Jimmy Connors' son hints at Rafael Nadal-like decline in Novak Djokovic

Jimmy Connors' son, Brett, believes Novak Djokovic's recent struggles are similar to what Rafael Nadal faced close to his retirement. The Serb will be 38 next month, and the Spanish tennis icon retired at the same age last November.

Nadal played a few events before the Davis Cup Finals in November 2024 and faced early exits in most. According to former World No. 1 Jimmy Connors' son Brett, there were sings in the Spaniard's gameplay that signaled he was coming to the end of his career.

Brett believes those same signs are being seen in Djokovic's gameplay now. During the latest episode of the 'Advantage Connors' podcast, Brett said:

"It seems he [Novak Djokovic] still has glimpses of his legendary playing, but the movement might be an issue. We saw something similar with Nadal when he started losing matches in his last year or so. It wasn’t the strokes — it was more about the movement."

"He would be reaching for balls and not getting into position to hit his groundstrokes. Djokovic doesn’t get many easy points. He’s a grinder. He wears opponents down. He’s excellent at setting up points, identifying weaknesses, and then exploiting them — finding short balls, moving forward, finishing at the net. If his movement dips even 5 to 10 percent, that becomes noticeable compared to others," he added.

Further, Brett admitted he loves to watch the 24-time Grand Slam champion play and is not calling for his retirement. His comments were just an observation.

Djokovic holds a 12-6 record this season including a strong run to the Australian Open semifinals and the Miami Open final. He is, however, searching for his 100th ATP title since the past few months.

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"Thank you for pushing me to the very limit so many times" - Novak Djokovic's heartfelt message for Rafael Nadal

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal at the Six Kings Slam 2024 - Source: Getty

In October 2024, in a lengthy video shared on social media, Rafael Nadal announced that he was to play his final tournament in November at the Davis Cup Finals. Tributes began pouring in for the Spaniard and Novak Djokovic was right on queue with a post on social media.

Djokovic shared a carousel of images on Instagram of himself with Nadal and captioned it:

"Thank you for pushing me to the very limit so many times in our rivalry that has impacted me the most as a player. Your passion for representing Spain has always been remarkable..."

Nadal took to the courts in Malaga as Spain faced the Netherlands in the quarterfinal of the Davis Cup. However, he did not have the best farewell as Spain lost the tie and he retired officially from the sport.