Tennis legend Novak Djokovic has been urged to hang up his racket, despite the Serbian star insisting he has no intention of stepping away from the sport anytime soon.
The 38 year old recently declared his motivation stems from achieving longevity and dismissed any retirement talk. However, former world No. 1 doubles player Rennae Stubbs, who previously coached Serena Williams, has now argued “there is no reason” for the 24-time Grand Slam champion to continue battling it out on tour.
Djokovic has endured a mounting series of physical complications throughout this season. He was forced to withdraw from his Australian Open semi-final in January and has subsequently found it challenging to match the intensity of rising stars Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, particularly during grueling five-set Grand Slam encounters.
The world No. 5 also encountered difficulties at the recent Shanghai Masters, requiring medical attention on multiple occasions throughout the tournament and seemingly sustaining a hip problem during his semi-final loss to Valentin Vacherot, who was ranked beyond the top 200.
Djokovic subsequently withdrew from his third-place playoff encounter against Taylor Fritz at last week’s Six Kings Slam exhibition, informing spectators that he needed to resolve his physical concerns before potentially concluding the season with a few additional tournaments.
Stubbs now believes the challenges will only intensify for Djokovic, as she questioned his desire to continue competing on tour. Speaking on her podcast, she remarked: “He’s just breaking down all the time.
“If there was a legit injury [vs Vacherot in Shanghai], which I’m assuming it was in the first set… he looked pretty good in the second set. But the same thing keeps happening [in the] latter parts of tournaments for him.”
Though Stubbs recognizes that Djokovic remains capable of advancing to the semi-finals of Majors and Masters 1000 tournaments, the Australian indicated that it might not be sufficient.
“Novak just doesn’t look like he has enough on the ball anymore against some of these players. I mean, look, he’s the greatest player of all time. He has all the records, but at some point, and I’ve spoken about it for months actually, maybe a year or two, Father Time catches up with you and he just looks like he doesn’t quite have enough on the ball,” she added.
DON’T MISS
“He’s not imposing himself enough. He’s not serving as great as he used to when he won a lot of these big tournaments and big matches. And at some point, it catches up with you, and you just wonder, how long is he going to do this for?”.
“He’s title-hunting. He’s not trying to win another Masters 1000 or a 500. He’s got all the records. There’s no reason for him to play anymore. So I just think, mentally, it’s such a grind.”
Nevertheless, Djokovic holds a different perspective. Although he may not be securing major titles currently, he draws inspiration from fellow athletes who continue competing at age 40.
Speaking at the recent Joy Festival in Riyadh, he declared: “Longevity is one of my biggest motivations.
“I really want to see how far I can go. If you see across all the global sports, Lebron James, he is still going strong, he is 40. Cristiano Ronaldo, Tom Brady played until he was 40-something years old, it is unbelievable.
“They are inspiring me as well, so I want to keep going, that is one of the motivations I have and then I want to also live to see, live meaning keep on playing professionally, what is coming for our sport, and I am super excited about it.”