World No. 1 rank and Davis Cup are the primary focus for Novak Djokovic as he returns to the court

Novak Djokovic is all set to return to action at the Paris Masters ahead of the Davis Cup. The 34-year-old interacted with media where he spoke at length about various topics starting with him returning to action to featuring in the Davis Cup for Serbia. He also shared how he wants to finish as the top-ranked player in the world for yet another year.

The 34-year-old was excited to be back on the court as he is on the verge of ending another year with the World No. 1 tag. He highlighted how this year was exhausting for him as he went deep into the tournaments he took part in. In his bid for the Golden Calendar Slam, the Serb fell short of the Olympic gold medal and also lost his plot in the US Open finals against Daniil Medvedev.

“Yes, I am excited to come back to competition,” Djokovic said. “It’s been a while that I have played an ATP event. The last few events were Grand Slams and Olympic Games.”

“You know, it was an exhausting season overall,” he added. “Very successful one, but it did require a lot of mental effort and energy to deal with a lot of things also off the court and all the expectations and pressures of potential Calendar Slam, Golden Slam.”

The Serbian tennis star is on the verge of finishing his seventh year as World No. 1. He is currently tied with Pete Sampras and if he confirms the top spot this year, Djokovic will break that tie.

Medvedev can clinch the top spot from Djokovic but it will be very difficult for the Russian. Djokovic highlighted that he is currently returning back to action mainly to finish as the top-ranked player and also to feature in the Davis Cup for his country.

“The year-end No. 1 is on the line between Medvedev and myself, and I’m in a pretty good position in terms of the ranking points and the race,” Djokovic said. “So that’s obviously the goal for the end of the season other than trying to do well in the Davis Cup with the national team. Hopefully, I can have a strong finish of the season and clinch that year-end No. 1.”