Jimmy Connors reveals 'one guy' Novak Djokovic can never beat, and it's not Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner

Former American World No. 1 Jimmy Connors shared his thoughts on who he believes Novak Djokovic can never beat. Surprisingly, his pick isn’t World No. 1 Jannik Sinner or World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz.

On the January 28 episode of Advantage Connors, Connors shared his thoughts on Djokovic’s 2025 Australian Open campaign. The American noted that Djokovic had a tough draw in the tournament and pointed out that playing long matches at this stage of his career is becoming more challenging as age starts to catch up with him.

“He had to play Alcaraz to play Zverev to play Sinner… everybody thinks that I want to play forever and you can. It just depends what level you want to play at. And the older you get, those long matches, those tough points, those points where you have to run down one extra ball, that starts wearing on you, physically and mentally.”

He admired the way Djokovic was maintaining his body, saying:

“But nobody is taking care of themselves better than Djokovic has. He does everything possible to make it possible for him to go play the kind of tennis that he wants to.”

Connors pointed out that the only opponent who could defeat the 37-year-old Serbian was– ‘age’ itself. He emphasized that no matter how hard someone tries to stay fit, aging inevitably takes a toll on their game. He said:

“But even doing all that, there's one guy that you can never beat, that's always going to come out on top, and that's age. Age is going to catch up with everybody.”

He added:

“And I hate to talk about it because he's been, and he still is such a great champion, and Federer the same, and Nadal the same, and the guys who played into their late 30s, and were willing to still put their reputation on the line.”

Jimmy Connors shares his own experience of dealing with ‘age’ just like Novak Djokovic

TENNIS: JAN 27 Australian Open - Source: Getty

Jimmy Connors, who had a long career and retired in 1996 at the age of 43, shared his experience of constantly facing questions about retirement. He said:

“And you get tired of answering that question. I did. When do you think you're going to retire? Is it getting too tough for you? Well, you can't do this, you can't do that.”

He highlighted the line that Richard "Pancho" Gonzales, the late American tennis pro, always said—pointing out that even if someone is mentally willing, age might not support them, making it impossible to play.

“But then I go back to the one saying that Pancho always says, but you know, they say you have so much experience now. And then he says, but you know, the problem with experience at that age is once you get it, you're too damn old to do anything with it. Right. And I always thought about that because your mind's willing, but your body just isn't sometimes.”