 "Novak Djokovic defeated Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-final of the 2025 Australian Open despite battling an injury, only to retire hurt in the semi-final against Alexander Zverev. AP")
Novak Djokovic’s “biggest opponent” in the current stage of his career is his own body, and the 24-time Grand Slam champion cannot escape a “tennis death”, feels former Russian tennis coach and former player Dmitry Tursunov.
The Serbian tennis legend is going through a rare lean phase in his career, having failed to win a single Grand Slam in 2024 and also suffering a semi-final exit in the Australian Open in January. What added to Djokovic’s worries was the fact that it was fitness issues that derailed his quest for a record 25th Grand Slam triumph in Melbourne recently.
Players lost ‘sense of immortality’ much faster in tennis: Tursonov
“His own body is now his biggest opponent. Regardless of how he plans to cheat the time, ’tennis death’ will catch up to him. Of course, he still has the motivation to play at the highest level, but in tennis you lose your sense of immortality much faster than in other sports. Previous achievements are quickly forgotten,” Tursonov told Sport Klub.
‘Djoker’ had experienced fitness issues during his gruelling quarter-final victory over Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz , but the pain caused by an upper leg injury was too much for him to bear in the semi-finals, and he retired after losing the first set against Alexander Zverev .
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Djokovic, currently ranked seventh in the world, had also lost to Reilly Opelka in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International ahead of the Australian Open and crashed out of the Qatar Open in the first round after losing to Matteo Berrettini.
On Sunday, Djokovic suffered the latest setback of his career, getting knocked out of the Indian Wells Open with a defeat against Botic van de Zandschulp. After being given a first-round bye, the 37-year-old suffered a suffering a 2-6, 6-3, 1-6, defeat against the 29-year-old Dutch qualifier.
Had Djokovic won Sunday’s fixture as well as his next two matches, could have had another quarter-final meeting with defending champion Alcaraz, who progressed to the next round with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Quentin Halys.