating men’s tennis, it does not appear that he will be retiring any time soon despite Medvedev’s joke following the final.
‘First of all I want to ask Novak, ‘what are you still doing here?’ – come on!’ Medvedev said in his on-court interview.
‘Jokes aside, it is our third final, maybe not the last, because you’re probably going to be in many more! I don’t know when you are planning to slow down a little bit.
‘I feel like I have not a bad career and I have 20 titles. You have 24 Grand Slams. Wow. Congratulations to you and your team.
‘I find it amazing that I beat Novak in the 2021 final. That is the pinnacle of my career so far.
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‘If he and Rafa Nadal did not exist… I know that’s not possible, I played five finals against them and only won one. I don’t know if that is good or bad!
‘He pushes me to be better. We first met when I was 500th in the world and he was super kind to me, treated me as a normal person, which was amazing. Nothing has changed after 24 Grand Slams. That is what is great about him.’
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