Imagine you’re 38 and still the third-best player in a sport as punishing as tennis. Ask any other athlete if they’d complain – probably not.
But will Novak Djokovic be satisfied with it?
Being third isn’t the problem. The challenge is being third in a two-man race dominated by modern gladiators Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
“What you’ve done at the majors this year would probably be the envy of every player on the tour – except two,” a journalist told Djokovic after he was in the US Open 2025 semifinal.
“What are your thoughts on what you’ve accomplished, and whether that will be enough for you in the future?” the journalist added, asking the 24-time Grand Slam champion.
We’ll get to Djokovic’s answer shortly. First, let’s unpack that statement.
HAPPY BEING NO. 3?
Four semifinal appearances this year, three defeats to either Sinner or Alcaraz. For the first time in eight years, Djokovic will finish a season without a Grand Slam final.
It’s all about motivation, right? When do legends bow out – when they wake up believing they have nothing left to give, nothing more to prove, nothing else to fight for? Or when their bodies simply cannot dance to the tune of their ambitions anymore?
Djokovic has never hidden his hunger for No. 25. Unlike the other Big Three members, he never downplayed milestones. For someone driven to be better than the best, failing to win a Slam and waiting for No. 25 for two years will sting.
Does Djokovic still have enough fuel to gatecrash the Sincaraz party? At 38, it might be a bridge too far. And in 2026, the challenge only grows – Alcaraz and Sinner aren’t slowing down, and Djokovic doesn’t seem poised to suddenly find the level needed to tackle these red-hot rivals.
If 2025 is any evidence, Djokovic may no longer have the legs to handle the Sincaraz menace.
Yet how do you tell someone who battled – and beaten – two of the greatest to have ever played the sport, Federer and Nadal, to stop believing he can still outlast or outclass Sinner and Alcaraz?
“I lost three out of four Slams in the semis against these guys (Sinner and Alcaraz). They are just too good, playing on a really high level,” we had previously discussed.
WHEN NOLE DECIDED TO GIVE UP!
There were flashes of brilliance in the US Open semifinal. Djokovic still defied belief, racing to the net to retrieve an Alcaraz drop shot, hitting one of the best-ever backhand down-the-line winners. Yet the lack of conviction and subtle tentativeness forced many to wonder: is the end approaching?
For someone who made winning from two sets down look effortless, Djokovic giving up without a fight in the third set was hard to watch.
After getting broken in the first service game, he hung in and prevented Alcaraz from storming through the set. In the second, Djokovic led 3-0 and looked poised to become the first man to take a set off Alcaraz this year at Flushing Meadows. Yet he could not sustain the pressure, and Alcaraz completed the job in just 2 hours and 23 minutes.
After losing the second-set tiebreaker, Djokovic appeared to give up. He had been managing a niggle in his neck over the last two weeks, and in the third set, it clearly caused trouble as he was obliterated 2-6.
Yes, Djokovic could still mask the dips in reflexes and pace with his extraordinary anticipatory skills, built on years of hard work and hours of study. But it wasn’t enough against Alcaraz. Nor was it enough against Sinner in London and Paris.
On Friday, Djokovic continued his recently-adopted tactic of keeping rallies short, despite it being against his strengths. He knew the beautiful brutality of Alcaraz’s forehand would punish him if he missed by even an inch. That’s why tentativeness crept into his usually near-perfect backhand strokes. Serving and volleying, he lacked the power on his serves to trouble Alcaraz, 16 years his junior.
SINNER HURDLE IS TOUGHER
If Alcaraz, whom he had beaten while injured in Melbourne eight months ago, seemed a bridge too far, Sinner promises to be even tougher. Djokovic has suffered straight-set losses in his last two encounters with the World No. 1 Italian. For him, it must have felt like facing a younger version of himself.
Alcaraz is as good as anyone on tour. But he has phases of inconsistency that someone like Djokovic or Sinner could exploit. Sinner, however, rarely drops his level. As opponent Alexander Bublik said last week, Sinner is “nothing but an AI-generated algorithm, not capable of going wrong at all.”
“Unfortunately, I ran out of gas after the second set. I had enough energy to keep up with him for two sets. After that, I just gassed out. But he kept going,” Djokovic said of his semi-final performance.
Djokovic, who promised to give his best to before the semi-final, sounded more defeated when speaking about the challenge of facing the young guns.
“That’s kind of what I felt this year with Jannik (too). Best of five makes it very, very difficult for me to play them. Particularly, if it’s the end stages of the Grand Slam,” he said.
It’s a dilemma for the Serb. But he isn’t ready to pull the plug yet.
“We will see. I have to address that (inability to match Sincaraz over five sets) with my team. That’s a sentiment after the Grand Slam season this year. That doesn’t mean I would skip Grand Slams. I still want to play the full Grand Slam season next year. Let’s see whether that is going to happen or not. But Slams are Slams. They are different from any other tournament.
“But, I do fancy my chances a bit more in best of three, one-week tournaments or the Masters tournaments where you have two weeks with quite a few days between matches. So, you know that could serve me better in the match-ups against them,” he said.
THE LOVE THAT LONG ELUDED HIM
There’s motivation – in the form of love from the crowd that long eluded him, someone who was never a fan favourite outside Serbia. For much of his career, Djokovic thrived as the antagonist in front of packed crowds.
The New York crowd was firmly behind the Serb on Friday. Even those who didn’t want him to surpass Federer’s 20 might be rooting for his 25th now.
“I still enjoy the thrill of competition. Today, I received amazing support on the court from the crowd. Very thankful for that. That’s one of the big reasons I keep on going. The love that I have been getting from people around the world has been amazing,” he said.
It will be fitting if the crowd rallies him to do special things when he returns next year. Imagine a vocal Melbourne crowd pushing him to stretch his limits in a semifinal against Alcaraz.
Yes, the dream of winning No. 25 is alive, but without full conviction. You can’t rule him out, but it might take something extraordinary – and whether that, with due respect to arguably the greatest player the sport has ever seen, is in Djokovic’s control is doubtful.