RIYADH: Novak Djokovic has no plans to retire from tennis with the 24-times Grand Slam winner citing NBA great LeBron James, former NFL player Tom Brady and veteran footballer Cristiano Ronaldo as his inspiration to keep playing.
The 38-year-old’s last Grand Slam win came in 2023, but the Serbian shows no signs of slowing down having reached the semis of all four majors this year and is currently ranked number five in the world.
Djokovic lost to Italian Jannik Sinner 6-4, 6-2 in Saudi Arabia on Thursday in the lucrative Six Kings Slam exhibition event. Sinner will next face rival Carlos Alcaraz — who defeated Taylor Fritz with an identical scoreline — in the blockbuster final on Saturday.
The exhibition tournament stages the latest meeting of the top two male tennis players in the world. It is a repeat of the 2024 edition, the first installment of the competition between the top-ranked ATP players in the world.
“Longevity is one of my biggest motivations. I really want to see how far I can go,” Djokovic said at the Joy Forum in Riyadh.
“If you see across all the global sports, LeBron James, he’s still going strong, he’s 40, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Tom Brady played till he was 40-something years old.
“I mean, it’s unbelievable. They’re inspiring me as well. So I want to keep going and that’s one of the motivations I have.”
Djokovic was also eager to be a part of his sport’s evolving future.
“I want to also live to see, live meaning still keep on playing professionally, to see the change that is coming for our sport,” he said.
“And I’m super excited about it. I feel like tennis is a sport that can be greatly, and will be greatly transformed.
“I want to be part of that change. I want to be not just part of that change, but I want to be playing when we kind of rejuvenate our sport and set the new platform that is going to go on for decades to come.”
Djokovic, who won his 100th career title in Geneva this year, was asked whether the younger players, the likes of Sinner and Alcaraz, will need to beat him into retirement.
“I’m sorry to disappoint them, it’s just not happening,” he said.
Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2025
