Djokovic on passing Federer in weeks as number one: “I hope to make it in March”

Novak Djokovic will return to play in Vienna 13 years after his last participation in the Austrian ATP 500, which he won in 2007. It will be the third time that the Serbian plays this tournament and in his debut he will face his compatriot Filip Krajinovic on Tuesday, a rival who bothered him so much in Belgrade this year, when he won by retiring from the world number one in the second set, as in Rome, where he fell 7-6 (7) and 6-3) after standing up for many minutes. “Just a few days ago I joked with Filip about what it would be like to face each other. The chance of this happening is very small, but then it happened. We are good friends and he likes to play hard. The first game is always difficult, “said Nole.

Djokovic's history in Vienna was marked by his clashes with Stan Wawrinka, who eliminated him in the second round in 2006 and on whom he took revenge in the final in 2007. The Swiss will also be in this year's edition, although not as seeded in a high-level roster, which has the number three, Dominic Thiem, the Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, the French Gael Monfils, the Canadian Denis Shapovalov, Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and Argentine Diego Schwartzman as main favorites. Pablo Carreño, who will debut this Monday against Monfils, is the only Spanish representative.

In the way of Djokovic, who can win up to 500 points if he is champion of the Austrian capital, Coric, Schwartzman and Tsitsipas would be ranked, before a hypothetical final against Thiem. “I have a lot of respect for him and he deserved a lot to win the US Open this year. Of course, I hope there will be a final between the two, but there is a long way to go. Especially with this strong team,” explained Djokovic. And it is that this painting to which it refers is small and very difficult due to the level of the participants. However, whatever the Balkan does, he will end 2020 as number one because Rafa Nadal can no longer catch up with him in these coming months. It will be the sixth year that he finishes at the top of the table, one more than the Balearic and Roger Federer. “Sampras was my idol as a child and of course I want to finish this year as world number one and equal the record with that. This achievement is undoubtedly one of the greatest in world sport,” acknowledged the Belgrade., which will live up to the American myth and has in mind to surpass Federer's mark of weeks on the throne with 310. He now accumulates 292.

“I am not defending points in January due to the freezing of the ranking system until March. I could only win because it counts as the best result of each tournament in the last two years. For me it is very good because I won a lot of points in Australia (2,000). It is my great wish and goal to achieve this, and I hope I can achieve it in March, but there are a lot of unpredictable things that can happen. There are great players behind like Rafa and Dominic. We'll see, “concluded Novak.

Erste Bank Open box.