Novak Djokovic drops an interesting word about his future tennis plans

Novak Djokovic has nothing else to prove in terms of professional tennis. He has won more Grand Slams (24) than any other man. He has been atop the ATP rankings for more than 100 weeks longer than anyone else, and he has won more Masters 1000 titles than anyone and more ATP Finals. Statistically speaking, he is the best player ever.

The Serb also leads the head-to-head against his two biggest rivals, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Those making the argument that one of those players is better than Djokovic might have a tougher discussion. Still, the debate is a fun one.

Federer is retired. Nadal appears very close to doin the same. He has made no commitment to playing in 2025 and potentially he could decide to hang up his racket after the Davis Cup is done in late November. Representing Spain in international events has always been important to him and this might be the last time he does that.

Novak Djokovic feels he owes a debt to tennis

Djokovic did not win a Grand Slam this year, but he did make it to the finals at Wimbledon, and then he won the Olympics. He is still capable of playing at an extremely high level, but maybe not at the level he once did. The tennis world seems to belong to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner now.

What will Djokovic do once is time playing tournaments is done? The question was asked of him ahead of the Shanghai Masters this week. Without going into any detail, the Serb did say that he has no plans to leave the sport completely behind. He loves tennis too much.

He told the media, "My love for tennis will never fade away. I have a lot of emotions when I’m playing, and not particularly only in the tournament, but also practice sessions. Sometimes it’s not always going your way, but I think my relationship with tennis goes much deeper than a tournament or a year or success or failure, it’s just, you know, a sport that I fell in love with when I was very young, and I still have the love for the sport."

What he said next contained an interesting word, though. Djokovic feels he has a debt to be paid to the sport. He said, "Even when I retire from professional tennis, I feel like I’m going to stay in tennis, stay involved in, you know, in different roles, because I feel like I owe this sport a lot for what it has been giving to me."

One might wonder exactly what Djokovic's future role could be. Maybe he helps reshape the way tennis is run with his Professional Tennis Player's Association. Maybe he takes over a tournament to run in the way Federer has with the Laver Cup. Possibly he does all those things.

Whatever he does, it will be good to still have him involved in the sport. He needs to be as the most successful player ever.

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