{"id":451984,"date":"2026-02-01T17:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T17:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/451984\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T17:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T17:17:09","slug":"novak-djokovic-drops-retirement-hint-suggesting-2026-could-be-his-final-australian-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/451984\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic drops retirement hint, suggesting 2026 could be his final Australian Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic has hinted the 2026 Australian Open could be his last time at Melbourne Park after he was defeated by Carlos Alcaraz in the final.<\/p>\n

The statistically greatest ever player teased the end of his journey in Australia during his post-final speech in front of a packed Rod Laver Arena.<\/p>\n

“God knows what happens tomorrow, let alone in six months or 12 months, so it has been a great ride,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I love you guys,” he added, speaking directly to the crowd.<\/p>\n

More from the Australian Open<\/p>\n

He did not go into detail on what he meant, nor did he confirm a plan to retire this year, but he chose his words carefully on centre court.<\/p>\n

“In the end, you guys [Australian Open fans], particularly in the last couple of matches, have given me something I have never experienced in Australia,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The love, the support, the positivity \u2014 it has been incredible.”<\/p>\n

He went into more detail about how he has truly cherished the crowd supporting him at Melbourne Park this year.<\/p>\n

\"Novak<\/p>\n

Djokovic thanked the crowd for support he has never felt before in Australia. (Reuters: Edgar Su)<\/p>\n

“I always believe in myself and I think that is something that is truly needed and necessary when you are playing at this level,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I must be very honest and say that I didn’t think I would be standing in the closing ceremony of a grand slam once again, so I think I owe you the gratitude as well of pushing me forward in the last couple weeks.”<\/p>\n

At his post-match press conference Djokovic added his expectations of his own ability have dropped in recent years.<\/p>\n

“I have belief and always confidence and vision [I can] win another slam, anywhere. But I did not expect it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I’ve lowered my expectations the last couple of years.”<\/p>\n

On commentary, Jim Courier said “it felt that way” when speaking about Djokovic hinting at retirement.<\/p>\n

“Only he knows for sure whether he’ll give it another shot here,” Courier added.<\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily is your daily sports conversation. We dive into the biggest story of the day and get you up to speed with everything else that’s making headlines.<\/p>\n

“If that was goodbye, that was one great finish to make it as far as he did.”<\/p>\n

During his speech, Djokovic addressed Rafael Nadal in the stands directly, saying it was “weird” to have him watching and not playing in the final.<\/p>\n

“It’s been an honour to share the court with you and to have you here watching the finals, it is a bit of strange feeling for me, but thank you for being here.”<\/p>\n

“It felt like it was two against one tonight; it wasn’t fair.”<\/p>\n

Maybe the 10-time champion will join Nadal in the stands next year at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic has hinted the 2026 Australian Open could be his last time at Melbourne Park after he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,6571,962,2649,1806,46036,3592,964,85,747],"class_list":["post-451984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-open","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-final","tag-grand-slam","tag-jim-courier","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-rafael-nadal","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451984","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=451984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}