For Novak Djokovic fans, 2024 was a tough season. The Serbian superstar failed to win a Grand Slam for the first time in seven years, and looked notably off his game.
This year, will we see more of the same? Or is the sport’s greatest-ever going to make a comeback and stamp his mark on the game once again?
With Djokovic beginning his season at the Brisbane International this week, let’s take a closer look at how 2025 could unfold for the 37-year-old.
What happened to Djokovic in 2024?
Last year was probably the first year that Djokovic showed a meaningful regression in his level. It wasn’t an obvious regression but more so a subtle one which allowed some of the best, particularly Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, to take advantage of that.
The Italian bested him at the Australian Open en route to the trophy, Alcaraz beat him in the Wimbledon final, and he simply didn’t look like Djokovic of old. He did win the Olympics in Paris, which was proof that he still can play well, but that was the only time he looked like himself in 2024.
How will Djokovic’s 2025 season go?
Nobody really knows what might happen in this upcoming season because Djokovic himself has been pretty vague. He still wants to compete, which means that he thinks he can win big titles, but he’s been open about struggling with motivation lately.
He’s also been open that Grand Slams are the only thing that interests him as goals, so motivation might be lacking at some of the minor events. Still, when you’re Djokovic and when you’ve achieved as much as you have, motivation is clearly an ingrained thing.
What could motivate him in 2025?
That leads us to the big question surrounding Djokovic in 2025: what will motivate the man who has done it all?
Djokovic himself has been rather reserved when talking about his achievements. He’s admitted to wanting to break as many records and win as much as possible, but at times he’s toned that down. What is certain though is that likely wants to do that so let’s see what records he can break in 2025.
Djokovic has 99 trophies in his cabinet, quite a few shy of the 109 Jimmy Connors won or Roger Federer’s 103. That is something he could use as fuel in 2025, especially when playing smaller, insignificant events.
A record more within reach is tying Federer for most Wimbledon trophies as he’s sitting at seven. It will be tough as he’s failed to do that for two years in a row, losing to Carlos Alcaraz both times in the final. Win though, and he would become the oldest Grand Slam champion – an achievement held by Ken Rosewall as of now.
The big number, however, is 25 Grand Slams. While Djokovic holds the most majors by a male player, Margaret Court is technically level with him on 24 Grand Slams won. There are plenty of factors discrediting Court’s record – 13 of her titles were won prior to the Open Era – but Djokovic will still be motivated by becoming the clear leader.
Outside of records, the biggest motivator for Djokovic will be rivalries.
Can Djokovic compete with Alcaraz and Sinner in 2025?
This is the money question and also the toughest one to answer because it depends on so many factors. Will Alcaraz keep his level high, or will he have a down year? Will Sinner repeat a season that seems impossible to repeat when you look at the sheer amount of success he had in 2024?
Lots of questions surround these players, and that’s not even scratching the surface of what might happen with Djokovic. He’s a year older now, he’s obviously thinking about retiring more than ever, and another dry year without trophies could finally motivate him to hang it up.
So can he compete with Alcaraz and Sinner? In an ideal world, the answer is a resounding yes. The quality level of the Serbian is still as good as ever. His shots aren’t any worse than they were five years ago, but the consistency has waned off a little bit. The margins for victory are slimmer than ever.
He basically needs to be close to his best to beat Alcaraz and Sinner when they are playing close to their best, but then again, they are all humans. Sometimes there will be matches when one of them won’t have their best stuff. That’s what happened with Alcaraz in the Olympics final, and the Spaniard lost.
So the bottom line is that Djokovic is still good enough to compete with these players, but whether he actually beats them on a daily basis will come down to many factors, most of which aren’t in his control.
Is this the end for Djokovic?
Lots of tennis analysts have pointed to 2025 as possibly the final year of Djokovic’s career. The chance of that happening is pretty high simply because this is the season that is most likely to be his last compared to years past.
Nobody really questioned whether Djokovic would retire after 2024 before that season began. However, when it became apparent that he’s not as dominant as he used to be, people started to wonder because Djokovic himself dropped tidbits here and there that he’s thinking about it.
Being away from his children has been a particularly tough thing for Djokovic, who candidly admitted that he doesn’t want to see them grow up while he’s away. That clearly shows his intent to call it quits sooner rather than later. Whether it ends up being 2025 or 2026 remains to be seen, but almost nobody believes that we’ll see Djokovic playing in 2027.
What could tip the scale to one or the other side is simply what type of year he has. If he has another weak year without winning a single Grand Slam trophy, the Serbian might simply accept that his time has passed.
If he does win one or even more, then it’s very likely he will return in 2026 to try his luck once more because ultimately, every Grand Slam he wins at this point further solidifies his claim to being the greatest tennis player of all time.
Even if he manages to win only one in the next two years, that would be massive, so as long as he thinks it can happen, the Serbian is very likely to keep going.
Read more about Djokovic racquet and career.
