During his appearance on CBS’ 60 MINUTES on Sunday evening, Novak Djokovic made clear that the rising stars of the sport are keeping him on his toes aged 36.

“I think the young guys who are very hungry and very inspired to play their best tennis against me is an additional motivation,” Djokovic told reporter Jon Wertheim. “I think they kind of awaken a beast in me.”

That was evident earlier this year when he lost a heartbreaking Wimbledon final against Carlos Alcaraz. The Spanish star has quickly become a big rival for Djokovic, who used that defeat as a source of energy for the rest of the season.

“Yes, absolutely, it was,” Djokovic said. “That pissed me off so much that I needed to win everything on American soil, which I did.”

The Serbian laughed as he made that comment. But his feelings showed in his reaction to the loss on the court. In Cincinnati, Djokovic refused to lose to Alcaraz, saving a championship point en route to winning the longest best-of-three-set final in ATP Tour history (three hours, 49 minutes). He went on to win the US Open, the Rolex Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals.

The 98-time tour-level titlist also provided insight into the mental side of the sport and how closely he pays attention to everything his opponent does, not just during points.

“Even though there is no physical contact in tennis, there’s still a lot of eye contact,” Djokovic said. “When we are changing ends, when we’re sitting on the bench, and then the big screen shows him how he drinks his water. And then I’m looking at him. How is he drinking water? Is he sweating more than usual?

“Is he breathing deeply or not deeply? And then I look how he’s communicating with his team. You have all these different elements that are in play that really affect the performance and the game itself.”

Djokovic said that his mental game is not a gift, but a craft he continuously works on. Despite how calm he looks under pressure, the World No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings explained that is not always the case.

“I might appear maybe locked in,” Djokovic said. “But trust me, there is a storm inside. And the biggest always battle is within, right?”

Djokovic added: “You are a human being. The difference, I guess, between the guys who are able to be biggest champions, and the ones that are struggling to get to the highest level is the ability to not stay in those emotions for too long. So, for me, it’s really relatively short. So as soon as I experience it, I acknowledge it. I maybe, you know, burst. I scream on the court, whatever happens. But then I’m able to bounce back and reset.”

The longest ATP Challenger Tour final in history? The first unranked Challenger champion? France’s record-breaking 27 titles? All of these occured during the 2023 ATP Challenger Tour season, in which 46 different countries hosted a tournament while witnessing the rapid rise of young stars and the resurgence of Tour veterans.

ATPTour.com reviews key facts and figures to remember from the 2023 ATP Challenger Tour season.

Comesana Collects Most Match Wins
Argentine Francisco Comesana tallied a 45-21 Challenger-match record in 2023, edging countryman Facundo Diaz Acosta by one match for the most wins this season. Comesana, 23, was crowned champion in Vicenza and Liberec. On two separate occasions, Comesana went on hot streaks in which he won 12 of 13 matches across three tournaments.

The 22-year-old Diaz Acosta was not far behind with a 44-16 match record. The Buenos Aires native captured four titles (Savannah, Oeiras, Milan, Montevideo) and hit a career-high No. 93 in August after making his Top 100 debut the previous month.

Navone Nails Five Titles
Argentine Mariano Navone was unstoppable during the second half of the year. From 19 June to 12 November, the 22-year-old competed in six Challenger finals, triumphing in five of them: Poznan, Santa Fe, Santa Cruz, Buenos Aires and Santa Fe-2.

“In May of last year I was losing in the first round of an M15 and today I have won five Challengers,” Navone said in October. “At that moment it was difficult but to that kid I would tell him to be calm, that good things are going to come.”

Diaz Acosta, Aleksandar Kovacevic, Thiago Seyboth Wild and Alejandro Tabilo all tied for second with four Challenger trophies in 2023.

Teen Titans
At 17 years, eight months, Czech Jakub Mensik won on home soil in Prague to become the youngest Challenger champion of 2023. Mensik was one of 12 teenagers to claim a Challenger title this season. Only three teens earned more than one Challenger title in 2023: Luca Van Assche, Alex Michelsen and Hamad Medjedovic.

