In July, Novak Djokovic beat Felix Auger-Aliassime after more than five hours to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals, where he ran into a red-hot Jannick Sinner.
A month later, tennis fans are speculating that his career is “Djokover”, and the end will come fast, as Andre Agassi predicted years ago.
Only Djokovic truly knows what’s happening with his body. After losing a five set battle in the first round at the US Open, Novak described his health problems.
“The vomiting, the gagging, it’s a serious problem. Then my whole body started to give way, with cramps and pain,” Djokovic said, as per Ubi Tennis. “In the end, my back and shoulder also gave out, and I couldn’t finish the match. I don’t know how I can solve it. At the moment, I don’t want to go into too much detail. I’m just trying to understand what’s going on and how much longer I can keep going like this.”
At age 39, he has earned the right to retire or take a victory lap as Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori and Gael Monfils have done this year. But Novak also knows that he beat Sinner to reach the Australian Open final in January before losing to him at Wimbledon.
He also had bad luck in New York. For some reason, the US Open drew Djokovic, world number 4, against Mariano Navone, ranked 49, with a career high of 29th in 2024, instead of one of the 16 qualifiers in the mix. A clay-court specialist, Navone from Argentina won Bucharest earlier this year and beat Felix AA in Rome. This should have been a round of 32 match, not a round of 128.
Navone played the match of his life, grinding Djokovic into exhausting baseline rallies the way a young Novak used to tire out opponents 20 years ago. Djokovic praised Navone, who could make a decent run if he can beat Wawrinka or Matteo Berrettini in the second round, and then possibly Tomas Etcheverry or Martin Landaluce in the third.
Djokovic probably played well enough to beat anybody outside the top 60. With an easier draw, he might have reached the second week in his current form. But his form tonight was nowhere near his level in Melbourne and London. He missed a lot of returns, backhands and forehands that, while difficult for other players, have been routine for him during his stellar career. He looked like the battle-scarred veteran who lost to Dino Prizmic in Rome and Joao Fonseca at Roland Garros, not like the inspiring 39-year old who beat Felix AA in London.
Novak now faces a descent down the ATP ranking ladder. His loss tonight drops him from 4 to number 11. He is only 1000 points ahead of number 23 Luciano Darderi. Djokovic has 400 points at stake in Shanghai and 1300 points to defend at the Australian Open in 2027. If he falls out of the top 20, he will likely face top guys like Sinner, Alcaraz, Zverev, FAA, Shelton, Medvedev or Fritz in the first week of tournaments in 2027.
Ultimately, a similar descent led Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal into retirement.
Djokovic is not there yet, even if he feels terrible tonight. He was the second or third best player at Wimbledon a month ago. He still made acrobatic plays in the corners tonight in New York against a hungry young grinder playing the match of his life against his idol.
Health permitting, Novak might consider playing smaller events this fall in Europe, where he won’t have to deal with the heat and humidity that hampered him in Ohio and New York this summer. For example, Novak could skip the steam bath of Shanghai but play 500s in Vienna and/or Basel to gain some ranking points, as well as the Masters 1000 in Paris-Bercy and the Nitto ATP Finals in Italy, if he can qualify.
These are big ifs. The biggest if is the true physical condition of a man who was once considered the healthiest man alive.
words and images copyright Christopher Johnson Globalite Media, all rights reserved
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