Why Novak Djokovic’s tennis calendar is under scrutiny as experts fear he could be left behind Federer

Novak Djokovic opting for just the Grand Slams and major tennis events in his unusual calendar has been questioned by former players Sam Querrey and Jimmy Arias as the 38-year-old continues to struggle in his search for a record-breaking 25th major title. No tennis player has ever won 25 Grand Slams. The best is 24, by Djokovic and the great Margaret Court.

Djokovic reached the semi-finals of all four Grand Slams this year, but failed to win any of them. His last Major title came at the 2023 US Open. Earlier this year, the Serbian won his 100th ATP title at Geneva Open, and trails only Roger Federer (103) and Jimmy Connors (109) in the all-time list. But there’s one major difference between him and Federer or Connors.

While Federer and Connors regularly played ATP 250 and 500 events towards the end of their careers, picking up history-making titles, Djokovic has concentrated all his focus on Grand Slam and major events. Before the US Open, Djokovic’s last tournament was Wimbledon, and before the grass-court major, his last tournament was the French Open.

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Djokovic missing warm-up events questioned by experts

Former American tennis player Jimmy Arias feels the lack of warm-up events is hurting Djokovic as he is not entering the Grand Slams in “good enough shape.”

“The problem is that I don’t think he’s in good enough shape,” Arias said. “It’s hard to work as hard as you do in a match without adrenaline, without that feeling.

“Adrenaline takes so much out of you, and you can’t recreate it in practice. I feel like he needs to have a couple of tune-up tournaments to get used to playing.

“He was almost dying in the first match against Lerner Tien, and he was playing the night match.”

Another former American tennis star, Sam Querrey, feels that Djokovic competing in the smaller tournaments would help him surpass Federer and Connors.

“If Novak wanted to pass those players, he could,” Querrey said on the Nothing Major Podcast. “He could play 250 tournaments and win them.

“We saw this year that he reached the semifinals of all four Grand Slams, which makes him the third-best player in the world at the majors. He could enter a handful of 250 tournaments this year and probably win 10 of them.”

At 38, Djokovic has clearly adopted a strategy to preserve his energy and give his best at the Grand Slams, which is where he wants to make his next tennis history, but as critics pointed out, he is running out of time and may soon be forced to alter his plans.