John McEnroe has claimed he would be ‘surprised’ if Novak Djokovic added to his record-breaking haul of Grand Slam titles, after suggesting the era of dominance for the most successful player of all-time is now over.
Djokovic’s early exit from the US Open at the hands of Alexei Popyrin fuelled the belief that the Serbian’s days as a serial winner in the men’s game are finally coming to an end at the age of 37.
With his aura of invincibility slipping and his motivation waning as he craves more time with his wife and two young children, Djokovic’s future in tennis is in doubt after he claimed the Olympic gold medal he craved at the 2024 Games in Paris last month.
Now McEnroe has responded to a question from Tennis365 about what comes next for Djokovic, as he admitted this may be the first time when there are serious doubts over his ability to win another major title.
“It’s difficult to say what we can expect from him next year,” McEnroe told Tennis365 at a Eurosport event.
“First of all, you never want to count him out, but this is certainly the first time that you could ask the question if his days of winning majors are over.
“He’s got his family and you mention the word motivation. How long can this guy stay motivated? I’m amazed he’s kept it this long, actually.
“Whether he does win majors again or he doesn’t. He won three of the four last year and now we are saying he might never win another one.
“I would be kinda surprised he did win more majors because of his age. At some point, that catches up to you.”
Djokovic has suffered some surprise losses over the course of 2024, with his drive and ambition seeming only fuelled by Grand Slam tournaments and his quest for Olympic gold.
That has given his opponents hope that he can be dethroned from the top of the men’s game, with players who may not have fancied their chances against the great man now walking onto court daring to believe they can be the next player to beat him.
“You lose a little bit of the fear factor,” added McEnroe. “Guys that think they didn’t have a chance against you change their mindset and it makes it much tough. That is what he is facing now.
“It will be interesting to see if he can pull it off, but I do think he is going to try and find that motivation again for Grand Slam No 25.”
Djokovic’s early exit from the US Open has given him a chance to link up with the Serbia Davis Cup team ahead of their World Group I play-off match against Greece next week.
The presence of Serbia’s greatest player confirms he still has ambitions to fire his nation back into Davis Cup contention in 2025, after he came so close to firing them to glory in last year’s Finals in Malaga.
What seems clear is Djokovic will need to find new targets to aim for if he is to reach for the stars once again, with the push to move clear of Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam titles and into an outright lead for major wins in the history of tennis the last great challenge of his career.
