Martina Navratilova has some sage advice for Novak Djokovic after his loss to Jack Draper, which she thinks not only will prolong his career but also make him more dangerous for elite titles.
After all, despite largely impressing in Indian Wells, he was outlasted by Jack Draper in just the Round of 16, who was only just returning from a long-term injury.
It was this decision to elongate the match that Martina Navratilova took issue with, and speaking live on Sky Sports, she offered an alternative strategy for him moving forward.
Martina Navratilova’s advice for Novak Djokovic after his loss to Jack Draper
She began by admitting that, at his age, prolonging matches should be the last thing on his agenda. Aggression is the way forward if he is to go deep into these events and compete for trophies, and he lacked that earlier this week against Draper.
Navratilova stated: “I think he’s at that age where he needs to keep the points shorter. He can still tire people out, but that should not be the goal.
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“That should be a byproduct of how he is playing, rather than looking for playing defence and tiring people out, running him side to side, because now he’s tiring himself out.
“You have to give a nod to Father Time eventually, and I think he needs to shorten up the points rather than hoping that he will tire his opponent out.”
Navratilova had compared Djokovic to Aryna Sabalenka earlier this week, interestingly enough, continuing to reference the legendary Serbian.
Novak Djokovic withdraws from the Miami Open
Whilst Novak Djokovic has struggled at Indian Wells over the past decade or so, Miami has proven a slightly happier hunting ground for him, both historically and more recently.
After all, he is a six-time champion there, and even reached the final last year.
Meanwhile, he has won five titles at Indian Wells, and has not reached a final there since he last won it in 2016.
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Sadly, he has made the decision not to compete this year, and has therefore forfeited the 650 points he earned from reaching the final in 2025.
Djokovic pointed out the highlight he took from his loss to Draper, and it’s something he will have to take with him into the clay-court season, having opted against returning to Miami.
