The Nothing Major Podcast, hosted by former players John Isner, Sam Querrey, Steve Johnson, and Jack Sock, recounted a story of Novak Djokovic putting a clothing brand near bankruptcy by winning too often.
Djokovic does not play as often as he used to. Now 37 years old, the 24-time Grand Slam champion focuses primarily on the four Grand Slams and representing Serbia. That is entirely understandable at this late stage of his career.
The former world No. 1 withdrew from the ongoing ATP Finals, citing an injury as the reason. Djokovic might have been referring to a knee injury he has managed since the French Open, but there were rumors about him pulling out no matter what.
His decision to withdraw from the ATP Finals was not made until last week. That led to Andrey Rublev, one of the men who qualified for the ATP Finals because Djokovic pulled out, being criticized by Lorenzo Sonego after the Russian withdrew from the Moselle Open after one match.
While the tennis legend's schedule is lighter now, he used to play an entire season when he could physically do so and did not need to prioritize. That meant Djokovic dominated almost all parts of the year when he was in his prime.
2011 and 2015 are most regularly cited as Djokovic's prime. He won three Grand Slams during each of those seasons. The Serbian also secured three major titles in 2023, but Djokovic admitted that he was no longer at his peak last year.
In 2009, Djokovic signed a 10-year deal with the Sergio Tacchini clothing brand. Although it offered smaller guarantees than bigger brands, the ten-time Australian Open winner was promised huge bonuses for winning tournaments.
However, that move backfired on Sergio Tacchini. Querrey discussed how the brand was pushed to bankruptcy because it could not financially cope with how often Djokovic won, eventually being forced to drop him.
"Remember that back in the day when Novak was with Sergio Tacchini, Novak was with them for 4 or 5 years and the rumor was that he was essentially just putting them out of business because he kept winning every Major."
"Yeah and every Masters series, he’s just triggering bonus after bonus after bonus and they’re not Nike and they were just, 'oops Novak’s so much', they couldn't continue and they dropped him or they went under, or what happened but it ended."
Isner remembered that Djokovic's incredible 2011 season caused the clothing brand the most problems. The American incorrectly referred to it as 2012, but it was clear which year he meant.
"It was his legendary 2012 year, remember he started like 42-0. I mean it was absurd, he was undefeated through Rome and he was wearing Tacchini. They’re like lose. We’ve got €5000 left in the Sergio Tacchini bank account. We can’t give you any more."
Sergio Tacchini could never have predicted that Djokovic, who only had one Grand Slam to his name when he signed in 2009, would become the statistically most successful tennis player ever.