Novak Djokovic’s presence at elite events is no longer a prerequisite, with 2024 having seen a dramatic change in the 37-year-old.
After all, just the year prior, he was one win in the Wimbledon final away from completing the Calendar Slam.
Now, he has been more than happy to miss many high-profile tournaments in service of rest, recovery and even relaxation.
That trend could even persist into November now…
Speaking on Tennis Channel, the topic of discussion for the three pundits, after ranking the top-rated women in various attributes, turned to the ATP Finals.
And it was Coco Vandeweghe who gave the best insight into not only the event, but how the lead-up to it can tell us plenty about various players.
Whether they are playing relentlessly to force their way into contention, or taking surprising breaks mid-way through the campaign; they all offer some information into their confidence.
However, whilst briefly touching on Taylor Fritz, it was her claim about Novak Djokovic that caught the eye.
Vandeweghe noted: ‘Like we see Taylor [Fritz] taking a week off, we never see that man taking a week off I mean come on, he knows he’s in.
‘Then we go down to the rest of the field and like we’ve been seeing Grigor [Dimitrov] play a lot of events, Demon coming out before he’s really ready and we kind of saw that today in his health level. Rafa [Nadal] always had it in the bag by the time it came to the indoor season so we weren’t going to see him.
‘It’s just always about controlling your destiny, your own destiny, and not hoping that somebody pulls out as I think we’ve heard Novak [Djokovic] is out of Nitto [ATP Finals], unfortunately. So that last little spot is definitely in the hunt.’
Other than snagging one final Grand Slam to move ahead as the standalone greatest of all time, there is really no title that Djokovic needs anymore.
After all, he has already won it all many, many times before, as the only man who has tasted success across all four majors and all nine Masters 1000 events too.
Even at the ATP Finals, he has won that seven times, making his proposed absence this year expected.
2024 has been a turbulent year for the Serbian, who has failed to win a single title on tour, but captured the most coveted prize of all: the Olympic gold medal.
For him, that was all that mattered, and his performance under such intense pressure is truly mesmeric.
However, with a knee injury that has persisted since Roland Garros, perhaps enjoying a big break from the sport to prepare for 2025 might make sense for the 24-time Grand Slam champion, who no longer has anything to prove.
Patrick Mouratoglou has told Djokovic what he needs to do to compete in 2025, but he might not even care anymore.
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