We are in a new era. Period. And it is not that of Novak Djokovic, it is that of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. Give up hope: the Serbian will remain at 24 Grand Slam titles. There will be no 25th title.
Djokovic is alongside Margaret Court, one step above Serena Williams and two above Rafael Nadal and Steffi Graf.
Many steps below, an Italian and a Spaniard hungry for glory are working to shake Djokovic’s achievement in a few years’ time. They go by the names of Jannik and Carlos, two new competitive monsters who arrived while the memory of the Djokovic-Nadal-Roger Federer trilogy was still fresh.
Sport is a particularly slippery slope for making predictions, but it is Djokovic himself who, at 38, is opening the eyes of his most unconditional and romantic fans: ‘I don’t think it’s bad luck. It’s just age. The wear and tear on the body.’
“As much as I take care of myself, reality has hit me hard in the last year and a half like never before, to be honest.
I find it hard to accept because I feel that when I’m fresh and fit I can still play very good tennis,” added the Serbian after his clear defeat to Sinner in the Wimbledon semi-finals.
It could be argued that this is not a match to take into account, because Djokovic was not in peak physical condition after his fall in the quarter-final match.
But that is precisely the problem: physical fitness, one of the keys to Djokovic’s success in recent years, has abandoned him. “As much as I take care of myself, reality has hit me hard in the last year and a half like never before, to be honest. I find it hard to accept because I feel that when I’m fresh and fit I can still play very good tennis. I’ve proven that this year.
Playing best-of-five sets, especially this year, has been very tough for me physically. The longer the tournament goes on, the worse my physical condition gets,‘ admitted the former world number one.
And, wise as he is, Djokovic understands very well what the problem is: ’I have to play against Sinner or Alcaraz. These guys are in good shape, they’re young and they’re very sharp. I feel like I’m going into the match with half a tank of fuel. You can’t win like that. That’s the way it is. It’s one of those things you have to accept and deal with somehow. You have to face reality as it is and try to make the best of it.”
A semi-finalist in Australia, Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year, it should come as no surprise if he also reaches the penultimate round in New York in September. But there, barring any surprises, he will face Sinner or Alcaraz, who are currently ahead of him in terms of tennis and physical condition. Djokovic arrives in New York without a Grand Slam title in two years and with injuries in three of the last six he played.
At the same time, since the beginning of 2024 and until today, all Grand Slam tournaments have crowned Sinner or Alcaraz. The trend is clear, reminiscent of what happened between June 2005 and September 2007, when Grand Slam titles were a two-horse race: Federer or Nadal. Who broke that streak in January 2008? Djokovic.
Time passes, cycles end: we are all human. At various points this season, beyond his enormous achievements in Grand Slam tournaments, Djokovic has shown subtle and unfamiliar signs of resignation and acceptance, both in his play and in his post-match analysis. And that is key when you consider that the most important thing about Djokovic’s tennis is his iron mentality, his conviction that he is the one who must win.
We will always have Australia, those who love Djokovic most can rightly say. Ten times champion in Melbourne, no one like him to dream of a new title there. But this January there was a sign: Margaret Court kissed him for the first time.
‘I had been trying to meet Djokovic for a long time,’ Court, 82, told Australian newspaper The Age.
‘But I hadn’t been able to. Yesterday I bumped into him in a corridor and he came over to give me a kiss. We just said “hello”, but it was as if we already knew each other.’
Court won the Australian Open 11 times, one more than Djokovic. She has a total of 64 Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. She is one of only three women — no man has ever achieved this — to have won all three Grand Slam singles titles.
Will Margaret and Novak kiss again in January in Melbourne?
