Will Djokovic continue to dominate moving forward? His guess is as good as yours

MELBOURNE—Novak Djokovic, who will face Andy Murray in the Australian Open final, isn’t sure if he can continue to dominate the tour moving forward.

Since the beginning of 2011, the 28-year-old Serb has won 42 titles. He has won 10 Grand Slams, including five Down Under.

Head to head, Djokovic now leads Murray, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal.

“It's hard to say what [the] future brings,” Djokovic said. “Obviously tennis is different from what it was when I was coming up 10 years ago. It's more difficult, as we were saying before, for young players to make a breakthrough and actually challenge the best players in the world. It's more physical nowadays, and more demanding from each and every aspect.

"[The] point system is such that it doesn't serve the young players to make a breakthrough. It's a difficult sport, obviously. It's an individual sport.”

Djokovic said it is possible that top younger players will rise up and really challenge him. He noted that in 1985, Boris Becker—his coach—won his first Slam at Wimbledon when he was just 17 years old. American Michael Chang was also just 17 when he won the French Open in 1989.

Djokovic won his first major in 2008, at the Australian Open. He was 20 years old.

“The future is not in our hands,” Djokovic said. “It's expected to, in a way, see new faces; a new generation of players, guys like [Nick] Kyrgios, [Alexander] Zverev. Those are players that are showing some big game, big tennis, and they are able, quality-wise, to challenge the top players. But to sustain that level, and throughout the year to be actually consistent, requires a lot more than just a good game.

"I'm going to try to stay here as long as possible.”