London, June 29: It’s become part of Novak Djokovic’s routine now, particularly at Grand Slam tournaments: He shows up and gets asked — at the start of the event, during the event, after the event or sometimes all three — whether this will be his final appearance there.
Happened again Saturday at Wimbledon, and his response was the same it tends to be, which essentially amounts to: Who can tell?
“Whether it could be my last dance,’” the 24-time major champion began, repeating the phrase used by the reporter who posed the question, “I’m not sure — as I’m not sure about Roland Garros or any other Slam that I play next.”
And then Djokovic continued, offering something of a mix of seemingly trying to quiet any talk about whether he truly is pondering retirement at age 38 while also being realistic about where things stand.
“My wish is to play for several more years. I would love to be healthy physically and also mentally motivated to keep on playing at the highest level,” he said. “That’s the goal. But you never know at this stage.”
What Djokovic did concede is that the All England Club might offer the likeliest spot for him to gather one more Grand Slam singles title, which would allow him to raise his career haul to 25 — a number that no tennis player ever has reached.
“I would probably agree that Wimbledon could be the best chance, because of the results I had, because of how I feel, how I play in Wimbledon,” said Djokovic, who faces Alexandre Muller in the first round Tuesday. “Just getting that extra push mentally and motivation to perform the best tennis at the highest level.”
Djokovic has won seven championships at the grass-court major and come oh-so-close to making his total eight — the number Roger Federer won, and one behind Martina Navratilova’s record nine women’s trophies — but lost in the 2023 and 2024 finals to Carlos Alcaraz.
All told, Djokovic has appeared in the title match each of the past six times the tournament was held (it was canceled in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic), winning it in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022. His most recent Wimbledon loss came all the way back in 2017, when he was defeated in the quarterfinals by 2010 runner-up Tomas Berdych.
As for the persistent questions about Djokovic’s future, it’s the same type of topic that was presented to Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams as those greats of the game neared their farewells.
Now it’s just Djokovic’s turn.
But just because he hasn’t won a Grand Slam trophy in more than 1 1/2 years — he collected three in 2023, capped by the U.S. Open that September — don’t think that Djokovic isn’t capable of grabbing another.
As he reminded anyone listening Saturday, he made it to the semifinals at the Australian Open this January before stopping after one set because of a hamstring injury, and got to the final four at the French Open this month before losing to No. 1 Jannik Sinner. After that one, Djokovic took time as he left the court to kiss his hand and lean down to touch the clay, then said it could have been his last match at Roland-Garros.
There also was the not-so-small achievement of claiming a gold medal for Serbia at the Paris Olympics less than a year ago by beating Alcaraz, no less.
“These tournaments give me the biggest drive, still,” Djokovic said. “I like the way I feel right now, physically. Tennis-wise, I’ve been playing good on the practice sessions. Obviously completely different when you start a tournament. I’ll try to have a very good tournament and go as far as I can.”
And maybe even return in 2026. (AP)
