Novak Djokovic makes astonishing confession about Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner

The Serbian has become the most successful male tennis player of all time, but early on in his career, he was looking up to the immovable object of Roger Federer and the unstoppable force of Rafael Nadal.

But with a change of diet and approach, Djokovic crashed their duopoly in 2011, and he never really looked back. He now dwarfs them all with his 24 majors, with Federer and Nadal now retired.

At the age of 39, Djokovic is certainly showing signs of slowing down but on his day, he can beat anyone, Sinner and Alcaraz included.

However, getting through one or even both is a monumental challenge. With age, Djokovic has become a more aggressive baseliner who is keen to shorten points rather than lengthen them, but when he had his greatest success, he was arguably a counterpuncher.

Conversely, seven-time Grand Slam winner Alcaraz hits more winners but makes more mistakes, and five-time major winner Sinner is perhaps more similar to Djokovic, but plays a more offensive style.

Despite that, the veteran feels that it is almost like looking in the mirror when he faces off against the Spaniard and the Italian, who have head-to-head records of 5-5 and 5-7 against him, respectively.

He said, via TNT Sports, "I want to kick their a** every day of the week. But to be honest, when I see them play, there's contrasting styles with Federer and Nadal, really contrasting styles.

"I showed up as well, different. Three of us, we were all different. And now with Alcaraz and Sinner being the dominant force in tennis, these two guys remind me of myself so much.

"I'm like: 'I'm playing myself from 10 years ago and 15 years ago' and it kind of hurts me to feel that on the court. I mean, I know how to crack the code, but can I?"

After Djokovic's semi-final defeat to Sinner in straight sets at Wimbledon, he said this would not be the last time he entered this tournament. The Serb has suggested he would like to play at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, which would take him to the grand old age of 41.

And although the quest for a 25th major still burns, the world No 7 - whose last slam win came at the 2023 US Open - has other motivational sources, too.

He added, "So, it's always finding new ways to motivate yourself, to inspire yourself to be better and the rivalries are good," he said. "They're important. So you got to always find someone in the crowd or someone on the court that is going to push you to be better."

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