Indian Wells, California. The next Olympics will be in Los Angeles, and Novak Djokovic will be 41 years old. However, the world number one says he has not ruled out going for gold in 2028.
The 36-year-old Serb has won a men’s record 24 Grand Slam titles, but in four Olympics, he has only managed a bronze medal. This summer in Paris, he will have another chance to improve his medal record.
Djokovic smiled when asked about LA 2028 at a press meeting in Indian Wells on Thursday. “Everything is on the cards, I just don’t know how many cards I have left,” he said.
“The Los Angeles Olympics are still a long way off, but just thinking about them makes me happy.” I’d really like to play that, but I can’t say for sure yet.”
He said he would keep things “year by year” to see how his body and drive hold up.
“It’s becoming harder and harder but I still love this sport and have still been competing at the highest level,” he stated.
“I am still number one, so I feel at the moment that I want to keep going, keep trying to make more history.”
Djokovic is trying to win a record sixth Indian Wells title. He hasn’t been able to come to the U.S. in five years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused visa restrictions.
From 2014 to 2016, he won the event three times in a row. In 2019, he lost in the third round to the German Philipp Kohlschreiber, who is now retired.
The number one seed plays Aleksandar Vukic in the second round on Friday. The other two players in the “Big Three”—the three players who ruled men’s tennis for 20 years—are also in the tournament, but the top seed won’t have to play them.
Read More: Novak Djokovic has lost the number one spot in the world, as shown by the most recent list.
Djokovic said that things were different on the tour now that Roger Federer was retired and Rafa Nadal was hurt and was likely to quit at the end of the year.
“It is beautiful for our sport that we had amazing rivalries that marked an incredible two decades,” he stated.
The fact that Roger is retired and Rafa isn’t playing much makes me feel weird.
“I’m trying to find a new rival and I had some great matches with (Carlos) Alcaraz and (Jannik) Sinner lately, but they still remain the two biggest rivals I’ve ever had.”
