Novak Djokovic admits to emotional and mental pressure to achieve Calendar Grand Slam

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has admitted that he was under immense mental and emotional pressure before the US Open to achieve the Calendar Grand Slam. 

Djokovic reached his ninth US Open final this year, but could not cross the final hurdle as he lost in straight sets (4-6, 4-6, 4-6) to Russian Daniil Medvedev on Sunday. The 34-year-old stated that he didn’t have his best match against Medvedev, as he made far too many unforced errors and was below par in all aspects of his game.  

“My legs were not there. I was trying. I did my best. Yeah, I made a lot of unforced errors. I didn’t have — no serve, really. If you’re playing someone like Medvedev who hits his spots so well, just aces, gets a lot of free points on his first serve, you’re constantly feeling pressure on your service games. I was below par with everything, to be honest. So just one of these days where, unfortunately, yeah, wasn’t meant to be,” said Djokovic. 

The Serb admitted that the pressure of winning a Calendar Slam weighed heavily on his mind ahead of the tournament and is relieved that it is over. 

“I was glad it was over because the build-up for this tournament and everything that mentally, emotionally, I had to deal with throughout the tournament in the last couple of weeks was just a lot. It was a lot to handle,” said the three-time US Open Champion.

Djokovic was in tears during the US Open final when he realized that he had missed out on the opportunity to emulate Rod Laver, who won the men’s Calendar Grand Slam back in 1969 – the last man to achieve that feat. 

The Serbian had defeated Medvedev in the final of the Australian Open earlier this year in straight sets, and then went on to defeat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the French Open final. Later in the year, he prevailed over Matteo Berrettini in the men’s singles Wimbledon final to win it for the sixth time, and set up the possibility of achieving the Calendar Grand Slam. The Golden Slam fell out of reach when he finished fourth at the Olympics in Japan. 

While he has been in the most men’s singles finals at the US Open, Djokovic has won just 3 of his 9 finals. Djokovic, though, was pleased by the support that he got in New York in the final, which was the reason he teared up during the changeover in the game. Perhaps the crowd’s support will egg him to retry the Calendar Grand Slam feat next year again.