Novak Djokovic, throughout his entire career, has always been the master of self-confidence.
His belief in his own ability to upset the odds, no matter the event or the opponent, is what has driven him to the very top of the sport.
And now, he is within touching distance of cementing his legacy as the greatest of all time, should he win Grand Slam number 25.
Naturally, that was a huge topic of conversation during his recent Australian Open press conference, and yet what he said shocked those reacting on The Tennis Podcast.
Novak Djokovic told he looked dejected ahead of the Australian Open
Host Catherine Whitaker was the first to express her concerns, admitting: “I was quite shocked by how tired and well… weary and resigned he seemed and sounded.”
David Law concurred, adding: “Yeah, I was a bit as well.
“I mean, I suppose he was introduced into the room by the moderator as playing in his 21st Australian Open. I suppose when you’ve been through this whole process and you’ve won the thing, what is it, ten times and you’ve been in all these pre-tournament press conferences? It probably does get a bit wearying and boring, and you might struggle to show much enthusiasm.
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“Not that he wasn’t polite when he walked in, and he gave all the questions his due care and attention, but there was just a bit of a lack of fizz about it. There wasn’t much energy. He didn’t look that up for it all, and to be honest, and that’s fine.”
He then expressed how none of this matters if he brings enthusiasm to the court, but remained fearful of Novak Djokovic’s chances: “He needs to, I guess, ultimately look up for it when he gets out on the tennis court, but I asked him in my first question about his health, given that he’d produced some good performances at Grand Slams, consistent performances last year without breaking through against the ones that he really wants to be. But he’d been in a constant battle with his body.
“He was always struggling with something, and that’s no great surprise at the age of 38, and I wanted to know from him whether he found solutions in the off-season. You know, he’d had a couple of months without having to play tournaments. Has he figured it out? How does he feel?
“I just didn’t get a really positive vibe from him, and he said he’d pulled out of Adelaide last week because he’d felt something, I think an issue with the neck. And I don’t get the sense that he has cracked it, if you like.”
One of the driving forces for this opinion from these pundits was the reply when Djokovic was asked if he could beat Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at the Australian Open.
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For over a year now, Djokovic has routinely praised Alcaraz and Sinner but attested that they are not invincible.
However, it really feels like even he has started to distrust himself, especially after the answer he gave at the press conference.
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Asked what he is missing to be able to compete, in interviews of old, he would have offered a show of defiance and insisted he remains very much in the conversation.
Alas, on this occasion, he conceded: “I’m missing a little bit of juice in my legs, to be honest, to be able to compete with these guys at the later stages of a grand slam.
“But I’m definitely giving my best, as I have in 2025.”
This was the outstanding defeatist comment, which suggested that Djokovic was merely happy to be involved rather than genuinely planning on winning.
