Novak Djokovic said he is already thinking about retiring from tennis and expressed his opinion on Rafael Nadal’s defeat at Indian Wells

A few hours after the debut in Indian Wells 1000 Masters, Novak Djokovicthe Serbian tennis player number 1 in the world, chatted with the press and opened the way to start thinking about his retirement by underlining the unfortunate decision to Rafael Nadal withdraw from the tournament in California.

“When they really arrive and you realize that’s it, Roger has finished his career, Rafa and I probably won’t play much longer”, communicated the world number one. Furthermore, she added that “andIt’s a bit of an end of an era and it’s sad, but at the same time I think there are a lot of wonderful moments and games and milestones that we can celebrate when it comes to each of us and us as a group.”, in reference to the Big Three.

The list of the best tennis players in history includes emblems such as Nole, Rafa and Roger Federer. The latter, who retired in 2022 at the age of 42, is in third place among the best Grand Slam winners, with 20; being surpassed by the Serbian (24) and the Spanish (22). It seems that the retirements will go step by step as time goes by and it will be a big change of era in international tennis.

Rafael Nadal wants to rediscover this sport, which has given him so much joy and earned him a name all over the world. Unfortunately her desire to reinvent herself is not positively accompanied by his body. He had to face Milos Raonic this Thursday in Indian Wellsbut the performance turned away from him before the match.

“It’s sad for the tournament that Rafa had to withdraw and for him too. In fact, I traveled with him to the United States, which wasn’t planned. It was nice to see him and his family again.“, he said. They had both met on the plane that was taking them to American soil and the prospects seemed encouraging for the Spaniard who was going to shoot the special broadcast together with Carlos Alcaraz for Netflix.

In turn, the 36-year-old athlete was saddened by his rival’s decision. “I know he came early because he really wanted to adjust to the time zone, train as much as possible, get ready to play, that’s why he came early. He gave his all, but it couldn’t be”he testified.

The 37-year-old Spaniard, who now occupies position 645 in the ATP rankings, had planned his year with the aim of participating in four tournaments. Of them, they only had time in Brisbane, where they fell in the quarter-finals. Then, he stumbled at the Australian Open in the second round. Now, having canceled his presence in California, he does not seem to have the best conditions to reach the next Olympic event which will take place at Roland Garros. “The preparation was terrible“he announced last week.

For his part, the Serbian is already thinking about the match and will begin his participation in Indian Wells this Saturday 9 March; He will thus return to the court after what was his last match at the Australian Open, when he lost in the semifinals against Jannik Sinner. As for his elimination, Novak recently stated that he doesn’t have enough time to rest but that “Sinner was a much better player than me“: