Djokovic: "I'm tired of talking about it"

He appeared to be more competitive this year.

"You are mistaken. I am always competitive, I always give my best. From the outside, it may look one way or another, but only I know how much effort I put in. Of course, I am disappointed, I wanted to win Wimbledon, but he was better than me. It is hard to accept that when you walk off the court. I don't think I did too many things wrong. He was solid in every aspect of the game, and his serve has become a huge weapon since he changed his technique."

Sinner called Djokovic the greatest returner of all time.

"I was. My return used to be the best, it isn't anymore, that's the reality. You can't really attack his first serve, you can only block it and try to get the ball back into play. His serve is unpredictable, he uses his height extremely well, he has a variety of serves, and he also gets them deep into the court. On top of that, he has a great first shot after the serve, which makes things even more difficult."

He played a spectacular quarterfinal match, defeating Félix Auger-Aliassime after five hours and 15 minutes.

"Felix is the fourth-best player in the world. I proved that I can still compete at the highest level. I lost in three sets to the best player in the world, and that is the reality I have to accept. Still, the tournament was positive in terms of commitment, fighting spirit... From a tennis perspective, I felt I played better in Australia than I did here. I struggled a bit to find my best game, and it would appear only occasionally... Against Sinner today, I couldn't find a way to get into the match."

Motivation is still at a high level.

"Last year I reached four Grand Slam semifinals, and this year I have one final and one semifinal. For 99 percent of players, those are very good Grand Slam results. For me, they are good, but not good enough. I am both blessed and cursed in the sense that the highest results are always expected. I fight with myself, I tell myself that it is excellent that I can still compete with younger players at this level, but I still have the highest expectations of myself. That is an internal battle. Everyone knows what expectations I had for myself over the past 20 years, and now I have to be a little more modest in that regard. I still enjoy competing, although I no longer enjoy as much the difficult weeks leading up to major tournaments, going through that physical pain... I am happy that my body held up well during this tournament, which was not always the case in the past. I love this life, tennis has given me the opportunity to become who I am."

He stressed that nobody is forcing him to continue playing.

"I am doing what I want and because I can still be a top-five, top-10 player. Let's see what the future brings."

Much has been said about his pursuit of a 25th Grand Slam title.

"That is not the ultimate goal. A lot of people put pressure on me, some people who are in my second circle of close relationships in life, as well as the media... And I want number 25 too, but it is not the ultimate goal. It has started to annoy me a little, let's put things into perspective. It's as if I am not enough for myself, as if 24 is not enough and it has to be 25. As if 400 weeks at No. 1 are not enough, but it has to be 1,000. We have to be grateful. I am tired of talking about when number 25 will come. Maybe it will never come. I would like to remove the statement that it is my ultimate goal, but my goal is to prepare myself in the best possible way and be at my peak for the Grand Slams.

I could have won five more Grand Slams when I had matches in my hands, but I could also have lost some finals that I managed to win. I don't know how long all of this will last. I would like people to respect my choice and not pressure me with questions about when I will retire and when number 25 will come, but to respect my decisions," Novak said.