World No.1 Djokovic taking it ‘season by season’

PERTH: World number one Novak Djokovic is hoping his latest trip to Australia is not the last, but admits that at 36 he is now taking it “season by season”.

The Serbian superstar is the king of the Melbourne Park hard courts, winning the Australian Open a record 10 times, with an 11th in his sights next month.

He gets his preparations under way in Perth at the ATP-WTA United Cup on Sunday after another incredible season that brought three more Grand Slam titles for a record 24.

That included another Australian Open, taming Greece´s Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5) in the 2023 final. So dominant is Djokovic that he has won four of the last five Australian Opens with the only exception being 2022, when he was kicked out of the country for refusing to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

“I hope it´s not the last, to be honest,” he said of being in Australia again after his arrival in Perth and a late training session on Thursday.

“Coming back to Australia, I´ve always felt like I played my best tennis over the years and had great support. So I´m not sure, I don´t really have a plan (for) what´s going to happen next year. “I´m kind of taking season by season to see how far it takes me.”

“He´s not a kind of a player that will come back to the tour just to play -- let´s say -- on a medium level, play a few matches,” Djokovic said at an exhibition match in Saudi Arabia before heading to Perth. “He wants to win titles, he wants to be the best, that´s why he is who he is: a legend of our sport.”

Muchova to skip Australian Open over wrist injury

World number eight Karolina Muchova said on Thursday she would skip next year´s Australian Open because of a persistent wrist injury which already ruled her out of this year´s WTA Finals.

“This isn´t my favourite thing to share especially at the start of a new season, but unfortunately the pain in a wrist came back in the middle of my tennis preparation,” she said on Facebook.

“I therefore have to postpone the start of the season and fully heal my wrist first.” “It´s frustrating but I have to keep positive, recover and get ready for the rest of the year. See you in 2025, Australian Open,” added the 27-year-old Czech.

Muchova injured her right wrist at the US Open in September, where she reached the semi-finals. In her best season so far, Muchova also reached the French Open final this year and climbed the WTA rankings from 149th at the end of 2022 to the current eighth spot.