Ernest Osogbue
Novak Djokovic has lost and crashed out in the first round of four of his last five tournaments, and tongues are beginning to wag as to the emerging signs of his near retirement.
Without a doubt, Djokovic is nearer to his retirement than ever. At 38 (May 22 2025), he remains one of the oldest players on tour. Outside of Stan Wawrinka and Gael Monfils, Djokovic is the oldest current player on the ATP tour.
After winning the Olympic gold medal for Serbia at the Paris Olympic Games, his father Srdjan Djokovic had called on his son to hang his racquet. Srdjan, however, maintained that he knew his son would likely not listen to him.
In the senior Djokovic’s view, Novak had nothing else to prove in tennis. It was, therefore, needless to be chasing the records that had already been conquered.
True to his father’s prediction, Djokovic did not listen, but, rather, vowed to continue playing the sport that brought him fame and fortune, saying that he still had the burning desire to achieve more tennis goals.
Djokovic claimed three of the grand slam titles on offer in 2023 to equal and then surpass the 22 grand slam titles held by his great rival Rafael Nadal. Before then, both he and Nadal had surpassed the 20 grand slam titles held by the third leg of their tennis rivalry; the Swiss maestro Roger Federer.
Djokovic holds the record for the highest number of victories at the ATP 1000 events with 40. He has been world number one for the longest combined weeks, at 428. He has been the year-end number one for the highest number of times; 8. He has won the Nitto ATP finals title the most, 7 times. He also has the highest number of grand slam titles 24.
There are numerous other records that Djokovic holds in tennis, which I believe would remain for a while. However, he has maintained that his love for the sport is his biggest motivation to keep playing.
One factor that Djokovic seems to have glossed over in his desire to continue playing is the absence of his true rivals. All through his career, Djokovic was made to feel that he was second best, or even third best behind Federer and Nadal.
In his bid to debunk this claim, the fire in his belly kept driving him to chase them down. Suddenly, Djokovic finds himself as the lone wolf; he has beaten and surpassed his two motivating rivals in almost all spheres. They have given up and hung up their racquets, and there’s no one left to chase down.
Djokovic the hunter, now finds himself being the hunted. Younger players now see beating him as motivation to improve their careers, a reversal of his role with Federer and Nadal. His efforts to build new rivalries with young guns like Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner is mostly dead on arrival, as these players are much younger and have more to prove than Djokovic and there’s very little he can do about it.
Speculations are rife that were Federer and Nadal still playing, Djokovic would still be able to kick into new gear in a bid to chase them down. But now that he has beaten his rivals into the dust, that extra motivation to chase them down and overtake them is no longer there, as he stands alone like a relic from the past.
Perhaps it is about time for Djokovic to listen to the wise words of his father and honorably lay down his racquet and join his great rivals Federer and Nadal in bidding farewell to the sport he loves so much, and that has given him so much. A sport to which he dedicated his entire youth until now.
One thing that Djokovic has helped to do in refusing to retire sooner, however, is to keep reminding tennis lovers of the golden era of the sport, when there was not only two but three tennis greats keeping us entertained and glued to tennis results. The question is will it be possible to have an encore of that era?
As we keep our fingers crossed hoping that Djokovic would one day win the coveted 25th grand slam title, the question is not how long his career would last, but whether 2025 or 2026 would see him hang his racquet.
When that day comes, tears for the golden era of tennis will flow, not only from Djokovic fans, but from those of his great rivals, Nadal and Federer, as the door would slam on what once was.
Whenever it would be, we shall be here to bid a glorious farewell to the Serbian warrior, and Serbia’s most illustrious son, a name that will forever remain etched in the annals of tennis history; Novak Djokovic.
