Novak Djokovic shares 'reason he keeps playing' as Serb issues Carlos Alcaraz reminder

has explained why he continues to play tennis as he returns to the Madrid Open for the first time in three years. The Serb is now a few weeks away from his 38th birthday, but he's still motivated to keep competing and has produced some impressive results this season, beating Carlos Alcaraz en route to the Australian Open semis and reaching the Miami final.

However, the 24-time Grand Slam champion isn't the dominant force he once was. Once part of the Big Four monopoly, Djokovic has suffered some shock early exits in recent months while other players have failed to replicate his and his rivals' stronghold on the sport. But Djokovic has reminded the tennis world that young champions like Alcaraz still aren't at their peak and can't be compared with him, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray.

For the better part of two decades, big clay titles were limited to a small number of players. Nadal often swept most tournaments. But the clay season is now relatively open, with players unable to stay consistent every week, while months-long winning streaks - something Djokovic and his old rivals could pull off - are unheard of.

As the last active player from the Big Four, the Serb has now spoken out on the state of tennis, issuing a reminder that Alcaraz is still younger than they were when at their best.

"It's not something that is common, it happened once in every five seasons or something," he said of the winning runs he, Federer, Nadal and Murray went on.

"Yes, there was domination, obviously, from Rafa on clay, or Roger on grass, me on hard court would win, whatever, three, four years in a row, Indian Wells, Miami, back-to-back.

"But that also came, for me personally, that level of I guess dominant tennis and achievements, when I was 23, 24 years old and then after that. So between, let's say, 23 and 33 is when it was really happening. And now Carlos is still not 23."

The Olympic champion already believes that Alcaraz is reaching the level that the Big Four did, and is full of praise for what the 21-year-old has already achieved.

Djokovic continued: "We have to remember that his age and what he has done for his age is not also normal. I'm sure that we'll see a lot of him on the big stage with trophies in the future in, whatever, 10 years, 15 years, as long as he's playing.

"I mean, the competition is always there. I think every generation has its different competition. It's hard to compare eras. The last 20 years was dominated mostly by the four of us.

"Obviously when the three of my biggest rivals retired, you can feel there's a shift, not only in terms of the generations of players that are kind of now, all of a sudden, the main focus and attention is on them."

While Djokovic knows it's time for younger players to take centre stage, he admitted that he is motivated by flying the flag for his generation and extending their star power for as long as possible.

"I guess it takes a little bit of time for people to accept the fact that Roger and Rafa are not playing, and Murray, and I guess one day myself, but I'm still trying to stay there and represent the older guys, the older generation. Hopefully that brings the positive effect to the tournaments and to the tour itself," he explained.

"That's also one of the reasons why I keep on playing is because I feel like it also helps tennis still thrive on the attention and crowd coming in and watching tournaments and getting interested.

"If you see the numbers actually of the attendance in the Grand Slams as well and some, like Indian Wells, it's record-breaking crowd in the last few years. Which is good news that it shouldn't be dependent on the big stars or legends of the game that retired.

"It should be, it should, the sport should outlive everyone, the sport will outlive everyone, and the sport is more important than anybody individually. So we are all here in the service of a sport as well."

And the crowds will be turning up this fortnight in Madrid to catch a glimpse of Djokovic in action. This is his second appearance at the tournament since 2019, when he lifted the title for the third time.