Novak Djokovic has jokingly revealed that he is finding new ways to swear in his native language in order to avoid being punished by umpires. The 36-year-old is currently in France as he prepares to begin his Paris Masters campaign in search of a record-breaking seventh tournament victory.
Djokovic is known for sometimes being hot-headed during matches, having had plenty of run-ins with umpires and line judges over the years. Speaking ahead of the Paris Masters, he revealed that he is being forced to let off steam in different ways as many umpires are learning to recognise when he swears in Serbian.
“The problem we have, because of the success of Croatian and Serbian players in the last 30 years or so, we unfortunately have a situation where most of the umpires understand the swearing words,” Djokovic told Eurosport.
“So we have to play around a little bit, we have to use the slang, create new words, but when you’re p***** off you don’t think about creating.”
Djokovic also joked that his coach, Goran Ivanisevic, has been trying to find new ways to keep him motivated without too much success as of yet. He added: “Goran and the rest of the team are trying to find new ways to motivate me. They haven’t been succeeding much so far. We have a lot of fun, we are great friends.”
It remains to be seen whether Djokovic will be able to end the year in style by winning the Paris Masters as he looks to consolidate his spot at the top of the ATP rankings. He could end up meeting Carlos Alcaraz in the final, with the Spaniard aiming to return to the summit by claiming the spoils for himself.
Djokovic won his 24th Grand Slam title at the US Open earlier this year, putting him two ahead of his closest challenger Rafael Nadal in the all-time standings. He went on to admit in the same interview that he is satisfied with his current total but would be happy to add even more titles to his resume, although the stress of playing in big events means that it will not be easy.
“I’m happy with 24 but people in my country say why not go for 25, 30? I say if it was that easy, it would be great,” he explained. “I don’t know how it looks, but I know how it feels. You’ve really got to earn. I feel like a cat sometimes, with nine lives. Every time I play a Grand Slam I lose one life.”
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