What an interesting time this is to be Novak Djokovic. The tennis titan has won 24 Grand Slam singles titles and has nothing left to prove to the world.
But he has been stuck in a bit of a Grand Slam loop since claiming the 2023 US Open, failing to surpass Margaret Court and become the first player- man or woman- to claim 25 major singles titles. The birth of the Sinneraz era has left Djokovic occasionally looking like Woody from Toy Story (that popular toy that has gone slightly out of fashion). And at the ripe old age of 39, time is certainly running out on the Serbian’s chances. This year’s Wimbledon Championships could represent his best opportunity to finally seal the deal. I’m going to run down some of the pros and cons that Djokovic will face in this last Grand Slam quest.
The Pros
He escapes Alcaraz
The ongoing absence of reigning grass-court king Carlos Alcaraz is obviously a massive boost to anyone in the draw. But few will be as happy as Djokovic. Alcaraz usurped the Serb’s Wimbledon crown back in 2023, ending Djokovic’s 34-match winning streak in an epic five-set showdown. Alcaraz was far more authoritative in the 2024 final, dismantling the Serb in straight sets to truly announce the paradigm shift. Djokovic ran into the other side of that two-headed viper last year, crashing out in straight sets to Sinner in the semifinals. Still, the absence of Alcaraz takes away plenty of residual SW19 scar-tissue (not to mention the fact that Alcaraz eased past the Serb in this year’s Aussie Open final).
All-too familiar territory
Djokovic has proven himself to be one of the all-time greatest grass-court operators, needing just one more title to match Roger Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon titles. Grass-courts open themselves up to experienced campaigners (the soil and turf can act as a cushion for more weary joints). It is also a niche surface that is only played during a minuscule window of the season (and it seems to get smaller every year). Djokovic understands all the nuances of centre-court and could use that to his advantage against the up-and-comers who have barely played 50 grass-court matches in their entire career.
The Cons
Massive rankings slide
Novak Djokovic has cleverly protected his fitness ahead of the slams in recent seasons, prioritizing the big events while doing just enough to keep that live ranking above water. But Djokovic has played just four events this year and hasn’t played a match since crashing out to Fonesca at Roland Garros. That defeat- coupled with his decision to skip all the Wimbledon precursors- means he currently resides at No.8 in the world rankings (his lowest ranking since 2022). He is set to finish outside the top four of the seedings (Wimbledon’s seedings no longer take past grass-court form in account, instead adhering to the ATP rankings). This means that Djokovic will face one of the top four seeds- potentially Sinner- in the quarterfinals. It just makes the draw more thwart. He was ranked outside the top four for last year’s US Open and Wimbledon Championships and he failed to get past the semifinal in either one. He was seeded 4th at this year’s Aussie Open and reached the final. He’s just set a tougher course for himself.
Lack of preparation
Djokovic has rolled the dice this season, playing only four events to maintain his freshness. The Serb had a slight forearm issue that forced him to miss much of the clay-court season. But let’s be real; that was probably just as much a pretext to safely skip those matches and focus on Paris. He’s never going to play the number of matches he did in his pomp (he played 88 matches in 2009 and 86 in 2015). He has played in the mid 50’s for each of the last two seasons and I think that relative lack of action has hurt his results. He has taken his time to bed into tournaments, often dropping unnecessary, energy-sapping sets in the early stages of slams (just look what happened against Fonesca). I personally feel that one grass-court event wouldn’t have hurt (especially if it had elevated his seeding).
