'It’s not a matter of life and death anymore': Mouratoglou explains why Djokovic has not won the 25th Grand Slam

Patrick Mouratoglou, who won 10 Grand Slams as a coach with Serena Williams, has questioned Novak Djokovic’s hunger and desire, as the former world No.1 has failed to reach the final in the last three Grand Slams.

Djokovic’s last Grand Slam final came in 2024 at Wimbledon, where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz. At the US Open 2024, Djokovic lost in the third round, before exiting the Australian Open 2025 at the semi-final stage due to an injury. At the French Open 2025, he lost to Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals  after beating Alexander Zverev in the Roland Garros quarter-finals.

Renowned coach dissects why Djokovic is not winning Grand Slams

While a large section of fans and experts feel Djokovic remains competitive as ever at the age of 38, Mouratoglou feels the 24-time Grand Slam winner is facing the issue of a lack of motivation more than a drop in the level of his tennis.

“His tennis there and I can totally see him winning that match against Jannik,” Mouratoglou said. “Of course it would be a very tight match, but he has so many in the past and most of the time, he found a solution to win.

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“Level wise, he is there. Physically, he is there, but winning those matches is not about the tennis. It is more about the mental side of it.

“I did feel he accepted the dominance of Sinner on him, which is not Novak. I didn’t see the Novak I know and I still think his motivation is not high enough.”

Mouratoglou clarified that he didn’t mean to say Djokovic had no motivation, but he’s not sure whether the drive to prove himself as the best is the same as it was when he played against now-retired Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

“It is there [motivation], but I don’t know exactly where it is. Is it that I still want to show the world that I’m the best? That was a little bit of his motivation before because everyone was a fan of Roger [Federer] and Rafa [Nadal] and he wanted to prove he was the best.

“It is a thin line to do everything to play and great match to I’m not going to lose this f***ing match. And this was always Novak.

“I think that was something that really drove him. He lost his drive for the reason that he’s the greatest now.”

Mouratoglou also explained why he felt Djoklovc lacked the motivation to beat Sinner. “Why did I feel that? Because of his body language in the match was different.

“He was smiling at his team. He was kind of enjoying the moment. This is not Novak. He is a fighting beast. In his career, he was closer to being angry and smashing rackets than smiling and being happy to be here.

“Now he is happy to be here in the semi-finals of Grand Slam, competing with those guys and it’s not a matter of life and death anymore.

“In the final of the Olympic Games with Novak against [Carlos] Alcaraz on the same exact court ten months ago. Look at the two videos, he was a bull who would do anything to win. It was a question of life and death. This was the Olympic Games.

“I understand fully when you are fighting the fight of your life to show the world and yourself that you are the best in history, you cannot have the same motivation as he has now to win a Grand Slam. His purpose was the fight against the two others to prove who was the greatest of all-time.

Djokovic, however, will soon have a chance to prove his critics wrong as he aims to win his 25th Grand Slam at Wimbledon, which starts on 30 June.