US OPEN

August 24, 2025

Novak Djokovic

Press Conference

N. DJOKOVIC/L. Tien

6-1, 7-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. First match in a while. Do you expect that it's going to hurt a little bit, or maybe I will have some moments where I feel winded, or do you expect it will come right back the way it was?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I started great. Just over 20 minutes, first set, I felt really good. Then some long games to start the second set, and then I start to feel really -- I don't know why. I really was surprised how bad I was feeling in the second physically.

Yeah, we had long exchanges, but also, I kind of dropped my level and made a lot of unforced errors and kind of got him back into the match. I'm glad that I kind of reset myself after second set. And the third one was -- the third set was okay to finish up the match.

There are positives but also things that hopefully won't happen in terms of, like, how I feel on the court physically the way I felt in the second set. Hopefully that doesn't happen, because then it makes my life on the court definitely much more challenging.

Good thing, two days off now. But yeah, it's slightly a concern. I don't know. I don't have any injury or anything. I just struggled a lot to stay in long exchanges and recover after points.

It is what it is. But again, there was quite a bit of tension on the court, playing a young American, night session. For me, I haven't played a match, official match, six weeks. You know, I had to deliver my A-game, which I did I think in the first set. Particularly in the second, it was surviving on the court. But in the important moments I just put one ball more in the court than he did.

I think it was also good to experience that, in a sense, kind of break the ice officially in the tournament. So you know, looking forward to the next challenge.

Q. Talking to a WTA player earlier that speaks seven different languages, and she was saying how much it helps her on tour.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Who was that?

Q. Anna Blinkova, the Russian player. I'm not sure what the count of your languages is, but as someone who goes around the tour traveling a lot, how much has it helped you?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I have a competition on the tour right now.

Q. What's your number of languages and have you counted?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I don't know. What do you consider speaking a language? It's quite relative. I'm not fluent in several languages, but I can speak those languages enough to communicate, to find my way in countries.

I think I'm somewhere close to that as well. Look, I've always had, you know, passion for languages and linguistics. I feel like, in a sense, in my language there is a saying: The more languages you know, the more is your worth. What the meaning is if you're trying to speak more languages, people respect you more because you're putting in the effort to speak their language.

I always liked that. I always like when people make an effort at least to speak few phrases of any language, for that matter. I just feel people treat you differently. They welcome you differently.

Yeah, I mean, it's amazing world with incredible amount of languages. It's hard to learn all of them, but I do want to learn several more. I have intention to learn Greek, Russian, maybe perfect my Spanish a bit more. I have a few more, you know, years ahead of me with some language learning.

But I do like it. I think also the tennis tour really allows you to interact with different people from different countries, different languages, and it's good. You know, you can -- if people really want to allow you to have that chance to kind of while speaking with you, interacting with you, speak the language that you want to learn, then it's great.

So credit to Blinkova. Amazing. I didn't know that, so that's great. I think tennis is really one of the most versatile sports in terms of languages out there, because it's so global.

Q. Novak, you said no injuries, no struggles of that nature, but you did have a blister. When did the blister begin to form for you, and what concerns do you have, if any, about it?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: No, no, I actually wasn't talking about the blister when I was talking about my struggles. It was more just the physical struggle on the court in the second set.

The blister, yeah, okay, it bothered me for a bit, but it wasn't an issue. I'm not concerned about blister. It's more just overall feeling of, yeah, just recovery after the points, long rallies wasn't that great today.

Q. I'm not sure if you saw, but Serena introduced Maria at the Hall of Fame ceremony.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: It was a beautiful moment.

Q. I'm curious, I know you have a great relationship with both of them. Was that surprising at all to you?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, it was. It was surprising, but very nice gesture from Serena to be there for Maria. They had some really intense rivalries and incredible matches over the years.

But they said it, they were honest I think during their speeches. Serena I think mentioned that Maria or people probably think about Serena as one of the last people that would be there to introduce. But at the same time, as she said in her speech, which I think she beautifully, eloquently explained, that people thought that they are miles apart in their differences, but they were actually very much the same in terms of they wanted the same thing and competed on the same tour for so many years.

No, it was great. It was great. It was wonderful moment, and I think Maria deserves it. Obviously incredible champion and an icon off the court as well with her brand and everything she has built over the years.

Of course, seeing Serena in any shape or form around tennis is great. You know, we miss her. She still hasn't officially retired (smiling). So I invite her, I challenge her. Because she's such a great competitor, when somebody challenges her, she never refuses. So I challenge Serena, come back on the tour next year.