Novak Djokovic has not made too many mistakes over the course of his record-breaking career, but he might just have dropped the ball with his newest rivals.
As the 24-time Grand Slam champion looks to add the finishing touches to his iconic career following his Olympic gold medal win in Paris last month, Djokovic may soon be asking how much more he has left to give.
The emergence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner appeared to fire Djokovic’s ambitions to fend off the next generation of heroes, as he stormed to three Grand Slam titles in 2023.
Yet this year’s record books will be compiled without another major title being added to Djokovic’s stunning list of achievements, with Sinner and Alcaraz sharing the major titles that have been contested so far.
Back in the days when Djokovic was fighting an often bitter battle with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for the biggest titles in tennis, there was little love lost between the three most successful male players of all-time.
Yet that animosity has been lacking for Djokovic since Alcaraz and Sinner became his main rivals, with the second of those two young champions confirming as much in his recent comments.
“We have a really good friendship off the court,” said Alcaraz of Djokovic. “We talk a lot in the lockers every time that we see each other around. With his team as well.
Once we step on the court, there are no friends here on tour, but after that, after the court, I have a really good relationship with a lot of players, and one of them is Novak.”
Champions rarely befriend their rivals, but Djokovic has made Alcaraz and Sinner feel comfortable in his presence and that may have been a mistake.
The aura around champions is built upon an air of mystery and when you allow a rival to become a friend, that can be shattered.
Alcaraz and Sinner don’t view Djokovic as the invincible machine the players in the generation just below them looked at the Serbian maestro.
So when they get on court with him, their practice sessions with Djokovic and friendly exchanges dilute the fear factor he once had.
Djokovic may well have thought these young guns would not challenge his dominance until he decided to retire from tennis, but they have stunned him with their brilliance over the last couple of years and are now firmly established as challengers for every tournament they enter.
The same will always be true for Djokovic for as long as he wants to play and while his shock US Open defeat against Alexei Popyrin confirmed his days of dominance may be over, his Olympic win confirmed there is still brilliance to be drained from the former world No 1 if he can maintain his motivation to compete.
The start of this year confirmed Djokovic’s motivation to extend his winning run at the top of tennis is waning outside of the handful of major events that fire his burners, with coaching giant Patrick Mouratoglou telling Tennis365 that motivation will now be his biggest rival in what is left of his career.
“He showed at the start of the season that he was human,” Mouratoglou told Tennis365, as he spoke to us ahead of the UTS Grand Final in London in December.
“I felt that he had a real motivation issue at the start of the season, especially when he saw that Rafa was struggling so much and might not be coming back.
“At the start of this season, it was almost as if Novak felt like the game was over because Rafa was struggling so much and it looked like it would be very difficult for him to come back to the top.
“I think this killed his motivation a little. One of the big motivations of his career was to have more Grand Slams than the two others and he has done that now.
“Then the Olympics come along and this prize that he has never lifted was there for him and his motivation came back. In such a short period of time, he was able to play at his best again.
“For him, it is all going to be about finding the motivation from this point forward. The tennis is there, he is there physically, but it is all about how much he wants to continue.”
Djokovic’s US Open demise added to the suspicion that he is now on borrowed time at the top of the men’s game, but you write off the greatest player of all-time a your peril.
