Novak Djokovic will be the only Fab Four member still active on the professional tour next year. 2024 marked the end of an era, after Roger Federer had already left tennis in 2022. This years Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal announced their retirement, who will play the last event of his legendary career at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga next month.
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The Serbian ace is still competitive at very high levels, but he has radically changed his schedule in this last part of his career. The former world number 1 is no longer motivated to play the Masters 1000 and theNitto ATP Finals, betting on Grand Slam tournaments and events where he can represent his country.
The 37-year-old from Belgrade - who has not won a single title this year except for the Paris Olympics - decided to miss the Paris-Bercy Masters 1000 next week. According to the latest rumors, the 24-time Grand Slam champion may not be present at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin even if he qualifies.
After the disappointing result at the US Open, Novak reached the final at the Masters 1000 in Shanghai and then played the 'Six Kings Slam' last week. Serbian legend was defeated by Jannik Sinner in Saudi Arabia, before beating his eternal rival Rafael Nadal in the final for third and fourth place.
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New motivations
Many fans and insiders think it will not be easy for Nole to stay motivated without his eternal rivals. The former world number 1 has shown some signs of decline this season, especially in second tier tournaments. With the upcoming retirement of Nadal, the Big 3s amazing rivalry ends with exactly 150 matches played (Nadal vs. Federer 40 matches; Federer vs. Djokovic 50 matches; Djokovic vs. Nadal 60 matches).
During a long interview with La Nacion, Nole reflected on his iconic rivalry with Roger and Rafa: I see it as one of the greatest rivalries definitely in all the sports and Im very proud and honored to be part of this group. And I was saying this a lot because theyre older than me, Rafa is older one year and Roger six years. So, they have definitely been, in terms of the rivals, in terms of other players, the biggest influence on my game, on my development as a professional tennis player.
He continued: My childhood dream was to win Wimbledon and be No 1 in the world. I achieved those dreams in 2011 in Wimbledon. But my first Grand Slam came in 2008 in Australian Open. And that was the first time after I won it that I really believed that, Okay, now I know that I can win Grand Slams and achieve my potential. That really opened the door for me like this and I felt like Okay, Im capable of doing this, now lets continue going forward.
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I could win maybe one or two matches here and there but big matches, I was not winning. So these three years have been really crucial for my development. It made me even more hungry to particularly win against the two of them. I knew if I, of course, continue my general growth as a player, but if I figure out the way to beat these guys in the big matches and I knew that a lot of it comes from here (head), that I would kind of solve the riddle of Grand Slam for me. I would win more Grand Slams and thats what happened.
Is Nole's season over?
Novaks next big goal - which could be the last of his epic career - will be to win his 25th Grand Slam title by finally breaking Margaret Court into all-time standings. Djokovic will be one of the top favorites at next Januarys Australian Open, a tournament in which he has raised the trophy ten times.
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The Serbian will be almost an underdog in the next edition, since all the lights will be on Sinner and Alcaraz. The 37-year-old from Belgrade has a very special feeling for Melbourne Park and has almost always played his best tennis there. Another milestone that Novak could achieve next year is to win his 100th title, after failing to do so in the final of the Masters 1000 in Shanghai.
Speaking with Eurosport, Mats Wilander commented on Djokovics current status: Can he, though, do well in the Grand Slams without playing that many tournaments? Can he do well in the Grand Slams if he goes to Shanghai with any feeling that this is not important? Because at some point when he starts losing to guys that are one, two or three in the world, but also guys that are 10 to 20 in the world, his confidence might be affected, and the other guys confidence is going to grow.
