“A shot at another Slam”: Novak Djokovic pushes on, but intimate discussions on future persist
The 38-year-old tennis legend Novak Djokovic is at a crossroads, pondering his future even as he pushes for one more title at the US Open
Novak Djokovic, US Open 2025 | © Antoine Couvercelle
The mantra is a familiar one. Novak Djokovic is relentless. After winning his third-round match at the US Open, he once again spoke of his desire to push on and challenge for more Grand Slam titles. But his words were also laced with the same philosophical introspection he’s shown throughout a challenging 2025 season, on his deep will to continue the sacrifices for glory.
The 38-year-old Serb finds himself at a familiar crossroads. The drive is there, the passion is palpable, but so is the physical wear and tear that has become a recurring theme this year. “You know, biological age is not something that I guess you can reverse”, he had to admit after a small alert on the left back during the match.
“I still feel like I have a game left in me, you know to play at the highest level,” Djokovic said after his win over Cameron Norrie. “And as I said before several times, as long as I have that feeling of really that that that level is still alive, is still present. I feel like I want to keep going and I want to keep pushing my myself to, to see, you know, whether I can have a shot at another slam.” He’s currently at the fourth round in New York, where he will face Jan-Lennard Struff.
Despite the physical setbacks, Djokovic remains committed to his craft and his career
This sentiment is the core of Djokovic’s 2025 campaign. He’s reached the semifinals of every major so far this year, but a series of physical issues have prevented him from going further.
Djokovic’s journey in 2025 has been a testament to his fighting spirit, but it has also been a stark reminder of his mortality. After the Australian Open semifinals, he was forced to retire against Alexander Zverev with a muscle tear, a first for him in a Grand Slam. This was followed by a straight-sets loss to Jannik Sinner in the semifinals of Roland Garros, a match he said “could have been the last match ever I played here, so… I don’t know.” Despite the loss, he was proud of his effort and praised the crowd.
At Wimbledon, his struggles continued. After a fall during his quarterfinal win over Flavio Cobolli, he was not at his best physically in the semifinals against Jannik Sinner, losing in straight sets. “Honestly, it wasn’t really a pleasant feeling on the court,” he said. “As much as I’m taking care of it, the reality hits me right now, the last year and a half, like never before, to be honest.” He admitted that he was going into the match with his “tank half empty.”
Despite the physical setbacks, he remains committed to his craft and his career. At Wimbledon, he insisted that his loss was not a farewell, stating, “I’m not planning to finish my Wimbledon career today. I’m planning to come back definitely – at least one more time.”
At 38, Djokovic is fully aware of the conversations happening in his mind and in the world around him. He’s been asked repeatedly about retirement and his future.
“I mean, I’m asking myself questions, of course, more nowadays than I have been ever before in terms of, like : how long do I want to keep going at this level? And how do I want to approach my schedule to kind of extend my career?” he said in New York after skipping all the Masters 1000 since Rome in May.
Djokovic is a master at taking care of his body
He insists his love for the game and the competition is still there, but he also acknowledges the difficulty of dealing with a body that no longer responds as it once did. It is a new reality that he must accept and embrace, while trying to “make the most out of what I have left.”
“I’m the first one to try it out because I really I not only want to be able to extend my career and perform well at this stage for as long as I can, but also I love the wellness and longevity”, he said. “I just am very attracted by that, like it’s one of my biggest passions in life. So I always, I always love to see how not only how sick can we be, but how healthy can we be. You know, like prevention. I’ve worked a lot on that, but I don’t think there is much more that I could do than what I’m doing now, to be honest.”
“I might get a little bit more philosophical again when I finish the tournament,” he concluded. “But (in between), I’ll try to focus on next challenge here.”
