Boris Becker, who had coached Novak Djokovic from 2013 to 2016, weighed in on the Serbian superstar\u2019s future after the 38-year-old\u2019s quest for a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam triumph was thwarted yet again, this time by Carlos Alcaraz in the US Open semi-finals.<\/p>\n
Novak Djokovic\u2019s quest for a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam triumph was thwarted once again in the US Open earlier this month after the Serbian tennis superstar suffered a straight sets loss against eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz in the men\u2019s singles semi-finals.<\/p>\n
While Djokovic fulfilled his lifelong dream of winning Olympic gold at Roland Garros last year, he has not won a major since he defeated Daniil Medvedev in the final to win the 2023 US Open. And at the age of 38, with Spain\u2019s Alcaraz and Italy\u2019s Jannik Sinner dominating men\u2019s tennis in recent months, Djokovic\u2019s chances of surpassing Margaret Court\u2019s 24 Grand Slam titles look slimmer than ever.<\/p>\n
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n
German tennis legend Boris Becker, for one, feels that Djokovic is the third-best player in the circuit right now, especially with Alcaraz and Sinner facing each other in the final of the last three Grand Slams.<\/p>\n
Djokovic himself had admitted that it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to match Alcaraz and Sinner\u2019s level of fitness and intensity, especially when it came to playing best-of-five sets in Grand Slams.<\/p>\n
Djokovic the \u2019third strongest player on the tour\u2019, says Becker<\/p>\n
And for Becker, who had coached \u2018Djoker\u2019 from 2013 to 2016, that admission is a reflection of where the veteran stands at this stage of his career. Djokovic continues to captivate the tennis world by going deep into the Majors, only to bow out in the final stages thanks to the \u2018Sincaraz\u2019 hurdle or \u2013 as was the case in the Australian Open this year \u2013 fitness issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cDjokovic is 38 years old. But the fact that he is really the third strongest player on the tour, is very good for the Serbian, but actually bad for the rest. On the one hand, Novak also admitted for the first time after the game that it is no longer feasible for him to play against Sinner or Alcaraz. And he also doesn\u2019t know how long his Grand Slam career will continue,\u201d Becker, a six-time Grand Slam champion, said on the Becker Petkovic podcast.<\/p>\n
Defending Olympic gold \u2018unrealistic\u2019 for Djokovic<\/p>\n
Becker goes on to speculate that Djokovic could call time on his career as early as next year given his barren run in Grand Slams \u2013 the last eight of which have been won either by Alcaraz or Sinner.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was openly announced for the first time that maybe 2026 will be his last Grand Slam year. He said that he can still keep up with these two. That\u2019s true. But why does he play tennis? To win Rome or Monte Carlo or Cincinnati for the 17th time or to win another 25 Grand Slam titles. I think it\u2019s the second. And I think he has now admitted that because of his age and also the strength of the young player, he can no longer realistically achieve it.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the other hand, he still dreams of Olympia 28, where he wants to defend the gold medals for Serbia. That\u2019s in three years. Personally, I find that unrealistic. But US Open already sounded a bit like a goodbye to me,\u201d the 1989 US Open champion added.<\/p>\n
Djokovic remains the only member of tennis\u2019 \u2018Fab Four\u2019 \u2013 also comprising Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray \u2013 who\u2019s still playing the game professionally. Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam champion, had brought the curtains down on his career in 2022 while 22-time Grand Slam winner Nadal and Murray had bid the sport goodbye last year.<\/p>\n
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boris Becker, who had coached Novak Djokovic from 2013 to 2016, weighed in on the Serbian superstar\u2019s future…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,5873,95675,962,95673,95674,95672,754,3592,95671,95669,95670,85,747,750,55950,95676],"class_list":["post-139942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boris-becker","tag-boris-becker-novak-djokovic","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-djokovic-25th-grand-slam","tag-djokovic-future","tag-djokovic-retirement","tag-jannik-sinner","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-novak-djokovic-25th-grand-slam","tag-novak-djokovic-future","tag-novak-djokovic-retirement","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-tennis-news","tag-us-open-2025","tag-us-open-men"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}