Novak Djokovics Tennis is good enough to win more Grand Slams but his body is on his limit

Melbourne, Australia – Novak Djokovic won some of his 24 Grand Slams without playing his best tennis. Since his level was not quite where it should be, his body would step up to surpass and surpass his opponents.

Before he became Novak Djokovic, he is the now-men’s Grand Slam-titled record holder and the longest member of the ‘Big Three’ was in a very different situation. His level was comparable to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s level, but his body continued to let him down.

He retired against Nadal at the French Open in 2006; He did the same against the same opponent in the Wimbledon semi -final a year later. His sufferings became so notorious that Andy Roddick mocked him in a wilted attack in front of their US open quarterfinals in 2008, suggesting some of his injuries were not real.

Roddick listed suffering, including: “Fuglinfluenza… Anthrax. Sars. Plain cough and cold ”when asked about Djokovic’s injuries. Federer also criticized Djokovic after his retirement against Roddick at the Australian Open 2009 and said, “It has happened before, he is not the guy who has never given up before, so it is a little disappointing to see.”

Sixteen years later and now aged 37, Djokovic seems to have come in full circle. His level is there, but his body fails him.

Friday at the Australian Open, a physically compromised Djokovic was able to go to-to-to-toe with the world # 2 Alexander Zverev for 81 minutes of their semi-final and lost only an eerie set as he missed a sitter volley on Top of Net down 5-6 in a draw. Djokovic withdrew immediately, shake hands with Zverev and waved to the crowd as he left the court.

Djokovic was even able to beat the reigning French Open and Wimbledon -Master Carlos Alcaraz in Tuesday’s quarterfinals despite tearing a muscle in his left leg towards the end of the first set. The same topic forced him to retire against Zverev, emphasize the miraculousness of that victory on Tuesday as well as the gap between playing on adrenaline and painkillers and actually recovering from an acute muscle injury.

He had performed a similar miracle at the French Open last June and beat Francisco Cerundolo in five sets despite tearing the medial meniscus in his right knee midway through the match. He had surgery after the tournament and reached the Wimbledon final less than six weeks later.

None of the miracle had a happy ending. He retired from the French Open before his next match against Casper Ruud; In Wimbledon, Carlos Alcaraz took advantage of his limited movement and blasted him off the field in a 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory, with the scoreboard flattering Djokovic.

These results, two retirement and an injury-affected thrashing, account for three of Djokovic’s last four Grand Slams; He also left the US Open in a shock defeat against Alexei Popyrin, where his flexibility and durability were fleeting rather than basic.

Djokovic is now in a compromised Catch-22: He has the level of winning the four five-set majors he is actually interested is virtually indifferent. It is a cruel coda for someone who got so used to pulling hardly credible Houdini actions, especially here in Melbourne, where he won the title of muscle taces in 2021 and 2023.

Novak Djokovic’s body couldn’t maintain a grand slam semi -final this time. (Yuichi Yamazaki / AFP via Getty Images)

In Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz, Djokovic also has two decent rivals that can consider him on the field. Both smoked him in the Grand Slam matches last year before Djokovic beat Alcaraz in (two) straight set in the Olympic gold medal match and then defeated him again here Tuesday.

In an individual competition, especially over three sets, he is still a fight for both of them. But Grand Slams is not about individual victories. They are an exercise in accumulation and endurance, where players have to beat one and sometimes two or three of their strongest rivals, while ensuring that they do not use too much energy to earn the opportunity to do so.

Djokovic, who has mastered the art of winning the first four rounds of a major with as little trouble as possible during his career, is the biggest exponent of Grand Slam Tempo that the sport has ever seen. In the Australian Open 2019, he lost two matches in the quarterfinals against Kei Nishikori, who had to retire in the second set, and then beat Lucas Pouille for the loss of four matches to reach the final. A year later, when the 2020 final went to a fifth set, it was Djokovic, not Dominic Thiem who was able to dig deeply and find something extra.

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Five years in time, time has done what is inevitable, leaving Djokovic, who limped out of majors, after making a career out of being one of the ultimate endurance tests in men’s tennis. At his news conference after retiring against Zverev, he admitted that “statistics are against him” with regard to the frequency of his recent injuries.

“It’s not like I worry about approaching every Grand Slam now, if I want to be hurt,” he said. “It is true that (I have been) been injured quite a bit in the last few years. I don’t know what exactly is the reason for it. Maybe several different factors. “

The most obvious factor is his age. The endurance of Serena Williams, Nadal and Federer has reshaped what constitutes the end of a tennis career, but even Djokovic’s superhuman comrades had stopped winning majors at the age he is now. Federer won his last slam of 36 in 2018. Nadal won the 2022 French Open two days after turning the same age, but did it with a completely numb foot and has not been close to being a factor in a major ago. Andy Murray, Djokovic’s coach here in Melbourne, won the last of his three majors at 29 and made his last second week performance just after turning 30.

“It’s unfortunate if the body does not respond in the way you want,” Murray told a small group of journalists on Friday.

Despite this, Djokovic is not done.

“I still strive to win more slacks. And as long as I feel I will line up with all this, I will be around, ”he said.

If the opening and closure chapters in Djokovic’s career appear symmetrical, his career will still be remembered in the 13 years and record number of majors that came in between when either his body, mind or other worldwide talents would compensate for any temporary deficiencies.

As he finds himself Hamstrung of his own meat, the future of his quest for several of the biggest titles in the sport is more uncertain than it has ever been.

(Top photo: Andy Cheung / Getty Images)