 "Fritz dismisses talk of Djokovic retirement amid questions over veteran star’s fitness: ‘Hasn’t shown signs of slowing down’")
Novak Djokovic faces questions over his future in professional tennis, particularly over his fitness and ability to compete with the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and other young stars. Djokovic has been chasing a record 25th Major for two years now, and his chances of surpassing Margaret Court as the player with the most Grand Slam wins appears highly slim now, especially considering the manner in which the ‘Sincaraz’ pair has dominated Men’s tennis in the last two years.
His inability to win the Shanghai Masters despite Alcaraz’s absence and Sinner’s early injury-forced exit has only heightened concerns over his future at the highest level of the sport, with the 38-year-old suffering a humiliating straight-sets defeat (6-3 6-4) against qualifier Valentin Vacherot – ranked 204th in the world at the time.
Sinner returns to action in the second edition of the 6 Kings Slam in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which got underway on Wednesday with Sinner and Taylor Fritz winning their respective quarter-final clashes against Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev respectively, both matches ending in straight sets.
‘Tough to even think about him retiring’
Fritz faces six-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz in the semi-finals while Sinner is up against Djokovic in the other last-four clash. And ahead of a potential showdown against Djokovic, who had defeated him in their quarter-final meeting at the US Open last month, the American felt that the veteran star isn’t past his sell-by date at all, considering the fact that he continues to go deep in Majors.
“He hasn’t really shown too many signs of slowing down. He obviously has had a great year, semis at every Grand Slam,” Fritz told Tennis365. “It’s tough to even think about him retiring or being done soon when he is producing the level he is producing.
Fritz compares 6 Kings Slam to Laver Cup
The 27-year-old also shielded the 6 Kings Slam against criticism, with the Saudi event that offers a minimum of $1.5 million to each of the participating players accused of disrupting what already is a crowded calendar.
“I think this is a great event. Like the Laver Cup, when you have the best players in the world playing against each other, it’s great.
“The unfortunate thing is the schedule is already extremely packed as it is. So you have to choose between these things that are very enjoyable to do and load it on to how packed the tour already is. That’s the tough part,” he added.
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