“Novak made a speech after losing the Australian Open final to Carlos Alcaraz”, — write: sport.ua
“Good evening. Many thanks to all. First of all, of course, congratulations, Carlos. Great tournament, great few weeks – respect to your coach, your family, your team. What you do, I think, can best be described with the words “historical”, “legendary”. So congratulations and I wish you success throughout your career. You are so young. You have a lot of time ahead of you – just like me. So I’m sure we’ll meet many more times [на корті] in the next 10 years.
And then, of course, I have to thank my team – first of all, for putting up with me and for their support. It is never an easy road, nor is it. But you are my support, you are my foundation, and you have seen my worst and my best for who knows how many years, but especially in the last three weeks. Therefore, I want to say thank you – and this success is also your success.
Then I want to turn to the legendary Rafa, who is now in the stands. Just a few words, just a few words. Obviously, it’s a very strange feeling to see you there and not here, but I just want to say that it was an honor to share the court with you and to see you watching the final here. This is my first time and of course it feels a bit strange, but thank you for being here.
Too many Spanish legends. It felt like I was playing against two people today, not just one. It wasn’t fair, but okay. By the way, I had prepared a speech for both victory and defeat. So let me get back to her for a second. I’ll be brief. This is Carlos’s moment. Joking aside, at the end I just want to say that you, especially in the last matches, gave me something that I have never experienced before in Australia. So much love, support, positivity – it was incredible.
I’ve been trying to answer you with a good game for years. This is I think my 21st or maybe 22nd year of coming to Australia. To be honest, I’ve always believed in myself and I think that’s really necessary when you’re playing at this level against incredible players like Carlos and Yannick, especially in the last three days. But I have to be completely honest and say that I didn’t think I’d be standing at the closing ceremony of a Grand Slam again. So I also owe you a debt of gratitude for pushing me forward these past weeks.
And only God knows what will happen tomorrow, let alone six or twelve months. It was a great journey.”