Patrick McEnroe created a lot of buzz early this year when he predicted that Novak Djokovic wouldn’t win a Grand Slam, but he’s stuck with his prediction at the half-season mark.
So far, Djokovic hasn’t won a single Grand Slam, failing to do so at the Australian Open and Roland Garros. His next chance is coming up at the Wimbledon Championships, and the odds aren’t on his side, and the former ATP player Patrick McEnroe has reasons to explain why.
The American is sticking with his early-season prediction that Djokovic won’t win a single Grand Slam this year. It’s a bold prediction, but nothing the former player has seen so far this year has changed his mind.
“My assumption is he [Djokovic] is there practicing, seeing how it feels, seeing how it responds day to day. Clearly he’s hoping to play. That being said, I’m trying to think if he was 100% healthy what the odds would be, ’cause right now you’ve got Alcaraz and Sinner as heavy favourites.”
“Alcaraz is a slight favourite. Sinner is just right behind him, extremely close. Then there’s a big dropoff with Novak as the third guy.”
Obviously, a healthy Djokovic would have a decent chance at winning Wimbledon, but we don’t know how healthy he is. He looked really good at the Hurlingham Open against Daniil Medvedev, but it was an exhibition match, and when further discussing the tournament favorites, McEnroe reminded that he predicted at the start of the year that Djokovic wouldn’t win any majors.
“I’m assuming the big drop-off is mostly because of the injury issue. Then there’s even a more massive drop to the fourth, fifth, sixth guys that could potentially win, [Alexander] Zverev, [Daniil] Medvedev, [Stefanos] Tsitsipas, guys like that.”
“I think Djokovic, to me, I actually said at the beginning of the year, people thought I was crazy, maybe I am, but I didn’t think Djokovic was going to win a major this year for a variety of reasons.”
Still, if there is one place where the 37-year-old Serbian could succeed, it’s Wimbledon, given his incredible success at the tournament before. He won the event seven times, putting him far ahead of everyone else in the draw when it comes to experience on the grass courts.
“Now I have to say that the idea of him playing Wimbledon, if there’s one place where he could pull it off with this injury, having had this injury, maybe he could do it. Maybe this is what he needs to inspire him. He’s looked a little uninspired throughout most of this year, certainly in between Australia and the French Open where he suffered that injury.”
