Novak Djokovic contemplated retirement from Tennis in 2010

The 32-year-old has won 17 grand slams in his illustrious career so far.

World No.1 Novak Djokovic has admitted that he once had contemplated the idea of retiring from Tennis back in 2010 when things weren’t going on in his favour.

The Serbian legend won his first grand slam in 2008 but then endured heavy defeats against Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. He lost four of his next five Grand Slam encounters against Federer, and four against Nadal at the Major tournaments.

French Open in 2010 was also a disaster for Novak Djokovic as he crashed out of the tournament after losing a close battle against Austria’s Jurgen Melzer. He explained that the loss against the Austrian increased the pressure on him and he considered quitting the sport altogether.

“Against Melzer in Roland Garros, during the quarters, this defeat was really difficult for me emotionally. I cried a lot after this defeat because I had a moment in my life, my career, when everything happened in a fusion in which I really did not see a reason to keep on playing, I wanted to quit tennis,” said Novak Djokovic to Sky Sports Italia.

He added, “After that moment I felt I was freed. The accumulation of this pressure was making me too tired to play, I wasn’t feeling the joy, I wasn’t feeling free to really play in a way, a type, a style of play which was aggressive.”

However, after overcoming that dark period, the Serbian went on to win seven more Australian Opens, five Wimbledons, three US Opens, and a French Open to close the gap against Federer and Nadal in terms of Grand Slam titles.

He had a wonderful start to 2020, before the coronavirus halted the sporting events all over the world as he lifted the ATP Cup with Serbia, won a record-extending eighth Australian Open title and then completed a fifth triumph at the Dubai Tennis Championships, extending his unbeaten run to 21 titles.