Novak Djokovic goes in pursuit of his 21st Grand Slam tonight (Picture: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Novak Djokovic is drawing on Serena Williams’ previous pursuit of a calendar Grand Slam as he bids for his own historic quadruple tonight.

The Serb is preparing for his US Open final showdown with Daniil Medvedev this evening as he looks to add to his Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon titles this year.

Should he manage the feat, he will become the first player since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four majors in the same calendar year.

In 2015, Williams found herself in the same situation heading into her Flushing Meadows campaign but her dreams of her calendar Grand Slam ended with defeat to Italian Roberta Vinci in the semi-finals.

Djokovic says he can now relate to how she felt regarding the pursuit of a fourth major and how, like Williams, he demands the highest expectations from himself.

‘I was talking to Serena,’ Djokovic said of the 2015 US Open. ‘She was very emotional about everything that was going on. I can relate to what she’s been going through right now.

‘I understand it now. Obviously, once you’re in that situation, you can really comprehend what a player goes through.

Serena Williams missed out on a calendar Grand Slam in 2015 (Picture: Gary Hershorn/Corbis via Getty Images)

‘I understand why she wanted to avoid all the questions about it because at the end of the day, you have to go out on the court and deliver,” he said.

‘You’re expected to always win. For a great legend that she is, she always has that expectation from everyone, including herself.

‘It’s no different with me. We all have different formulas that work for us in terms of how we want to feel on the court, how we prepare ourselves, how we recuperate.’

As requested, the entire 53-shot rally between Novak Djokovic & Alexander Zverev 🍿 pic.twitter.com/nlzW68tw1M

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 11, 2021

Medvedev, who lost to Djokovic in the Australian Open at the start of the year, is the man tasked with stopping the world No.1’s quest for glory.

‘If I can make this, I’ll probably be in the history books a little bit, somewhere, like, not letting him do this,’ Medvedev said.

‘But I don’t really care about it. I think it’s more about him, that it affects him.

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‘From one side, for sure he’s going to feel the pressure a little bit about it. From the other side, that [is] what [is] going to make him be even better in tough moments.

‘Here we know that he will do everything to try to make it happen. I’m just going to throw everything at it, and I’m definitely not going to be thinking about Grand Slam.’

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