It is not known how much longer Novak Djokovic will continue playing but the 24-time Grand Slam champion plans to remain part of the sport when he does.

The former world No.1 returns to action later this week at the Shanghai Masters where he will be playing his first competitive match since losing in the third round of the US Open to Alexi Popyrin. Djokovic recently took a brief break from the Tour and participated in an exhibition event in Sofia, Bulgaria. It was in Sofia where he told reporters he was unsure about his plans for the rest of the season and stated he would not be chasing after a spot in the ATP Finals which he could still qualify for.

Despite being at the age of 37, Djokovic currently has no plans of stepping away from the sport soon. He is the oldest player in the top 40 on the PIF ATP rankings and the second oldest in the top 100 after Gael Monfils (No.46). 

“My love for tennis will never fade away. I have a lot of emotions when I’m playing, and not particularly only in the tournament, but also practice sessions.” Djokovic told reporters on Wednesday.

“Sometimes it’s not always going your way, but I think my relationship with tennis goes much deeper than a tournament or a year or success or failure, it’s just a sport that I fell in love with when I was very young, and I still have the love for the sport.

“Even when I retire from professional tennis, I feel like I’m going to stay in tennis, stay involved in different roles because I feel like I owe this sport a lot for what it has been giving to me.”

One of the things driving Djokovic to continue his career is reaching new milestones. The most recent of those occurred in the summer when he won his maiden gold medal at the Paris Olympics. In Shanghai, he could claim a new achievement by winning his 100th ATP title to become only the third player to do so in the Open Era. The first two to do so were Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103). 

Djokovic has claimed the Shanghai title on four occasions with the last of those wins being in 2018. The tournament wasn’t held between 2020 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“China has been a very successful and happy place for me,” he said. “I’ve had great success on Chinese soil, both in Beijing and Shanghai. I haven’t been here (in Shanghai) for five years. I just love playing here, love the conditions, love the support that I get, and I also have an extra motivation of trying to go for my 100th title.

“I’m trying to improve daily on my practice sessions. I play a lot of practice points, games, and sets, and get to the desired level because I haven’t been playing too many tournaments lately, so I have some catching up to do with others.”

The Sinner case

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During Djokovic’s recent absence from the Tour, Jannik Sinner’s doping case has been brought back into the spotlight after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) submitted an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Sinner was cleared of any wrongdoing by an independent tribunal but WADA has voiced concerns about the handling of the case and is pushing for a ban of up to two years. Details of the appeal are not public but it is understood that WADA is questioning if Sinner has some degree of responsibility for his two failed drugs tests as he manages his team.

Djokovic, who leads Sinner 4-3 in their head-to-head, says the current situation must be ‘very tough’ for his rival before raising concerns about the efficiency of tennis’ anti-doping program.

“I think it’s quite obvious that we have a system that is not working well… There’s way too many inconsistencies, way too many governing bodies involved and, you know, just this whole case is not helping our sport at all,” he said.

“Whatever is going to happen at the end of the day, just I wish for it to be resolved as soon as possible.”

Sinner has repeatedly denied accusations that he deliberately took a banned substance. He tested positive after being treated by his former physio who was using a spray containing clostebol on his hands. The Italian recently won the US Open and was runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz at the China Open on Wednesday. Even though he admits to having some sleepless nights over the issue.

“It’s impressive what (Sinner’s) been doing in the whole process of what’s been happening, that he’s playing on such a high level,” Djokovic commented.

The Shanghai Masters has already gotten underway but all seeded players have received a first round bye.