Novak Djokovic’s wait for Major title No 25 continued after he suffered third straight semifinal loss at a Grand Slam event this year. Despite looking the part on his way to the semi-finals beating the likes of Dan Evans, Alex de Minaur and Flavio Cobolli before he was defeated by eventual champion Janik Sinner.
Just like he suffered a defeat at the hands of the Italian in the French Open prior to the Wimbledon, Djokovic went down 3-6, 3-6, 4-6. As Djokovic has been made to wait till the US Open for his 25th title, his former coach Boris Becker has weighed in with his thoughts about the elusive number.
Speaking on the podcast ‘Becker Petkovic’, the former World No 1 was asked if Djokovic could win another Grand Slam. “That’s the big question now, because to win a Grand Slam, he probably has to beat both [Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner],” Becker said.
“That’s how it was with Wimbledon, and he said Wimbledon was the tournament where he had his best chance of winning a Grand Slam. As a reminder, he has already won the tournament seven times. He’s now reached the semifinals of Wimbledon 14 times, just imagine. That’s so absurd, it’s an insane number,” Becker who coached Djokovic not too long ago said.
With Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz showing leading the way, Becker questioned if the 38-year-old Djokovic could match his young rivals. “He also has to realise, yes, he did injure himself a bit on match point against [Flavio] Cobolli, but at 38, you get injured more easily,” he said.
“Against [Jannik] Sinner, in the first two sets, I think he was relatively fit. Sinner, of course, was the better player, because for me, Sinner is Djokovic 2.0; he’s another version of Djokovic, 15 years younger. Novak knows that, too,” Becker added.
Given these factors Becker wasn’t sure how ‘realistic’ it is for Djokovic to chase Major title No 25. “I’m glad he reached the semifinals; he played a great tournament, but is that enough for him?” he asked. “He’s still playing tennis because he wants to win 25 Grand Slams, to become the sole record holder. But it must be said that on their good days, Sinner and Alcaraz are better than Djokovic is on his good days. That frustrates him, but he’s a realist. The question is, how realistic are the chances he’ll win another Grand Slam now, because time is running out for him.”
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
