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'My dad is trying to retire me for a while now ...
Novak Djokovic has revealed that he is not yet ready to hang up his boots, despite his father trying to retire him for a while.
Djokovic, a 10-time Australian Open champion, will be seen in action in the opening Grand Slam of the year with a new coach in former Britain World No 1 Andy Murray.
The Serbian World No 7 will meet the USA's Nishesh Basavareddy in the opening round on Sunday.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion will try to tick three boxes at the Australian Open -- secure a record-extending 11th Australian Open title, unlock his record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title, the most by any player across men's and women's categories and finally, hit a century of ATP Tour level titles.
Speaking to GQ magazine, Djokovic said, 'My dad is trying to retire me for a while now ... He is like, 'What else do you want to do?' He understands the amount and the intensity of the pressure and tension that is out there, and the stress that has an effect on my health, my body, and then, consequently, on everyone else who is around me, including him.
'So that is why he was like, 'My son, start to think about how you want to end this'," Djokovic added.
'I do think about (retirement), more how than when. When -- I am not thinking about it as of yet so intensely. How -- how I would like to end it? I feel if I start to lose more and feel like there is a bigger gap, that I start to have more challenges in overcoming those big obstacles in big slams, then I will probably call it a day. But right now I am still OK, keep continuing,' he added.
With 24 Grand Slams, 37-year-old Djokovic has the most Majors by a men's player, the joint-highest number of Grand Slams won by any player. He also has a Career Golden Slam to his name after he secured the Olympic gold medal in Paris 2024.
Djokovic has been a 10-time Australian Open champion, three-time French Open champion, a seven-time Wimbledon champion and a four-time US Open champion.
His last ATP tour-level title win came in the ATP Paris Masters event in November 2023 while his last Grand Slam win was the US Open title against Daniil Medvedev in September that year.