Serbia's Novak Djokovic hits a return to Italy's Jannik Sinner during their men's singles final match at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai on October 13, 2024. (Photo by Hector Retamal / AFP)
Shanghai: Novak Djokovic insisted on Sunday that he plans "to compete and play next season" despite suffering another loss at the hands of world number one Jannik Sinner.
The 37-year-old Serb, the holder of a men's record 24 Grand Slam titles, went down 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to the Italian in the final of the Shanghai Masters.
It was Djokovic's third defeat in his last four clashes against the Australian Open and US Open champion.
However, Djokovic said he has no intention of following career-long rival Rafael Nadal into retirement even though he endured by his own admission "one of the worst-performing seasons in terms of results".
"I don't know what the future brings, I'll just try to kind of go with the flow to see how I feel in a given moment but I still plan to compete and play next season," he told reporters.
Djokovic failed to add to his Grand Slam haul in 2024 as Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who claimed the French Open and Wimbledon titles, took possession of the sport's major honours.
However, Djokovic was crowned Olympic champion, winning an emotional roller-coaster of a final against Alcaraz in Paris in August. That was his 99th career title.
Sunday's loss left him frustratingly short of becoming just the third man after Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer to win 100 titles.
"It's not a live-or-die type of goal for me, I think I've achieved all of my biggest goals in my career," he said.
"Right now it's really about Slams and about still seeing how far I can kind of push the bar for myself."
Djokovic hailed Sinner who at 23 is 14 years his junior. His title in Shanghai was his seventh of the year.
"He's very solid from the forehand and backhand, doesn't make too many mistakes, and just tries to take away the time from the opponent," said Djokovic.
"That's something that reminds me of myself throughout my career, that's what I've done for so many years consistently, playing fast-paced tennis, taking away time from the opponent, kind of suffocating the opponent in a certain way."
