A few years ago, I sat down with Novak Djokovic at a gym in Dubai to discuss his plans for the new season. He was returning from a six-month absence, struggling with an elbow injury and going through a mental lapse after completing a career Grand Slam 18 months earlier.
It was a trough that followed an incredible peak, but even then, Djokovic never lost the core philosophy that has since helped him become the first man in the Open era to win each of the grand slams at least twice.
“I don’t want to put any limit to my career or to anything that I do, really,” he told me ahead of the start of the 2018 season.
His belief in “limitlessness” is why Djokovic is now just one major away from equalling Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s all-time men’s record of 20 slams won. And why it is far from outrageous to consider the Serb can actually pull off the ‘Golden Slam’ this year (sweeping all four majors and clinching Olympics gold in singles).
No man has ever achieved the Golden Slam – Steffi Graf is the only player in history to have done it, in 1988.
Not long after Djokovic picked up his second Roland Garros crown on Sunday, rallying from two-sets-to-love down against Stefanos Tsitsipas to secure a 19th major triumph, the world No 1 was already entertaining the idea of emulating Graf's achievement.
“Everything is possible, and I did put myself in a good position to go for the Golden Slam,” the 34-year-old told reporters in Paris.
His hunger for more success is truly limitless.
Djokovic’s long-time coach Marian Vajda joked that he and Goran Ivanisevic are “going to quit” if their charge sweeps all four slams this year, before adding: “I think it’s possible, much more possible. He loves to play in Wimbledon and US Open.
“Obviously his goal and our goal is to win the Olympics and then win the Grand Slam. That would be the absolutely top of this year.”
The last man to win the Grand Slam was Rod Laver in 1969, when he captured all four majors in the same calendar year for the second time.
Djokovic has a real chance of emulating the Australian legend, and has no problem vocalising it; starting with the next stop on his agenda.
“I don't have an issue to say that I'm going for the title in Wimbledon. Of course, I am,” he said.
The final against Tsitsipas was a prime example of just how confident Djokovic is in his own abilities, and how he finds ways to call upon his inner resolve when he needs it the most.
The Serb lost a tight first set to a clutch Tsitsipas, then looked flat and fatigued in the second set. Suddenly he was trailing by two sets and was a set away from yet another Roland Garros final defeat. He went off court for a toilet break, and gave himself a pep talk.
“There's always two voices inside: there is one telling you that you can't do it, that it's done, it's finished. That voice was pretty strong after that second set,” Djokovic admitted.
“So I felt that that was a time for me to actually vocalise the other voice and try to suppress the first one that was saying I can't make it. I told myself I can do it, encouraged myself. I strongly started to repeat that inside of my mind, tried to live it with my entire being.”
Once he broke early in the third, Djokovic said he knew there would be only one outcome.
“Yeah, after that there was not much of a doubt for me,” he explained.
Indeed a Djokovic victory seemed like a foregone conclusion the moment he mustered a lead in the third set – which says a lot about the high benchmark he has managed to set for himself, and how his self-belief manifests in such an obvious way for his opponent, and the spectators, to pick up on. That quality surely has a devastating effect on the person across the net from him.
Djokovic says his main motivation at this point in his career is to rewrite the history books and break the record of most grand slams won.
“I never thought it was a mission impossible to reach the Grand Slams of these guys,” he said on Sunday, referring to his ‘Big Three’ contemporaries, Federer and Nadal.
He draws strength from being vocal about his lofty goals and has drawn up a plan to reach them.
“Overall he's set up for this year. His priority is really set up like Wimbledon, Olympics, and US Open. I think that says it all. His schedule is according that we practice and prepare for those tournaments,” his coach Vajda said in Paris.
Having already experienced the lull that came after his first Roland Garros victory back in 2016 – he won the first two slams of the season and held all four majors at the same time before losing in the third round at Wimbledon – it is highly unlikely that Djokovic will make the same mistake twice.
The Golden Slam is well within reach.
