“Novak Djokovic’s ‘Giant Aura’ Fades: Experts Urge Him to Set a New Major Goal!”

Outside of those performances, Djokovic faced challenges this year, losing in the semi-finals of the Australian Open, withdrawing from his Roland Garros quarter-final due to injury, and suffering a surprising third-round exit at the US Open to Alexei Popyrin.

 

On the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, Shriver, a 21-time Grand Slam doubles champion, expressed her belief that Djokovic no longer commands the same level of intimidation from his peers.

 

“Novak seems to have lost a bit of that intimidating aura, where he would almost start each set with a two-love lead,” the American remarked.

 

Reflecting on Djokovic’s season, she noted, “The French Open, the knee injury, the surgery on the meniscus… when you consider his performance before this year—just one tournament win, the Olympics, and no ATP Tour victories despite reaching the Wimbledon final and the Australian Open semi-finals—it’s clear something was off. His struggle in the Australian Open semi-final against Sinner and then the injury at Roland Garros foreshadowed his year.”

 

After undergoing knee surgery following his Roland Garros withdrawal, Djokovic made a remarkable comeback, reaching the Wimbledon final. However, his primary focus for 2024 was always the Olympics at Roland Garros. He achieved his goal by winning the gold medal against Alcaraz, becoming only the fifth player to complete a career Golden Slam (all four majors and Olympic singles gold).

 

With that milestone achieved, Shriver believes Djokovic needs new objectives.

 

“Clearly, he put everything into accomplishing the one thing he hadn’t done—winning an Olympic gold medal,” she added. “But I don’t think there was enough time for him to reset. He skipped Canada, Cincinnati, and other warm-up tournaments. Now, he needs to establish his next big goal. Is it to reach 25 Grand Slam singles titles? He needs something to drive him forward.”