Biggest Movers To Top 100
American Alex Michelsen, who earned two ATP Challenger Tour titles this season, led the way as one of the five biggest movers to the Top 100.

Title Leaders By Country
Players from 33 countries won titles this year. Frenchmen earned a record-setting 27 trophies, marking the most titles by a country in a single season, surpassing Argentina’s 23 from last year.

In October, Abdullah Shelbayh became the first player from Jordan to win an ATP Challenger Tour title when he won the LTP Challenger in Charleston, South Carolina.

ATP Tour & Challenger Tour champions
Roberto Carballes Baena, Arthur Fils and Ugo Humbert secured dream runs on both the ATP Tour and Challenger Tour this season. The Spaniard Carballes Baena, who won the ATP 250 event in Marrakech, defended his Seville Challenger title in September.

France’s 19-year-old Fils started the season in the best way possible, winning the opening week Oeiras Indoor 2. His breakthrough year continued as he became the youngest ATP Tour champion this season when he triumphed in Lyon. Fils finished the season at World No. 36.

Despite Humbert’s brief exit from the Top 100 in January, the Frenchman embarked on a memorable season in which he claimed two consecutive ATP Challenger Tour 175 titles: Cagliari and Bordeaux. The 25-year-old closed the season by winning the ATP 250 event in Lyon, finishing at a career-high No. 20.

ATP Challenger 175 Events
In March, the ATP Challenger Tour began 175 category tournaments, which are held during select ATP Masters 1000 tournaments. Nuno Borges won the premiere event at the Arizona Tennis Classic in Phoenix. Andy Murray earned his first title at any level since 2019 when he won the Aix-en-Provence Challenger. Humbert won in Cagliari and Bordeaux while German Dominik Koepfer returned to the winners’ circle in Turin.

Fast Facts

• Luca Van Assche and Ugo Humbert battled for three hours and 56 minutes in the Pau final, setting the record for longest Challenger title match.
• Roman Safiullin became the first player to win a Challenger title and reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals in the same season since Nick Kyrgios in 2014.
• A single-season record 16 different players that competed in college tennis accounted for 24 Challenger titles this year, led by four-time winner Aleksandar Kovacevic (Illinois) and three-time champion Nuno Borges (Mississippi State).
• Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hamad Medjedovic joined Novak Djokovic and Janko Tipsarevic as the only Serbian players with three or more Challenger titles as teenagers. Medjedovic finished his 2023 campaign with a perfect 3-0 record in Challenger finals.
• Kei Nishikori won in Palmas del Mar, Puerto Rico to become the first unranked champion in Challenger history. Nishikori’s victory came in his first tournament after a 20-month injury hiatus.
• A record nine titles were won with the champion saving match point(s) in the final, led by Terence Atmane in Guangzhou, where he saved three championship points.
• At 31 years and three months, France’s Arthur Weber became the oldest player to win a title in his Challenger debut (Zhuhai).
• Andy Murray set the record for longest gap between Challenger titles. The Scot triumphed in Aix-en-Provence 17 years and eight months after his title in Binghamton in 2005.
• Luca Van Assche, Arthur Fils and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard became the first French teen trio to claim Challenger titles in a single season since 2005 (Monfils, Gasquet, Tsonga).
• Dino Prizmic, 18, won his maiden ATP Challenger Tour in Banja Luka to become the youngest Croatian champion since Borna Coric in 2014.
• The-then 18-year-old Alex Michelsen won the Chicago Challenger to become the youngest American winner since Stefan Kozlov in 2016.
• Jakub Mensik became the youngest Czech champion in history (17 years, 8 months) when he took the title in Prague in May.
• Evan King and Reese Stalder claimed the most team titles in 2023, lifting seven trophies together, marking the most for an all-American duo in a single season. 
• The Challenger Cherbourg La Manche became the first indoor tournament to celebrate 30 years on the ATP Challenger Tour. Cherbourg is joined by Prostejov, Czech Republic (30), Cordenons, Italy (20) and Ostrava, Czech Republic (20) in celebrating significant milestone anniversaries in 2023.
• A total of 46 different countries hosted Challenger tournaments in 2023.

