Serena Williams’ former coach details Novak Djokovic’s ‘tough match’ Tennis | Sports

The former coach of tennis legend Serena Williams says he thought it was the “toughest match” against Novak Djokovic. The Serbian is coming off another dominant year in which he won three of the four Grand Slams and completed another.

Heading into 2024, the 36-year-old shows no signs of slowing down and maintains his desire to continue challenging for the biggest titles and win the vast majority of them. Rick Macci, who coached both Serena and sister Venus during their youth careers, commented on Djokovic’s unparalleled success.

He also coached Maria Sharapova, Jennifer Capriati, Andy Roddick, Mary Pierce, Anastasia Myskina and Sofia Kenin, who along with William Like the Si sisters, they later won Grand Slams. March considers the world number one’s most challenging opponent to be himself and maintains his motivation levels.

“He doesn’t mind people turning against him. He can make things click in his head, his mental control is amazing. He just cares about the game,” the 68-year-old said on Canada’s Match Point podcast. “Let me think about it, 24 Grand Slams, seven ATP finals. We could go on and on. The numbers and money are unbelievable and it’s impossible to keep the momentum going.

“What’s the motivation? It’s simple: I love competing and that should be the goal of any coach, to be the best competitor he can be. When you have success but still want to go out there and beat you, that’s just what he expects from himself. He knows his toughest competition now will always be the person in the mirror. “It’s always going to be himself. “

The Serbian recently defeated Jannik Sinner in front of his home fans in Turin, Italy to win the ATP Fianls title for the seventh time. This is the 71st hard-court title for Djokovic in his career, tying Roger Federer’s record.

The ATP’s top-ranked player could break the record as early as January 2024, when the season begins on his beloved Australian hard courts. One day after claiming another late-season title, Djokovic increased his consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the world rankings to No. 400, becoming the first male or female player to reach the milestone.

“That’s a pretty good achievement, 400 consecutive weeks at No. 1. That’s never happened in history.” Someone will eventually break it, but hopefully it sticks around for a long time. “Djokovic said. “Becoming the number one in the world has always been an ambitious goal of mine. Aside from the Grand Slams, that’s all that matters.

“At this stage of my life and career, it’s amazing to end the year ranked No. 1 in the world. I must say, at the beginning of the year, I really didn’t prioritize that. I prioritized more of the Grand Slams. Because of the good results, especially at the Grand Slams, and the points accumulated, I think I put myself in a very good position to compete for No. 1 at the end of the year. This is one of the best years. 1. I wouldn’t say the best, but just one of the best.

“I mean, the fact that I’ve won three of the four Grand Slams and reached the final in the fourth one, but it’s still not the best year of my life, It’s great to have that.”

Djokovic has one more chance to succeed this season as he hopes to lead Serbia to the Davis Cup title this week in Malaga, Spain. To keep alive their hopes of winning the prestigious tournament for the first time since 2010, they must beat Great Britain in Thursday’s quarter-finals.