Djokovic In Confident Mood

One year ago Novak Djokovic was about to begin one of the most successful seasons tennis will ever see. Now back at Melbourne Park, where he is bidding to win the Australian Open title for a third time, the defending champion sees no reason why he cannot repeat his remarkable success of 2011.

"Obviously 2011 has been the best year so far in my career," said Djokovic, who defeated Murray in last year’s Australian Open final before going onto triumph at Wimbledon and the US Open, defeating Rafael Nadal on both occasions. "It's going to be very difficult to repeat what I have done. But, look, I've done it once. Why not twice? Why not stay optimistic and positive about the whole season? It's a start."

The 24-year-old Djokovic outlined a few areas of his game he had worked on during the off-season – coming to the net more and adding more variety to his serve – and declared he feels at his strongest going into the new season. "I feel that I'm at the peak of my career," said the Serb. "I feel that physically, mentally, game wise, I'm right up there. I can perform equally well on any surface, as I have proven in 2011.

"I guess the past couple of years playing on the top level in the men's tennis gave me a lot of necessary confidence and experience, learning what to do on the court, off the court. I just think I matured in general. When I step on the court right now, when I prepare for the major events, it's a different feeling from what I had in the past years. I just have more self belief when I'm out there.

"I was building that confidence with every trophy that I have won," continued the Belgrade native. "Like everything in life, in tennis as well, you need to have a high confidence level. When you're playing on it, it feels like nothing can stop you."

While Djokovic may have dominated last year, it was Federer who finished on top in the form books, and the Swiss goes into the first major of the year riding a 20-match winning streak, having closed 2011 with titles at the Swiss Indoors Basel, the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris and the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.

Considering the challenge he faces from Federer, whom he could only meet in the final in Melbourne, Djokovic noted, "Well, he finished off the season best from all the other players. He had over 15 wins in a row. He definitely loves playing indoors. He loves playing in the London event. But it's a whole new year. It's a whole new season. We're starting to play outdoors. We'll see if everybody can keep up."