The best-of-five format at the Grand Slams lends itself to matches full of twists and turns as the world’s best compete on the game’s biggest stages. The four majors in 2023 delivered with memorable matchups full of quality and drama from start to finish.

As we continue our look back at the 2023 season, ATPTour.com counts down the five greatest Grand Slam matches of the year.

5) Wimbledon Open R1, Tsitsipas d. Thiem 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-6(10-8)
A roller-coaster match that was played over two days at Wimbledon climaxed with a dramatic final-set tie-break, the result on a knife’s edge until the last ball of the three-hour, 55-minute contest.

Stefanos Tsitsipas trailed by a set overnight, with the match suspended midway through set two. But the Greek took control upon its resumption, only to see Dominic Thiem battle back. After Thiem saved a break point early in the fourth set, he won a tense tie-break and then — for a brief moment — appeared to have secured a break lead in the fifth. But an accurate overrule by the chair umpire stopped Thiem from taking a 4-3 lead, and Tsitsipas ultimately closed out a gritty victory with a forehand passing shot on his third match point.

“It was pretty stressful, I won’t lie. We were out there, I don’t know how many hours… for a second I thought we were doing the repeat of Isner-Mahut,” Tsitsipas said after levelling the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head at 5-5. “We both fought hard today. We put on a show. I hope everyone enjoyed it.”

It was the second straight match (and the third out of four) between the opponents to require a decisive tie-break, with Tsitsipas also taking that route to wins earlier in the season in Madrid and in the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals title match.

Stefanos Tsitsipas” />
Photo: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

4) US Open R4, Zverev d. Sinner 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
The longest match at the 2023 US Open ended at 1:39 a.m. with Alexander Zverev still standing after a statement win. In a four-hour, 41-minute battle of attrition played in high humidity, Jannik Sinner struggled with cramp in the second and third sets but still put forth an impressive display to drag his opponent into a fifth.

With punishing rallies to match the punishing conditions, both players were visibly struggling in between points but summoning supreme effort when the ball was in play. Sinner was firmly in the ascendancy in the fourth set, looking the fresher of the two until Zverev rebounded down the stretch. In a high-quality final set, Zverev’s big swings yielded 14 winners to Sinner’s seven, guiding him to a memorable triumph.

“I guess I can say I’m back, right? This is what I live for, this is what I absolutely love to do,” said Zverev, who missed the second half of 2022, including the US Open, with a serious ankle injury. “I wish I could have played a little bit shorter, that’s for sure, but last year when I wasn’t able to play, these were exactly the moments I missed. Until 1:30 a.m. in front of a packed crowd on Arthur Ashe Stadium. There’s nothing better.”

For Sinner, it was a second straight heartbreaking late-night defeat in New York. In 2022, the Italian lost a five-hour, 15-minute marathon to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz that finished at a record-late 2:50 a.m.

Alexander Zverev” />
Photo: Corey Sipkin/AFP via Getty Images

3) Australian Open R4, Rublev d. Rune 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(11-9)
The fifth set of this Melbourne thriller might have been the most dramatic set of tennis this season, with Andrey Rublev battling back from the brink on multiple occasions to advance to the Australian Open quarter-finals for the second time, at the expense of Holger Rune.

In the final set of the Top 10 matchup, Rublev trailed 2-5, stared down two match points at 5-6, and found himself in a 0/5 hole in the decisive tie-break. It was Rune’s turn to save two match points later in the tie-break, before a net cord dribbler ended the match in Rublev’s favour.

“I never in my life was able to win matches like this,” said Rublev, who won 12 of 13 points to erase the 2-5 deficit in the final set. “This is the first ever time that I won something like this, especially in a very special tournament, the Australian Open, to be in the quarter-finals. So it’s something I will remember for sure all my life. I have no words, I am shaking and happy.” 

