Andre Agassi shared his thoughts on Novak Djokovic's remarkable career and his biology-defying feats at the age of 36.
With most of his longtime rivals either retired or struggling with fitness, Djokovic has emerged as the fittest. His late-career surge and experience have also taken him to many unchartered territories.
Djokovic has won 24 Grand Slams, the most of any man. He has also captured a record 40 Masters 1000 titles. At the end of last season, he was crowned the ATP's oldest year-end No. 1 for a record-extending eighth time.
In 2023, he put together one of the greatest seasons of his career, winning seven titles from 12 tournaments, including three Grand Slams. French coach Patrick Mouratoglous has previously claimed that Djokovic's physique will enable him to play well into his 40s.
But while Agassi still sees Djokovic competing at the top level for the foreseeable future, he is "convinced" his body will eventually crumple. The American tennis great told The Age and Sydney Morning Herald the Serb can only delay the inevitable, which is aging.
"The only thing I’m absolutely convinced about is Novak will not beat Father Time. It’s just a question of how long you can postpone it. I definitely see a few more years of him being the one that has to be dealt with."
Whether Djokovic will pass the torch to the new generation this season remains a major talking point. But the 53-year-old, who was in attendance to see the 36-year-old overcome his first test at the 2024 Australian Open against Dino Prizmic, expects him to break more records.
"How can you say something isn’t possible? Records are meant to be broken, right? Obviously we’re just speculating on so many things, which includes health, and that’s going to start to rear its head."
Furthermore, Agassi, who coached Djokovic for a short period between 2017 and 2018, believes numbers don't lie in regard to the GOAT debate. Djokovic has surpassed his two great rivals, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, in almost every tennis metric.
"You can’t argue with the stats that Novak has put on the board for crying out loud. From the slams, to the number of weeks of No.1. There’s so many stats that he is just kind of redefining, you know."
However, the eight-time major champion sounded words of praise to the trio, stating that tennis has "benefitted" from all having of them at a go.
"How do you leave Federer out of that conversation and how do you leave (acknowledge) the elegance in which Federer did what he did. With Rafa, I don’t know if tennis has ever seen somebody who competes like that."
"For me, it’s like what has got me on paper is one thing, but who’s who’s really benefited the game? I think the game has benefited dramatically from all of them. Absolutely."
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