Chennai: Serbian tennis ace Janko Tipsarevic, top seeded in the singles draw of the Aircel Chennai Open 2012, said that his aim is to move closer to the top five in the world in the upcoming season.
"I'd like to be closer to the top five. I want to be a consistent top-10 player," Tipsarevic, currently ranked number 9 in the world, said.
The Serbian said he is not "just someone who broke into the top 10 at the end of last year (and then fell away)".
The 27-year-old, who won the Australian Open Junior title in 2001, started year 2011 as world number 49 and ended it at number 9 after winning two ATP World Tour titles and making the final of three other such events.
Stating that his key to the success is dedication, Tipsarevic revealed, "I was thinking about tennis night and day. If I committed 100 per cent to the game, if I was 100 per cent professional, I knew if I did that, the results would come. I worked hard."
Tipsarevic, who won two matches last evening - one singles and one doubles - meanwhile, praised the Indian star Yuki Bhambri for his good groundstrokes but said that the youngster would have to improve his serve if he wished to break into the top 100.
"He looked a bit nervous at the start and made a lot of unforced errors. But I spoke to his mother after the match and said 'he had to improve his serve'. He might still improve (in the rankings) because he has good groundstrokes.
"But without a better serve, breaking into the top 100 (may not be possible)," he said.
Yuki lost to Tipsarevic in straight sets on Thursday.
Tipsarevic said he is currently reading 'Bounce', a book by former British Olympian and Commonwealth table-tennis champion Matthew Syed, who attempts to demystify what he calls the 'Talent Myth'.
In his book, Syed has given natural-born talent almost no weightage and argues that all success that reach at a certain level of complexity is simply a result of practice and persistence.
"This guy talks about how talent is a part of everyday life. How the talent of people like (Roger) Federer and Mozart are spotted at an early age and they train. And when opportunity presents itself, they are successful."
And Tipsarevic said that he agrees with the author to a large extend.
"Not 100 per cent but 95 per cent," he said.
Son of a professor of physical education, Tipsarevic is known in the tour circuit for his love of literature and philosophy. Uncharacteristically for an elite player, who has to live out of suitcases hopping from tournament to tournament across the world, he has a Fyodor Dostoeyevsky quote "Beauty will save the world" tattooed below his left elbow.
"I used to read them, but don't read them anymore," he said lifting his left arm from the armrest to take another look at his tattoo.
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