While both players showcased big hitting and world-class shotmaking throughout the match, neither could sustain his best level long enough to pull away. It appeared Rublev would do just that when Rune began cramping early in the fourth set, but the Dane soldiered on and ultimately found his best form early in the fifth. But in a match full of twists and turns, there would be plenty more, with Rublev coming out on top by the slimmest of margins.

2) Australian Open R1, Murray d. Berrettini 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7(7), 7-6(10-6)
This opening-round showdown between five-time Melbourne finalist Andy Murray and returning semi-finalist Matteo Berrettini set a sky-high bar at the very start of the Grand Slam season. The four-hour, 49-minute triumph also began the emergence of “Marathon Murray” in 2023, with the three-time Grand Slam champion showing a penchant for winning long-running matches throughout the early stages of the season.

In Melbourne, Murray attacked the Berrettini backhand early and often to build a two-set lead, but the Italian found his footing to roar back. Berrettini rose to the occasion in the fourth-set tie-break, playing some of his best tennis to deny Murray when the Scot was twice two points from victory. But the 13th seed’s backhand miss on match point at 5-4 in the fifth — a routine would-be winner that he may still be replaying in his head — set the stage for Murray’s resurgence.

The Briton raced out to a 5/0 lead in the decisive tie-break and never looked back, ultimately notching his first Top 20 win at a Grand Slam since 2017.

“I’ve put a lot of work into the past few months with my team here to give me the opportunity to perform on stadiums like this and in matches like this against players like Matteo, and it paid off tonight,” said Murray, who had never played a 10-point tie-break before.

Just how close was this match during the home stretch? After Berrettini secured his lone break of serve to lead 3-2 in the third set, there were no further breaks in Rod Laver Arena.

1) Wimbledon Final, Alcaraz d. Djokovic 1-6, 7-6(6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
One month after what promised to be an epic Roland Garros semi-final petered out when Carlos Alcaraz suffered with cramp, the Spanish star met Novak Djokovic once again at the business end of a Grand Slam — this time at Wimbledon. While Alcaraz entered as the favourite on the Paris clay, the statistics said that Djokovic had the advantage in London, where he was seeking his fifth consecutive title.

The Serbian was also bidding to continue his quest for the calendar-year Grand Slam, having won both Australian Open and Roland Garros to open the season. He was well on his way to what would have been his eighth Wimbledon title after a one-sided first set, but when Alcaraz saved a set point before winning the second-set tie-break, the complexion of the match changed dramatically.

“After the first set, I thought, ‘Carlos, increase the level, everyone will be disappointed,’ ” recalled the 20-year-old, who was playing in just his fourth grass-court event.. He continued to raise his game in the third set, but Djokovic showed his legendary resolve to force a decider.

Immediately after fighting off a break point early in the final set with dogged defense, Alcaraz earned the decisive break in the very next game.

“Amazing, what quality at the end of the match,” Djokovic said to his opponent during the trophy ceremony. “When you had to serve it out, you came up with some big serves and big plays so you deserve it, absolutely. Congratulations.”

Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images

Read all stories in our Best Of 2023 review.

Another ATP Tour season full of gripping storylines, magic moments and standout achievements is in the books… but which matches from 2023 will live longest in fans’ memories?

The Top 4 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings — Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner — were among those to play their part in some classic encounters this year. As part of of ATPTour.com’s annual season-in-review series, we count down the best matches on the ATP Tour this season. On Sunday, we will focus on the best Grand Slam matches of the year.

5) Indian Wells R16, Medvedev d Zverev 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-5
Medvedev and Alexander Zverev reactivated their Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry after 15 months away in style at the BNP Paribas Open in March. Medvedev clung on for a thrilling three, hour, 16-minute triumph in Indian Wells to extend his early-season winning streak to 17 matches, but that only told half the story of the fourth-round clash at the ATP Masters 1000.

Zverev was 8-7 for the year heading into the match and was still rebuilding confidence in his movement after missing the second half of 2022 with a serious right ankle injury. Yet the German came out strong against an opponent who was fresh from lifting consecutive trophies in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai. It was only after Medvedev saved all 10 break points he faced in the second set, during which he also rolled heavily over his right ankle, that the then-World No. 6 was able to wear down the German and reach his first Indian Wells quarter-final.

