Novak Djokovic: Was not motivated to play tennis for last three months

10/11/2016

World No.1 Novak Djokovic has attributed his recent slump in form to a lack of motivation. The 12-time Grand Slam winner declared that he played tennis because he "enjoys it", but was quick to clarify that he still retains the hunger to win titles.

Djokovic wasn’t quite his dominating self in 2016 as he crashed out of the Wimbledon early on to Sam Querrey and watched rival Andy Murray bag the title. After the loss at the Olympics, the Serbian ace had a good run at the US Open before losing to Sunday star Stan Wawrinka in the final.

“The last three months were up and down a little bit, I didn't find that kind of satisfaction, which is the source of my motivation to play tennis,”he said ahead of the Shanghai Open. “If I don't have that inner joy of playing it's not easy to always feel at your best.

“In the last period, it was just too many of those days where I felt like I'm spending too much energy and mental effort into my training and matches.

“I play tennis because I really enjoy it, because it gives me happiness on the court. But if I don't have that feeling... if you put too much stress and expectations, then you start to lose that balance and balance is everything in life.”

However, Djokovic was quick to clarify that he still retains his hunger for titles. “When I say I'm not interested only in winning and lifting trophies, that doesn't mean that I'm not interested in that at all,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rafa Nadal, the fourth seed at Shanghai, also continued on the philosophical note, saying there was much more to his life than just tennis.

“Confidence is when you win. Losing, you don't have confidence. Winning, you have confidence,”the Spanish world No 5 said. “Being happy is away from the tennis court. Life is much more than tennis for me.

“It's true that tennis has been for the last, I'd say, 20 years, an important part of my life, but in life there are a lot of more important things than just the game. Happiness is other things: the health of your family, the people who you love, and the health of them,” the 30-year-old stated. “Of course when I get on the court I will do my best to win the match, there is no change in that.”

Nadal and Roger Federer have both slipped out of the world’s top four for the first time in 13 years, and the Spaniard said that he most valued the love and support of the people in his tennis travels. “The most beautiful thing is that you go around the world and you feel the love of the people, the support of the people,” he said. “That's the real thing. When you do the things the right way, you feel the support of the people,” he added.

Novak Djokovic: Was not motivated to play tennis for last three months

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