“Special human being” Novak Djokovic has been hailed by fellow former world No 1 Mats Wilander for still having the drive to compete at the very highest level of tennis.
Djokovic returns to action at the Shanghai Masters this week, in the Serbian’s first ATP Tour match since his shock US Open round three defeat to Alexei Popyrin.
This was the first season since 2017 that Djokovic did not win a Grand Slam singles title, with the Serbian dropping from world No 1 to fourth in the ATP Rankings.
However, he did manage to win the Olympic gold medal that had eluded him for so long, while his tally of 24 Grand Slam singles titles will likely remain untouched for several years.
Four-time Shanghai champion Djokovic is the fourth seed at the Masters 1000 event and will get his campaign underway later in the week.
And, speaking to Eurosport, seven-time Slam champion Wilander highlighted that it was “impressive” that Djokovic still wanted to put the effort in to practice and play against key rivals.
“Well, Novak Djokovic is one special human being. That we know,” he said.
“For him to have the drive to still go out there, trying to win matches in, of course, the big tournaments, but even in the small tournaments, and to play Davis Cup is absolutely incredible. It’s impressive that, physically, he wants to put in the effort.
“But practising when you are his age and when you have won as much as him, it’s an absolute pleasure.
“I’m not talking about the gym sessions, but I’m talking about hitting the tennis ball against, remember, he’s on tour, the likes of Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev.
“He’s playing with the best players in the world because they want to practise with him. They don’t care if they’re going to play a match three days later.
“They want to enjoy practise and have a great time.”
Speaking ahead of action in Shanghai, Djokovic alluded to retirement plans for the first time, hinting that he would still want to stay involved with the sport after he called time on his playing career.
And Wilander, who was in his early 30s when he officially retired, believes that Djokovic could struggle with adapting to life off tour after dedicating most of his life to tennis.
Wilander added: “I think that lifestyle part of quitting professional tennis is the part that, personally, I miss the most.
“Not winning, not losing, not necessarily competing, but being on tour and practising with the best guys in the world on the centre court in Shanghai or the centre court at Roland Garros.
“Can he, though, do well in the Grand Slams without playing that many tournaments? Can he do well in the Grand Slams if he goes to Shanghai with any feeling that this is not important?
“Because at some point when he starts losing to guys that are one, two or three in the world, but also guys that are 10 to 20 in the world, his confidence might be affected, and the other guys’ confidence is going to grow.”