“When I twisted [my ankle], I thought I was going to stand up just fine,” Medvedev said. “But then the pain started growing very fast, so I was like ‘That is not a good sign’… It was one of the first times in my life that the physio had taped my ankle, so I decided to give it a try. What was surprising was it was much easier to run than walk. So when I was walking I was limping and then I was running fine.”

4) Adelaide 1 F, Djokovic d Korda 6-7(8), 7-6(3), 6-4
A blockbuster way to kick-start 2023 at the Adelaide International 1. Novak Djokovic had dispatched third seed Medvedev with ease in the semi-finals at the ATP 250 but was forced to battle back from the very brink to overhaul Sebastian Korda and seal his 92nd tour-level crown in the opening week of the season.

Korda’s fearless approach to an engrossing encounter that featured plenty of intense baseline exchanges earned him a championship point at 6-5, 30/40 on Djokovic’s serve in the second set. Yet the American was unable to find the decisive blow to clinch victory in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with the Serbian great. Djokovic kept his cool to force a tie-break before finding a late break of Korda’s serve in the decider to clinch victory. In a nod to his resilience throughout the match, the top seed tapped his temple with his finger after completing his win.

“I’d probably say that you were closer to victory today than I was,” Djokovic said to Korda during the trophy presentation. “It was decided in one or two shots, one or two points. Tough luck today, but the future is bright for you, so just keep going, and you’re an amazing player.”

Djokovic’s plaudits of Korda were further backed up a few weeks later, when the American reached his maiden major quarter-final in Melbourne. For the Serbian, victory in Adelaide laid the foundations for his run to a 10th Australian Open crown later that month, a triumph which drew him level with Rafael Nadal on 22 Grand Slam titles.

3) Miami SF, Sinner d Alcaraz 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2
One of the most intriguing Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalries of 2023 arguably hit its high point at March’s Miami Open presented by Itau, where Jannik Sinner notched a statement semi-final triumph against defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.

Presented with the chance to avenge his semi-final loss to Alcaraz in Indian Wells from two weeks prior, Sinner prevailed in a match of the highest quality to end Alcaraz’s reign as World No. 1. The Italian led early in all three sets but had to save two break points at 3-4 in the second set to stall Alcaraz’s charge towards a straight-sets victory, before he put his foot down to storm past the physically struggling Spaniard in the decider.

The highlight of a stunning three-hour, two-minute spectacle was an all-court exchange at 4-2 in the opening set. Sinner emerged victorious in a contender for point of the year, one that showcased the breathtaking defensive and counter-punching skills of two of the ATP Tour’s brightest young starts.

“It means a lot. We both played a very, very high level of tennis again. I just tried my best,” said Sinner after his win. “In the third set I saw him struggle a little bit for a couple of games, so I tried to push there… We both tried to play very aggressive tennis and today it went my way, so I’m very happy.”

2) Nitto ATP Finals RR, Sinner d Djokovic 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-6(2)
Sinner attributed being ‘really brave’ at key moments as the all-important factor as he snapped Djokovic’s six-match winning-streak at the Nitto ATP Finals in a group-stage thriller in November in Turin. Perhaps more significantly for the home favourite, it was his first victory against the World No. 1 in four Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings.

“It means a lot to me,” said Sinner, who delivered a serving performance to match the Serbian and crushed the ball with his trademark power from the baseline throughout the three-hour, nine-minute encounter. “When you win against the World No. 1, who has won 24 Grand Slams, it’s obviously in the top [of my career results] … I felt like it was a really tactical match and I managed to win, so I’m very happy.”

Predictably, Sinner’s milestone win against Djokovic, which he sealed in front of a raucous home crowd, did not come easy. The Serbian had reclaimed a break immediately at 2-4 in the decider before forcing the Italian to hold his nerve in a third-set tie-break. The 22-year-old Sinner did just that, reeling off the first five points to assume control before clinching a match in which the players sent down 35 aces combined.

