Novak Djokovic is determined not to play second fiddle to Carlos Alcaraz again.
The Serbian goes in search of history at Wimbledon on Sunday in a repeat of last year’s final, which Alcaraz won in five dramatic sets.
Victory over the Spaniard would move Djokovic level with Roger Federer on eight Wimbledon titles, and one ahead of Margaret Court’s all-time record tally of 24 grand slam singles crowns.
The 37-year-old, who has celebrated each victory this fortnight by pretending to play the violin, said: “Of course, it serves as a great motivation, but at the same time it’s also a lot of pressure and expectations.
“Every time I step out on the court now, even though I’m 37 and competing with the 21-year-olds, I still expect myself to win most of the matches, and people expect me to win 99 per cent of the matches I play.
“I always have to come out on the court and perform my best in order to still be at the level with Carlos or Jannik (Sinner) or any of those guys.”
Djokovic, yet to win a title or even reach a final this year, progressed to his 37th grand slam final just 37 days after having surgery on the knee he injured at the French Open.
“This year hasn’t been that successful for me. It’s probably the weakest results the first six months I’ve had in many years,” he added.
“That’s OK. I had to adapt and accept that and really try to find also way out from the injury that I had and kind of regroup.
“At Wimbledon, historically, there have been seasons where I wasn’t maybe playing at a desired level, but then I would win a Wimbledon title and then things would change.
“That was the case in 2018 when I had elbow surgery earlier in the year, dropped my ranking out of top 20, lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open, quarters of Roland Garros and just not playing the tennis I wanted to play.
“Then I won Wimbledon and then won US Open and then later on became number one very soon after.
“Wimbledon just extracts the best of me and motivates me to really always show up and perform the best I can.
“Of course, I’m aware of what’s on the line. It always is really. Any grand slam that I play, there’s always history now on the line. I will try to use that as a fuel to play my best tennis.”
Victory for Alcaraz would make him only the second man in the Open era, alongside Federer, to win his first four grand slam finals.
“I try not to think about that I’m the defending champion,” said the 21-year-old.
“I just go into every match thinking that obviously I have chances to lose. Every match, it’s a war. The opponent, they are going to put his best tennis to beat you. That’s obvious.
“I’m thinking that I have to be a good player on that match. I am thinking that I have to play my best tennis if I want to keep going.”