(Reuters) – Novak Djokovic said chasing the world number one ranking is not his main objective anymore and the 24-times Grand Slam champion will happily take major tournament victories over top spot in the twilight of his glittering career.
Djokovic has spent more than 400 weeks at number one and now sits fifth in the rankings, but the 37-year-old showed he cannot be written off and earned a record 411th ATP Masters 1000 match win on Sunday.
A 6-1 7-6(1) third round victory over Argentine lucky Camilo Ugo Carabelli at the Miami Open also put Djokovic a step closer to his 100th singles title and the Serbian said the top ranking did not matter as much.
“If it comes as a consequence of great results and titles that I win in a season, then that’s amazing. But that’s not my objective,” Djokovic told reporters.
“My objective is to be able to play my best tennis at the Grand Slams and the tournaments where I participate. My schedule is revised, so obviously I’m not chasing ranking points.
“It’s different nowadays, maybe, than it was a few years back (or) for most of my career, to be honest. I’m happy to win a Grand Slam and a big tournament rather than getting to number one. Right now that’s more important for me.”
Jimmy Connors with 109 and Roger Federer with 103 are the only men with more titles than Djokovic but he said climbing to the top of the list could be difficult.
“It would definitely be amazing to get to that record,” Djokovic added. “Connors is someone that I truly admire and respect. He’s always very supportive of me in public, I’m thankful for that. It would be amazing.
“But again, it’s probably more difficult to achieve that nowadays for me than maybe it was some years ago. I’ll go step by step. I’ll see. I don’t know how long I’m going to compete for. But I’m still enjoying myself when I play well.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
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