Novak Djokovic understands why people are speaking about a changing of the guard in tennis, but he’s not ready to throw in the towel.
The 2024 season has gone largely in favor of young stars on the ATP Tour, such as Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. They both bested the Serbian en route to a Grand Slam trophy this year and generally outperformed Djokovic in the first seven months of the season.
It’s no wonder that many started talking about ‘changing the guard,’ but the 37-year-old isn’t quite ready to throw in the towel yet. If his Wimbledon final appearance showed anything, then it’s that he’s not done or anything close to being done yet.
He still has the level necessary to go deep into events, which is why he’s backing himself to get back to winning ways in the future. He even mentioned the young stars recently admitting that their results have been great, but they need to be confirmed over time, when proposed the ‘changing of the guard’ narrative.
“Carlos’ results make it deserved to talk about a generational change on his part, and Sinner is doing very well this year, but these results must be validated over time.”
It’s clear that Djokovic still thinks he is capable of challenging these young players. He also threw some subtle shade on some of the pundits, of whom the vast majority never really got to that high level, yet they are judging possibly the greatest tennis player of all time.
“There are people who have not even come close to winning Grand Slam titles making these assertions. Well, words are carried away by the wind.”
It’s not that simple, and many factors go into performing on the tennis court, including the amount of work and motivation. Very few players work as hard as Djokovic or are as motivated.
