Follow us on Google Discover Novak Djokovic continues to be questioned after his shock semifinal defeat at the Shanghai Masters.
Djokovic was beaten by Valentin Vacherot, who went on to win the Shanghai Masters title.
The Monegasque was the world number 204 at the time, but Djokovic has actually lost to a lower-ranked player than Vacherot.
Djokovic struggled physically throughout the Shanghai Masters this year, and now six-time doubles Grand Slam champion Rennae Stubbs has made a point about the Serbian.
Photo by Elsa/Getty ImagesRennae Stubbs suggests Novak Djokovic does not hit the ball as hard anymore
Djokovic has only won one title this year, coming at the ATP 250 tournament in Geneva, which was his 100th career tournament victory.
Despite Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner being out of the way for Djokovic in Shanghai, the 38-year-old was once again unable to capitalise and suffered another semifinal defeat.
When discussing Djokovic’s latest defeat on her podcast, Stubbs pointed out the continual physical struggles the 24-time Grand Slam champion keeps facing in the latter stages of tournaments.
Stubbs also suggested that she thinks that Djokovic no longer hits the ball as hard as he used to, which is making it more difficult for him to win these big matches.
“He is just breaking down all the time,” said Stubbs. “If there was a legit injury in the first set, which I’m assuming it was, he looked pretty good in the second set. But the same thing keeps happening in the latter parts of tournaments for him.
“You’re talking about best of three against a guy [Vacherot] who said ‘it was such a pleasure to play against you’. The guy lost his first game and you think Novak is going to win this two and two, and the guy comes back and beats him legitimately by being the better player that day. He was taking the ball earlier, coming into the net, playing bigger.
“Novak just doesn’t look like he has enough on the ball any more against some of these players. He is the greatest of all time. He has all the records. But at some point, Father Time catches up with you and it looks like he does not have quite enough on the ball, he is not imposing himself as much, he is not serving as well as he used to, when he won a lot of these tournaments and matches. And at some point it catches up with you. You just wonder how long is he going to do this for.”
Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty ImagesRennae Stubbs explains why she thinks Novak Djokovic could retire at the Australian Open
Stubbs has predicted Djokovic to retire at the Australian Open before, and after watching him at the Shanghai Masters that only appears to have solidified her opinion.
The Australian has implied that Djokovic playing after the Melbourne major would almost be pointless.
“He knows he can give one or two really hard months of training and go to Australia and get the job done or not,” added Stubbs.
“I hope I am wrong. I want him to keep playing. But I just feel like is he going to want to keep just grinding until the French and Wimbledon again? That’s nine months away essentially. Is he going to grind and play Indian Wells and Miami and Monte Carlo and Barcelona again, just to get to the French?
“He’s not trying to win another Masters 1000 or 500, he has got all the records, there is no reason for him to play any more.”
Djokovic will return to the match court this week, as he plays the Six Kings Slam exhibition event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The only other tournament Djokovic has confirmed he is playing is the Athens Open, but he is also entered into the Paris Masters and is all but qualified for the ATP Finals.