Djokovic Predicted To Win Australian Open And Enjoy Successful 2025 By Tennis Legend
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Novak Djokovic's hopes for 2025 have been given a ringing endorsement by multiple Grand Slam doubles champion Mark Woodforde, who has backed him to win the Australian Open.
2024 was a complicated year for Djokovic. The Serbian only managed one title throughout the season, but that came at the Paris Olympics, where he secured the Olympic gold medal that eluded him for several years.
However, 2024 was also the first year since 2017 that the former ATP World No. 1 failed to win at least one of the four Grand Slams during a season. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz split the four majors between them last season.
Sinner won a maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open before beating Taylor Fritz in a one-sided final at the US Open. Alcaraz overcame Alexander Zverev in five sets in the French Open final and triumphed against Djokovic in the Wimbledon final.
Djokovic has not taken that failure to win a Grand Slam in 2024 lying down. The 24-time major champion surprised fans and analysts by appointing his former rival Andy Murray as his coach during the off-season.
Murray did not travel with Djokovic to the Brisbane International and is on a skiing holiday with his family. That demonstrates that he is mainly wanted in the most significant tournaments because the Briton can relate to the pressure of competing in those moments.
Djokovic's opening tournament of the 2025 season included playing doubles with Nick Kyrgios. The pair won a dramatic first-round match but narrowly lost in the second round despite being 8-6 up in the deciding 10-point tiebreak.
In an interview with Tennis365, Woodforde outlined his confidence in Djokovic's chances of succeeding in 2025. The Australian also described what might have led to him struggling throughout most of the 2024 season by his high standards.
"I am expecting we will see the return of the Novak Djokovic of 2023. Don’t forget, he won three of the four majors that year and ended by winning the ATP Finals and confirming the world No 1 ranking once again. He also made it a goal for Serbia to do well in the Davis Cup and they came up just short after losing to Italy in the semi-finals."
"After playing that brilliant match against Jannik Sinner in the Davis Cup, he didn’t get a lot of time off to prepare for the 2024 season and at the Australian Open last year, he struggled."
"He probably didn’t give his body enough time to recover and that may have been because he crammed so much into 2023 and wasn’t able to go again.“He probably didn’t give his body enough time to recover and that may have been because he crammed so much into 2023 and wasn’t able to go again."
"Now he has taken some time off at the back end of the 2024 season and I expect him to be rested, recuperated and recharged for the challenge of taking on Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz. I expect him to give the Australian Open a real tilt."
"For the Australian Open, I’m going to go with Djokovic to win it. “I was in Paris to watch Djokovic win his Olympic gold medal and it was a tremendous performance. It was one of the matches of the year and the the standard Novak played during that event was incredible."
