Novak Djokovic’s season struggled to turn, and his defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in the 2024 Wimbledon Championships final left him in doubt. At 37, the 24-time Grand Slam champion may have begun his descending parable. Nole has not won any titles in 2024 so far and has suffered several unexpected defeats in recent months. Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are topping in Novak at the moment, as the former world number 1 admitted during the post-Wimbledon press conference.
The veteran from Belgrade will try to take revenge at the Paris Olympics – which will take place on the red clay of the French Open at the end of this month – but will not start favored in the fight for the gold medal. Despite having a close connection with his country, Nole never won the gold medal at the Olympics. In Rio 2016 he was defeated in his debut by a great Juan Martin del Potro, while in Tokyo 2021 he was reassembled by Sascha Zverev in the semifinal.
Last month, Novak had surgery on his knee due to an injury suffered during the match against Francisco Cerundolo at the French Open. The Serbian was not on top form at Wimbledon, but reached his tenth final at the Championships thanks to a smooth draw. Novak Djokovic will have to defend many points in the coming months because last year he won the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, the US Open, the Masters 1000 in Paris-Bercy and the ATP Finals in Turin (he defeated Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinal and Jannik Sinner in the final).
Nole will play the Davis Cup
Meanwhile, it was announced that the 24-time Grand Slam champion will play the Davis Cup tie against Greece which will take place in Belgrade on 14th and 15th September (just after the US Open). Nole had tried to lead his country to victory in the Davis Cup last year, but Serbia had been defeated by Italy in the semifinals (Djokovic wasted three match points against Sinner in that circumstance).
Recently, Serbian tennis analyst Sasa Ozmo commented on Djokovic’s current status: “Like Novak said, he’s always risen in the face of adversity. So let’s see. Two big goals for him until the end of the season Olympics and New York. Good news is that he played his first final this season. Obviously, he’s not at the level Sinner and Alcaraz are at the moment, but he’s been known to prove doubters wrong time and time again. So I guess he’ll probably do it this time as well, although he’s 37.”
Djokovic aims for the US Open
In the past few hours, the entry list of the US Open 2024 (last Grand Slam of the 2024 season) has been released. Nole will have to defend his title and there will also be Rafael Nadal, who benefited from the protected ranking.
2024 US Open entry list:
Jannik Sinner
Novak Djokovic
Carlos Alcaraz
Alexander Zverev
Daniil Medvedev
Alex de Minaur
Hubert Hurkacz
Andrey Rublev
Casper Ruud
Grigor Dimitrov
Taylor Fritz
Stefanos Tsitsipas
Tommy Paul
Ben Shelton
Ugo Humbert
Lorenzo Musetti
Holger Rune
Felix Auger-Aliassime
Sebastian Baez
Alejandro Tabilo
Karen Khachanov
Sebastian Korda
Nicolas Jarry
Alexander Bublik
Adrian Mannarino
Jack Draper
Tallon Griekspoor
Arthur Fils
Jiri Lehecka
Frances Tiafoe
Gael Monfils
Tomas Martin Etcheverry
Francisco Cerundolo
Zhizhen Zhang
Luciano Darderi
Mariano Navone
Jan-Lennard Struff
Tomas Machac
Matteo Arnaldi
Jordan Thompson
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Cameron Norrie
Alexei Popyrin
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
Fabian Marozsan
Marcos Giron
Miomir Kecmanovic
Flavio Cobolli
Pedro Martinez
Sebastian Ofner
Nuno Borges
Lorenzo Sonego
Brandon Nakashima
Roberto Carballes Baena
Dusan Lajovic
Alexander Shevchenko
Laslo Djere
Daniel Evans
Jaume Munar
Pavel Kotov
Alex Michelsen
Dominik Koepfer
Corentin Moutet
Max Purcell
Aleksandar Vukic
Arthur Rinderknech
Roman Safiullin
Sumit Nagal
Federico Coria
Emil Ruusuvuori
Daniel Altmaier
Thiago Seyboth Wild
Zizou Bergs
Rinky Hijikata
Roberto Bautista Agut
Luca Nardi
Facundo Diaz Acosta
James Duckworth
Jakub Mensik
Fabio Fognini
Hugo Gaston
Matteo Berrettini
Marton Fucsovics
Borna Coric
Thiago Monteiro
Yoshihito Nishioka
Botic van de Zandschulp
Thanasi Kokkinakis
Juncheng Shang
Taro Daniel
Aleksandar Kovacevic
Arthur Cazaux
Christopher O’Connell
Constant Lestienne
Adam Walton
Camilo Ugo Carabelli
Albert Ramos-Vinolas
David Goffin
Pablo Carreno Busta
Rafael Nadal
Denis Shapovalov (protected ranking)
Reilly Opelka (protected ranking)
Soonwoo Kwon (protected ranking)
Dominic Stricker (protected ranking)
If he does not raise his playing level, Nole Djokovic will have a hard time winning his 25-time Major and surpassing Margaret Court in the all-time standings. The 37-year-old from Belgrade had a fluctuating performance in New York during his career, having won the title four times but losing 6 finals. A strange fact considering that Novak won the Australian Open for a total of ten times.
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