Novak Djokovic says Calendar Slam bid at US Open was 'pressure' he had never experienced before in his career

Novak Djokovic admits he had never previously experienced the level of pressure as he tried to win the Calendar Slam at the US Open earlier this year - and says he was a "bit disappointed" by his performance in the final.

Djokovic was bidding to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win all four majors in the same year.

But he fell short at the final hurdle as he was beaten in straight sets by Daniil Medvedev with history on the line in New York.

Reflecting on his memorable season after reaching the Paris Masters semi-finals, Djokovic told Tennis Channel: “I was very blessed to be in a position to fight for a Calendar Slam. That happens once in 50 years or maybe more so.

“Being able to win four Slams in a row, not in a calendar year, but in 2015 and 2016, helped me to understand how to deal with the situation even though it was a bit different.

“But it was still a paramount kind of pressure that I’d never experienced in my career.

“The experience that I had in playing at the highest level for over 10 years definitely helped to keep things together. Unfortunately in that most important match against Daniil in the final I underperformed in my opinion. Nothing to take away from his performance, his win, it was remarkable tennis from his side the entire tournament so he deserved it, but I was a bit disappointed knowing that I could have done better.

“But life goes on, family, two kids, I was really looking to kind of putting tennis on the side a bit and just do other things, spend quality time with the family, rejuvenate and regroup and then find the drive again, find the motivation. There’s plenty of things you can be motivated with. It’s not just history…it’s a lot of things. Even if it just comes to one single match it’s always a challenge that keeps on driving us. I keep on going and I am blessed to be in this position.”

Djokovic is playing for the first time this week since losing in New York and reached the last four in Paris with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Taylor Fritz.

He will next face Hubert Hurkacz as he bids to win the tournament for a sixth time and close on a record-breaking seventh year-end No 1 spot.

“I was absent from the tour for two months, coming into this tournament, and the last competitive match I played was in the US Open final, compared to the other guys playing one or two events prior to Paris,” said Djokovic.

“I knew that I needed to start well, with good intensity and put in a lot of hours on the practice court. But it’s different when you play points in a competitive match.

"I am pleased with the way I played against [Marton] Fucsovics [in the second round] and today I did have ups and downs. I am not really pleased with the way I closed out the sets.

“I lost my serve to love [at 1-1], then [at] 5-3, again, I served for it with new balls and lost to love again. Those kind of things shouldn't happen, I know that. I backed myself up with good returns and read Taylor’s serve very well to get into rallies. I closed out the last couple of service games well and that’s a positive.”

Djokovic has won 46 of 52 matches this season and is currently tied with Pete Sampras on six year-end No 1 finishes. He is also level with Rafael Nadal on 36 Masters 1000 trophies.

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