It was only seven minutes to midnight and the Novak Djokovic faithful were in no hurry to clear the stadium.
Fireworks were about to sound across Perth to ring in the new year and the world No.1 was in fine spirits to continue the on-court celebrations, arm-in-arm with his teammates, after guiding Serbia to a narrow triumph over China in their opening clash at the United Cup on Sunday.
There aren’t too many on-court novelties for the 36-year-old at this point in his career, but counting down the new year with his compatriots surrounded by dedicated followers on a tennis arena was a welcome surprise in the lead-up to his Australian Open title defence.
“It's a great start of the season. Wonderful way to celebrate New Year's,” Djokovic said. “We have a saying in Serbia: if the entire year is going to be as kind as the sunrise or the first minute of the new year, then I think we're going to have a great season and great year, all of us.”
His teammate, Olga Danilovic, declared her bucket-list item was ticked off, having now played and won a match alongside her nation’s idol.
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Djokovic was sharp and clinical in his earlier straight-sets dismissal of China’s big-striking Zhang Zhizhen at RAC Arena before he steered the ship and in a tense deciding mixed doubles match tiebreak in the final tour match of 2023.
Curiosity invariably turned to his ambitions for the season ahead.
“Obviously Grand Slams, Olympic Games, playing for my country, Davis Cup, all these competitions where you represent Serbia is the greatest honour and pleasure,” Djokovic said.
“It's a very long year, season. I'll have to obviously work in a way step by step with my body to see how it feels, how I react when I change surfaces, what kind of schedule I need to have in order to peak at the right time in the biggest tournaments.”
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Over time, Djokovic has tweaked how his body is fine-tuned, a learning process that has only improved with each experience.
Nothing was left to chance as he maximised his chances at delivering on the biggest stages.
Even on the back of a year in which he reached all Grand Slam finals and won three of them, the Serbian only dared rate it one of his best, such were his high standards.
“Might seem unrealistic or impossible to some. It might seem arrogant to some others. I don't know,” he said. “I've always believed in myself very strongly. I know that I'm a very all-around player.
“When I'm fit, when I'm at the peak of my performance, I can win any Slam or any tournament. I know that. I'm not afraid to say that.
“It's not a secret that I want to break more records and make more history of the game. That's something that keeps on motivating me.”
Three times Djokovic has reached all four major finals in the same season – including twice in the past three years – only to have fallen short at one stop.
It stood to reason he knew exactly what needed to be done to keep his body, mind and spirit aligned for the best opportunity to add further records.
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“It's the only way, to be honest. I enjoy playing tennis, don't get me wrong,” he said.
“When it comes to professional tennis competition, leaving my family to travel somewhere for four, five, six weeks, eventually for me there's only one direction or one goal that is in my mind, which is winning the trophy. I do everything possible to achieve that.
“I feel like that kind of mentality, all I have been doing for the last 20-plus years on a daily basis, of course with my team and family, have helped me to reach the heights and be where I am.
“That mentality is not changing for 2024 or any next year potentially that I play.”