Featured Image Credit: Australian Open
Topics: Novak Djokovic, Tennis
Nasir Jabbar
Novak Djokovic called out a reporter's 'disrespectful' question during a tense exchange ahead of his semi-final clash against Jannik Sinner at the Australian Open.
Djokovic scraped into the Australian Open semi-finals after Lorenzo Musetti retired injury while leading by two sets in their quarter-final tie.
He faces Sinner for a spot in Sunday's final as he aims to secure the 25th Grand Slam singles title of his legendary career.
Djokovic has an impressive 10 Australian Open championships to his name, with the Serbian just two games away from becoming the standalone record holder of Grand Slam singles titles.
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He won an array of majors during the Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal era and is now slugging it out against the current generation's talents, including Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who have won the last eight Grand Slam titles between them.
In his post-match press conference, Djokovic interrupted a reporter after he was accused of 'chasing' Federer and Nadal at the start of his career before doing the same to Sinner and Alcaraz towards the back end of his career.
The fourth seed exclaimed: "So I’m always the chaser and I’m never being chased?"
He later described the question as 'disrespectful' before insisting he isn't 'chasing' anyone.
"Well, I find it a little bit disrespectful that you kind of miss out on what happened in between the times when I started chasing, as you say, Rafa and Roger, and now that I'm chasing Carlos and Jannik," he added.
"There's probably about a 15-year period in between where I was dominating the Grand Slams. So I think it's important to put that in perspective. I don't feel like I'm chasing, to be honest.
"Roger and Rafa will always be my greatest rivals. I have tremendous respect for what Jannik and Carlos are doing, and they continue to do, and they will do for the next 10 to 15, 20 years. God knows how many years they're going to play, they're so young."
The 38-year-old is still going strong as he could be faced with meeting both Sinner and Alcaraz to win this year's Australian Open.