Novak Djokovic's success at the Australian Open throughout his career is unprecedented, but Todd Woodbridge thinks the Serbian will be an underdog at the opening Grand Slam of the year in 2025.
Djokovic's 2024 was still memorable after he secured the Olympic gold medal that had eluded him for so long. He produced one of the best serving performances of his career to beat Carlos Alcaraz 7-6, 7-6 in the gold medal match.
However, this season has also been unusual for Djokovic. The 24-time Grand Slam champion failed to add any additional Grand Slam titles to his record-breaking total, the first time that has happened since 2017.
Djokovic came closest to adding another major title at Wimbledon. He reached the final but missed out on tying Roger Federer's record of eight men's singles titles at SW19 after being crushed by Alcaraz in the final.
The 37-year-old also suffered a comprehensive defeat in the Australian Open semifinal to Jannik Sinner, who is guaranteed to be the year-end world No. 1 after Carlos Alcaraz's loss to Tomas Machac in Shanghai.
Sinner and Alcaraz demonstrated why they have split all four Grand Slams between them in 2024 by playing an epic final at the China Open in Beijing last week. Alcaraz outlasted Sinner in a brutal battle to triumph 6-7, 6-4, 7-6.
The development of those two players makes it more challenging for Djokovic to compete for Grand Slams. He showed how good his level can still be at the Olympics, but finding that consistently aged 37 is not easy.
How good Djokovic is at that age is unprecedented in tennis history and is a testament to the hard work the former world No. 1 has done over the years to keep himself in great shape at this late stage of his career.
Nonetheless, Djokovic is understandably not as good as he was in his prime, and staying competitive at the top is hard, but Woodbridge thinks Sinner and Alcaraz's emergence might give the Serbian more freedom at next year's Australian Open.
"He’s coming into a very different and unusual phase of his career because the way he’s chosen to not play as many tournaments, his focus is on the majors."
“He actually comes in as a bit of an underdog in all of these players we’re talking about because of that, and he didn’t win a major this year. I think it’s probably going to bring him freedom in the way that he approaches it, and he’ll enjoy that.”
Calling Djokovic an underdog before the Australian Open is a big statement from Woodbridge, despite his age and how good Sinner and Alcaraz are. Djokovic has won the Grand Slam in Melbourne an unprecedented ten times.
It would be foolish for anyone to rule out Djokovic. No player in tennis history has proven his doubters wrong so many times, and he could do that again by winning his 11th title at the Australian Open.
There is still the rest of 2024 to finish first, including Rafael Nadal's final professional appearance at the Davis Cup Finals before he retires.