Novak Djokovic sets ambitious target as he opens up on retirement plans after pulling out of ATP Finals in Turin with shoulder injury

Novak Djokovic has revealed he wants to continue playing top-level tennis into his 40s - and defend his Olympic title at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion pulled out of this week's season-ending ATP Finals having won the Hellenic Championship in Athens wearing strapping on his shoulder. World No9 Lorenzo Musetti, who the Serb beat 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the final, has taken his place in Turin.

Djokovic reached the semi-finals of all four Slams this year but has reached just one final since winning three majors in 2023, and has struggled physically this year. 

After landing the 101st ATP title of his career in Greece on Saturday, the 38-year-old was asked how long he planned to play on for.

'I've always had this throughout my life and my career, I’ve always had a schedule in my head for a year or more, what I want, how I want it,' said Djokovic.

'Since I’ve achieved absolutely all possible goals, I said about the 2028 Olympics because I wanted to play for so many more years. So maybe ending up at the Olympic Games with the Serbian flag, that would be nice.'

'There are some things that are not entirely in my control,' he admitted. 'I’m trying to be as healthy as possible mentally and physically.'

Djokovic will turn 41 two months before the LA Games. He won the men's singles title in Paris last year, seeing off Carlos Alcaraz in the final 7-6, 7-6 to become just the fifth player in tennis history to win a Golden Slam of all four major singles crowns plus Olympic singles gold. 

Steffi Graf incredibly won them all in the same year - 1988 - and Andre Agassi completed the set by winning the French Open in 1999, three years after taking gold in Atlanta. The pair married in 2001.

Rafael Nadal is the other man to have done it, with his first US Open win of 2010 coming two years after he won gold in Beijing.

Serena Williams is the final player on the list and the only one to have landed a Golden Slam in both singles and doubles - her singles win at the London Olympics in 2012 came 11 years after she completed the doubles set at the US Open, a year after winning her first Olympic crown at Sydney.