Djokovic wants to win the World Cup like Messi

In an interview with 433 magazine this week, Djokovic answered a series of questions on a fantasy topic: what if he were a football player. When asked about the championship he most wanted, Djokovic did not hesitate to answer: "World Cup. Definitely".

Djokovic is close to many Serbian football players, and often shares on social media posts and photos cheering for the team when attending major tournaments. At the 2022 World Cup, Serbia stopped in the group stage, after losing 0-2 to Brazil, drawing with Cameroon 3-3 and losing 2-3 to Switzerland. Argentina is the winning team, with the best player of the tournament Lionel Messi.

Messi is also one of four players Djokovic wants to be a teammate of. The rest are Zlatan Ibrahimovic - close friends of Serbian tennis players, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gabriel Batistuta. Nole also shared that he wants to play for his hometown team Red Star Belgrade, or AC Milan - the club that Djokovic admires.

Djokovic is left-footed, so he should choose the left striker position if he is a professional football player. "I like that position, rich in speed," he said. "I will try to assist someone in the penalty area."

When predicting the number of red cards to receive in his career, Djokovic laughed and asked again: "Red card for tackle or pretending to fall?". After that, he guessed he had to receive 33 red cards. "Why not? I'll kick hard," Djokovic joked.

Djokovic also wants to score as many goals as possible in his career. He chose the number 111 goals. When asked about the number of own goals, Nole thinks he will only "burn the temple" once in his life. "I thought if I had an own goal on one goal, my career would be over," Djokovic said. "Of course, I hope to play for a long time."

Djokovic is in Melbourne to prepare for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year kicking off on January 16. There, he is the greatest striker with nine crowns. After being banned from playing in Australia last year for not having a vaccine passport, Nole is back and aiming to equal Nadal's record of 22 Grand Slams. The Serbian hasn't lost an official match in Australia since 2019, and hasn't lost to a top 10 player here since 2015.