Why it's time to start worrying about Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic isn’t playing very well right now, and it’s time to worry about it. When you zoom out even more, you could make the argument that Djokovic has been failing to meet expectations since at least the late stages of 2023.

Let’s briefly look at the 2024 season. He won only 37 matches, which is the least he’s won in years, but he also didn’t play as much as he did in the past. That regression was somewhat expected as it started to pile up over the years.

The results themselves haven’t been impressive. His last final was the 2024 Wimbledon final, which he lost in straight sets to Carlos Alcaraz. It wasn’t even close, but he avenged that loss by winning gold at the Olympics in Paris. That event is pretty much the only one he played resembling his peak self. All the other ones have been rather shaky.

He would make one more final in Shanghai, but that was it. He didn’t win a single Grand Slam trophy last year, and rumblings about the decline started to circulate. Most felt that it was a bit premature, while acknowledging that he did drop off a little bit.

Enter 2025, and it looks even worse. Djokovic has been far from his best this year, with essentially an okay run in Australia, but it didn't really seem like he would be able to win the event.

Since then, it’s been forgettable, with multiple poor losses including back-to-back opening match exits in Monte Carlo and Madrid. In Monte Carlo, it was against Alejandro Tabilo, while in Madrid, it was against Matteo Arnaldi.

He lost both matches because he was not up to the mark. The hitting is pretty crisp, but that was never his strength. His strength has always been his consistency from the baseline and his movement.

It’s almost impossible to easily win a point against Djokovic, and that’s now gone. His movement and defense are basically nonexistent, allowing players, especially those like Arnaldi, to step up and hit through him easily. Jannik Sinner has demonstrated and exploited that growing weakness for a while.

And it’s not something that seems very likely to improve. Djokovic is not ancient by any means, but he’s not young either, and he’s getting older with every day that passes, so conventional wisdom implies that things are getting worse.

Djokovic’s growing frustration

Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters - Day Four - Source: Getty

Another thing that hasn’t been talked about as much is the clearly growing frustration of Djokovic, which has been notable through many means.

While his motivation should mostly be present at Grand Slams, given that he has already achieved almost everything that the sport has to offer, it’s still worrying to see a player who is an ultimate competitor kind of moving around and giving this impression as if he doesn’t care what happens in the match.

That’s not just a good sign, regardless of whether he’s trying to win the match or the event. Then there is the incident from the Madrid Open practice where irritation boiled over.

During a practice set against Arthur Fils, which Djokovic won 6-3, the Serbian at one point was spotted very angry, cursing out a lot. The cameras picked up what he said, and it was pretty clear that he was livid.

"F*** this sport, f*** tennis, f*** everything," Djokovic said during Madrid practice

While outbursts and stuff like that are present both in matches and practices, it’s pretty clear that Djokovic is not quite happy with how things have been going for him, tennis-wise, lately.

His comments post-match have also been rather strange, with a clear dose of frustration at his play. The play has been underwhelming and which Djokovic has acknowledged himself, but also a certain calmness about it, showing a lack of urgency.

It’s very tough to truly understand what Djokovic is feeling at this moment. On one side, it’s clear that things haven’t been going that well lately, but his getting so angry during practice still implies that he cares, because if he didn’t care, he wouldn’t get mad during practice. What’s the point?

So, there are a lot of mixed signals, but the bottom line is that his tennis hasn’t looked very good in the ongoing season, and not just lately, but for a very long time. It could improve, but it looks extremely daunting.

What ends up happening will be determined in the coming months, but it’s time to start worrying if you’re a Djokovic fan because it’s been a long time since he’s been trending downward without any indication that things will improve.

2024 overall was underwhelming, 2025 has been no different, so if he’s not going to turn things around now, then when? He’s running out of time.