1) Cincinnati F, Djokovic d Alcaraz 5-7, 7-6(7), 7-6(4)
An instant classic played out by the ATP Tour’s best two players in 2023, Djokovic and Alcaraz’s Western & Southern Open clash will live long in the memory. Djokovic saved championship point before prevailing in a three-hour, 49-minute epic, one he later described as “one of the toughest matches I’ve ever played in my life”, and which was the longest best-of-three final in ATP Tour history (since 1990).

With Djokovic struggling physically in the Cincinnati heat, Alcaraz seemed set to charge to victory when he led by a set and a break at the ATP Masters 1000. Yet the 36-year-old Djokovic raised his level in a staggering display of physical resilience and mental fortitude, saving a championship point at 5/6 in the second-set tie-break before overhauling his younger opponent to earn a record-extending 39th Masters 1000 crown.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Djokovic afterwards. “From the beginning until the end we’ve both been through so much. So many ups and downs, highs and lows, incredible points, poor games, heat strokes, coming back. Just overall, one of the toughest and most exciting matches I was ever part of and these are the kinds of moments and matches that I continue to work for day in day out.”

Alcaraz, who played his own significant part in one of the ATP Tour’s all-time great finals, was able to appreciate the occasion, even in defeat: ”It’s amazing playing against you, sharing the court with you, learning from you,” Alcaraz told his opponent during the trophy ceremony. “This match was really close, but I learned a lot from a champion like you.”

What makes Novak Djokovic tick?

Few people are better equipped to answer that question than leading tennis journalist Jon Wertheim and the acclaimed CBS news broadcast programme known for its signature stopwatch, 60 MINUTES.

Wertheim, who in January 2020 profiled Rafael Nadal for the American show, spent three days on the ground in Belgrade in early November. Djokovic, who recently claimed ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone honours for a recording-extending eighth time at the age of 36, was first profiled on 60 MINUTES in 2011.

“That was 12 years and 20 majors ago,” Wertheim said. “We had already done the back story, so we approached this piece with the assumption that people already knew him. This time we really wanted to get into his mind. You’re not going to learn about his childhood like you did in the first one. We’re focused on the present and the future.”

Novak Djokovic is considered the greatest men’s tennis player of all time. 60 Minutes reports, Sunday. https://t.co/mEN4CWeXMW pic.twitter.com/YQCbV9VwNa

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) December 9, 2023

Djokovic spent many hours with Wertheim and the crew in Belgrade just three days after winning the Rolex Paris Masters and before leaving for Turin, where he would win a record-setting seventh Nitto ATP Finals crown.

“In the many times I’ve interviewed him I’ve never had long conversations like this,” Wertheim said. “I think it was meaningful to him and it was different, spending a whole day with him. It wasn’t done in a locker room or some hotel room. I got the feeling that he was happy to show off where he is from. He was very hospitable and a gracious host.

“He’s like no other athlete. He doesn’t think like any other athlete I’ve been around; he doesn’t conduct himself like any other athlete. He’s an incredible athlete physically, but with Novak you realise how mental tennis is. He’s been in so many tight matches, so many finals, played in front of booing crowds. You realise how much success builds success and confidence builds confidence.

“There’s a lot of self-belief when you’ve come through all that to win 24 majors and the other guy across the net is still looking for his first.”

Wertheim asked Djokovic if the current version of himself would beat the Novak Djokovic of 2011, a year in which he won three majors, five ATP Masters 1000s and 10 titles in all.

“He said that at 36 he would beat the 24-year-old Novak of 2011. He might be able to run faster, but experience and the confidence of having come through so many situations would enable him to beat the player who was 12 years younger.”

After Djokovic hoisted seven trophies this season, including three majors, two Masters 1000s and the Nitto ATP Finals crown, the 98-time tour-level titlist told Wertheim that retirement was nowhere in his immediate plans.

“He said something to the effect of, ‘When the young guys start kicking my butt it will be time to reassess, but that’s not happening yet.”

The story airs Sunday, December 10 at 7:30 PM, ET/PT after the football game on CBS. It will also stream on Paramount+.