INSIDE TENNIS: Novak Djokovic's form is in tatters and his aura of invincibility is dissipating... he should retire after Wimbledon
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- Novak Djokovic's form continues to nosedive after losing at the Madrid Open
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Last week in Madrid, Novak Djokovic was heard chuntering in his practice session with coach Andy Murray. It was in Serbian but the gist was: 'F*** this sport, f*** tennis, f*** everything.' On Tuesday evening he withdrew from next week's Italian Open in Rome.
If any sportsman in history has earned the right to decide when it's time to go, it is Djokovic. But that time is beginning to feel very close.
The 37-year-old's form is in tatters and his aura of invincibility is dissipating. He cannot retire before Wimbledon, which surely represents his last chance to win that elusive 25th Grand Slam.
But after that I cannot see how he can continue to contend with the forces of youth in the majors - the only events that matter to him now. He looks lightyears away from the level Jannik Sinner produced in winning the US and Australian Opens.
Once the sun has set on the Championships in mid-July, whether on glory or defeat, it looks like a pretty good time to draw a line under the greatest career this sport has ever seen.
The most damning aspect of the great Serb's 6-3, 6-4 defeat by Matteo Arnaldi at the Madrid Open last Saturday is that it was not especially surprising. The Italian has had a wretched year, as had Alejandro Tabilo before he beat Djokovic in Monte Carlo. But at the moment - and this feels an almost heretical thought to verbalise - Djokovic feels like a good player to face when you really need a win.
Historically a byword for consistency, Djokovic has been littering the court with errors recently, with 32 against Arnaldi.
He has now lost the first match in four of his last five tournaments. To place that in context, before that run he had lost the first match in four of his last 78 events. But even if this recent slump has been sudden, the deterioration has been going on for some time. Since winning three out of the four Grand Slams in 2023 he has played 16 tour events, made three finals and won zero titles.
Amid this horrible run he won the Olympic gold medal, and with each passing week that triumph looks even more extraordinary. With his powers fading, his motivation faltering and his body rebelling, he somehow summoned everything he had into one last push for his one last goal. In retrospect, that 7-6, 7-6 defeat of Carlos Alcaraz might be Djokovic's finest-ever performance.
It is as if that one last great effort has left him spent, incapable of rousing himself for run of the mill events.
He will not be like coach Murray, who battled away for years on the more modest reaches of the tour after hip surgery. Asked after the defeat in Monte Carlo what his goals were for the clay court season, he replied: 'Roland Garros. That's it.'
After Madrid came some hints of his uncertainty over how long he will go on. 'I'm not sure if I will come back,' he said when asked if he expected to return in 2026. 'I don't know what to say. I mean, I'll come back, maybe not as a player, of course. I hope it's not, but it could be.
'Things are different, obviously, with my strokes, with my body, with my movement, it's the reality that I have to accept. I'll try to make the most out of these new circumstances that I have, particularly on Grand Slams, where it counts the most for me, at least where I would like to do my best. So let's see what happens.'
What is left to motivate him? His final peak is the quarter-century, a 25th Grand Slam title to overtake Margaret Court and sit atop the pile for both men and women. He is also frozen on 99 career titles, trying to join Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors in the century club. Given he is yet to win a match on clay this year - and could do so before Roland Garros only at a lower-level event - a fourth title in Paris looks an incredibly tall order.
But the fact he reached last year's Wimbledon final just six weeks after meniscus surgery shows how far know-how can carry you on the grass.
He did it once at the Olympics; could he gather up the dying embers of his fire into one last blaze at the All England Club? I honestly cannot see it - but this is not a man to be written off. What a way that would be to go: an eighth Wimbledon crown to tie Federer, a 100th ATP title, a 25th Grand Slam.
They say there's no such thing as a perfect ending in sport. Then again, we thought there was no such thing as a perfect tennis player - and then this guy came along.
Storm Sanders' nightmare singles return preparation
Among the mayhem this week as power drained from swathes of Europe, the focus from a tennis point of view was on those players in Madrid, eating by candlelight and struggling to get back to their hotels.
That was luxury compared to what Australian former doubles No 1 Storm Sanders (nee Hunter) had to endure. Heading to the Catalonian city of Vic for a Challenger event, Sanders was stuck on a train for 14 hours with limited food and water and no access to toilets.
Having been evacuated to Barcelona and facing a night sleeping on the floor of the town hall, she eventually managed to find an Uber willing to take her to her hotel.
At 12.20am she was finally there - on the day of her first singles match for a year, after a ruptured achilles tendon. With that context, a 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 defeat by Ruth Roura Llaverias seems almost heroic.
New technology, same old Alexander Zverev moans
The ATP tour knew there would be teething problems when they decided to replace line judges with electronic line calling on clay but presumably an enormous power outage disabling the system was not something they anticipated.
Far more predictable was that Alexander Zverev would be among the loudest moaners.
In Madrid he received a wrap on the wrist for taking out his phone to snap a picture of a mark which he felt was out, begging umpire Mohamed Lahyani to get down from his chair to inspect the mark, like the old days.
Eleven months ago in the French Open final Zverev again rowed with the umpire, over a Carlos Alcaraz serve he felt was wide. Had electronic line calling been in place there he would have been vindicated, so he cannot have it both ways - we either trust the technology or we don't.
Humans or robots, the common denominator is Zverev and his whingeing.
Ethan Quinn the latest young American talent to watch
The 21-year-old Californian has had a tough time since swapping the University of Georgia for the school of hard knocks.
Quinn saved a match point to win the NCAA singles title as a freshman in 2023, then decided to leave college and go pro. His transition was far from smooth, with some rough runs of form on the Challenger Tour.
But at the back end of last year something clicked, and qualifying runs in Barcelona and Madrid have him closing on the top 100.
With a massive forehand and a lanky athleticism, he is one to add to the packed roster of talented young Americans.
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