The Last Of His Generation
As he continues to inch closer to 40, Novak Djokovic is still on top
Like every year, the professional tennis calendar begins on the other side of the world in Australia. There are several tournaments in the early part of January which ultimately feed into the year’s first major, the Australian Open, an event that has been dominated by one man over the last 15 years.
That man is Novak Djokovic.
“I’m just hoping I can start the season in a way I’ve been starting most of my seasons throughout my career—with a win in Australia, in Melbourne,” Djokovic said prior to the start of the Australian Open in 2024. “My favorite place, no doubt. The court where I’ve done great things and achieved my greatest Grand Slam results.”
Djokovic’s prowess in Melbourne doesn’t match his rival Rafael Nadal’s achievements at the French Open, but it is the next best thing. 10 times the Serb has left the country of Australia with the Aussie Open title, and he is aiming to make it 11 when he arrives Down Under to begin his 2025 campaign.
It’s hard to imagine, but Djokovic may be more motivated than ever in this new season, something he spoke about as he prepared to embark on the 22nd year of his professional tennis career.
“Tennis is still my focus. I am going at full throttle in the offseason, we go for another ride,” he said. “I just needed to recharge and refresh a bit after an exhausting year. I am going to play in the first week of the season, I am just not sure yet where. Then, of course, [the] Australian Open.”
The notion of Djokovic going full throttle should put the tour on notice, especially considering coming off a down year, by his standards. He did not win a single major in 2024, which came on the heels of a dominant 2023 where he nearly won the Calendar Slam by winning the Australian Open, French Open and U.S. Open titles. This was the first time since 2017 and only the second time since 2011 that Djokovic went through an entire season without winning one of the tour’s four majors, and it resulted in his ranking falling to seventh in the world.
Towards the end of the season, he withdrew from the Paris Masters and eventually the Nitto ATP Finals, citing an ongoing injury. It was a strategic maneuver for Djokovic, one that allowed him to get more rest before gearing up for the 2025 season.
And in this new season, there will be a new but familiar face in his coaching box: longtime rival Andy Murray, who recently retired from his own playing career who is now diving into the coaching pool.
“I’m excited to have one of my greatest rivals on my team, on the same side of the net, this time as my coach,” Djokovic said in an official statement release on his website. “I’m looking forward to starting the season together with Andy and having him by my side in Melbourne where we’ve shared many extraordinary moments throughout our careers.”
The two players, who were born just a week apart, competed 36 times against each other at the tour level, including 10 times at majors. Djokovic was 25-11 all-time in the series, and 8-2 over Murray in those 10 major meetings.
But Murray came out on top in one of the most memorable matches of the rivalry when he beat Djokovic at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, becoming the first British man to win Wimbledon since 1936.
“I’ll be joining Novak’s team during the preparation period, helping him to get in the best possible shape for the Australian Open,” said Murray. “I’m very excited about it and I am looking forward to being on the same side of the net for a chance. I’m also grateful for the opportunity to assist him in achieving his goals for the coming year.”
When asked more specifically about what led the decision to inquire with Murray about joining his coaching team, Djokovic explained:
“I was going through a process of thinking about next season in the past couple of months and figuring out what I needed as I stopped with my coach Goran Ivanisevic, who I was successful with,” Djokovic told Sky Sports. “I took about six months to think if I really needed a coach and if yes, who is that going to be and the profile of the coach. We were going through different names and I realised at this point the perfect coach would be someone who has been through the experiences I have been through. A multiple Grand Slam winner and I was thinking about a few and the Andy Murray discussion appeared on the table with my team. I decided I would give him a call and see how it goes. It caught him off guard a little bit as he wasn’t expecting it. We connected really fast and he accepted it after a few days. I can’t be more excited about it. This collaboration is a surprise to me as well, to everyone, but it is exciting for tennis. He has been one of my greatest rivals, we are at the same age. We played in all the biggest stages in our sport so I can’t wait to be out there next season.”
At 37-years-old, Djokovic has to figure out how to navigate the long season and compete for majors against the young stars in their early 20s such as Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, because as he has said many times over the last couple of years, at this point in his career, it’s all about the Grand Slams for him.
He is owner of 24 Grand Slam titles, the most all-time by any man, and has strong desires to add to that in 2025. With a new-look coaching staff and added motivation from an uncharacteristic season in 2024, Djokovic will be a force to be reckoned with in Melbourne to start the year. He is currently the third-highest favorite to win the tournament, before the aforementioned Sinner and Alcaraz, respectively.
Men’s tennis is currently in a transition phase with Djokovic the last holdover of the previous generation, regarded as one of the greatest eras in tennis history, as new stars are set to grab the baton from players like Djokovic and the rest of his Big Four colleagues, Murray, Nadal and Roger Federer. However, Djokovic is not ready to let go of that proverbial baton just yet, and how he start ins Australia will go a long way towards potentially proving that.
