Andy Roddick makes his feelings known on Novak Djokovic's chances at Australian Open 2025 after Brisbane loss

Novak Djokovic might have lost to Reilly Opelka in the quarterfinal of the Brisbane International last Friday but tennis legend Andy Roddick feels that loss will not impact the Serbian’s Australian Open 2025 campaign.

Speaking on his podcast Served With Andy Roddick on Spotify, Roddick was engaged in conversation with American sports journalist Jon Wertheim as they broke down the big-serving Opelka’s win over Djokovic last week.

“I'm not that concerned. If Novak gets his matches in, maybe he picks up one or two. The training and heat (in Australia) is not going to be bad for him. Andy Murray's (his coach) done skiing. He's going to go down to Australia and they're going to be together. I'm not super alarmed for Novak. It's not as if he doesn't know how to play tennis,” said Roddick.

Roddick noted that “Reilly did more than just serve well” to beat Novak Djokovic, but insisted that it won’t be easy to beat the Serb again, especially when it’s a match that boils down to five sets.

“Best of five format suits Novak Djokovic” - Andy Roddick on Novak Djokovic's strength

While talking about Novak Djokovic on his podcast, the former World No. 1 Andy Roddick, with a Wimbledon title to his name, asserted that he would have been concerned by Djokovic’s loss if it had been against an opponent who didn’t have a big serve like Opelka.

“I would be more stressed out if I was part of Novak's team if he had lost to someone who wasn't a huge server, someone who couldn't take the racket out of your hands...someone who makes balls and Novak has a weird loss. I'm not too concerned about it,” Roddick said.

“I think the best of five format favors Novak over everyone except maybe a couple of players on Earth, at this point in his career. There's a long road still. Let's say this is three out of five. Opelka wins the first two (sets), he still has to be physically there. He still has to be mentally there. It's still a long way to beat Novak,” Roddick added.

Andy Roddick added that the result would serve as a massive boost to Opelka but would not particularly play on 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic’s mind much.

Djokovic had his first training session in Melbourne on Tuesday alongside coach Murray and is on a quest to claim a record 25th Grand Slam crown.