Novak Djokovic has recognized this year as his worst season in 15 years after his third-round loss at the 2024 US Open.
Djokovic has been a tremendous player for much of his career. Even in the earlier stages of his career, it was obvious that he would achieve great things on the ATP Tour. Nobody really saw him dominating as much as he did, but that’s generally true for any player.
Even the most iconic tennis players in history, like Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, overachieved compared to what people thought they could do. For Djokovic, the example is even more drastic.
He won his maiden Grand Slam trophy in 2008 but then took a few years to win another one. It only came in 2011 when he won the Australian Open again. He certainly didn’t expect back in 2008, when he won his first, to win one in 2023.
That was 15 years away and unlikely to happen by any statistical metric, no matter how confident he was in his abilities. Over the years, he got himself to 24 majors, the last of which he won at last year’s US Open.
He rarely completed a season without winning a Grand Slam and generally won many other trophies as well. This year, that hasn’t been the case, as the only event he played at his peak level was the Olympics, and he won that event.
While that was an achievement he was desperate for, the year overall has been far below expectations compared to the past few seasons, and it started with a failed title defense at the Australian Open.
An injury impacted his Roland Garros campaign, and at the Wimbledon Championships, he struggled to reach his peak level. Objectively, in his mind, it has been his weakest year in 15 years, as he revealed after his loss to Alexei Popyrin at the 2024 US Open.
"I had a feeling that I could win the title at RG, but I got injured there. The Wimbledon final. The Olympics was the biggest goal, that’s where I played my best. If it’s such a year to win only that gold, I accept it, I’ve been waiting for it all my life."
"The weakest season in terms of results in the last 15 years, that’s how I feel, but that’s how it is. Just [thinking] about tomorrow and next week. I will return to Belgrade, and I will see how I feel going forward."
The biggest disappointment of 2024 could be considered the fact that Djokovic didn’t win a single Grand Slam trophy, which rarely happened to him. His win-loss record doesn’t look too impressive, either, at least compared to his previous seasons.
The popular 'eye test' is the most important one, and he didn’t pass that one either at most of the tournament. Luckily for his legacy, he won the Paris Olympics, which was the biggest goal of this season for him, and maybe also a goal that impacted all of his other results.
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