daniel chigunwe
Novak Djokovic is now older than the winner of any Grand Slam singles title in 57 years of Open era tennis.
Four months shy of his 38th birthday, Djokovic will spend January trying to win an 11th Australian Open title.
It would be a 25th Grand Slam title — more than anyone in history.
Margaret Court’s record is effectively the only one he has left to break.
“You can never count him out if everything goes right,” six-time Grand Slam champion Stefan Edberg told BBC Sport.
“My personal view is his best chance is the Australian Open or possibly Wimbledon, with all the experience he has on grass.
“Everything needs to go for him – he’s a year older and hasn’t played so many matches over the last six months.”
Last season was the first year since 2017 that Djokovic did not win a major title.
He also did not win an ATP title for the first time since 2005.
But he did clinch Olympic gold with a phenomenal win over Carlos Alcaraz in the final in Paris.
That came just two months after knee surgery and three weeks after a chastening loss to the Spaniard in the Wim-bledon final.
Olympic gold had been the only prize missing from Djokovic’s collection.
It was his target for the year, and the target was duly achieved.
“My one question to Djokovic would be ‘if you only had one thing you could win in 2025, what would it be?’” Billie Jean King said to the BBC in November – an echo of the strategy that served the Serb so well in 2024.
“Then I would have him narrow down his focus to that.
“Everything else doesn’t matter.
“You have got to be reasonable – he is 37.”
But you just cannot get away from Djokovic’s age. The great Australian Ken Rosewall won the last of his eight Grand Slam singles titles at the 1972 Australian Open, having turned 37 two months earlier.
He remains the oldest winner of a major singles title in the Open era.
Djokovic is already six months older than Rosewall was then, and the game is now more physically demanding.
Rafael Nadal won his final Grand Slam title two days after his 36th birthday, while Roger Federer was also 36 when he won his final major in Melbourne.
History is against Djokovic, but that has not stopped him in the past.
By way of encouragement, remember that Federer had two championship points to beat Djokovic in the 2019 Wim-bledon final, which took place a month before the Swiss’ 38th birthday.
Djokovic has suggested he will play more tournaments this year, which should help.
He was beaten by Reilly Opelka in the Brisbane International quarter-finals but had five matches in all, including a couple of doubles appearances alongside Nick Kyrgios. — BBC.
Online Reporter
