Patrick Mouratoglou makes bold Novak Djokovic prediction for 2025
Novak Djokovic is heading into 2025 with plenty of questions surrounding his tennis future, but Patrick Mouratoglou believes he could still win another Grand Slam title next year.
Djokovic’s era of dominance was brought to a crashing halt this year as young guns Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz shared the Grand Slam titles between them.
The Serbian maestro will still look back on the season with pride as he achieved his primary goal of winning an Olympic gold medal for Serbia at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Yet the prospect of Djokovic beating Sinner or Alcaraz over five sets as he approaches his 38th birthday seems increasingly forlorn, especially as he the most successful male player of all-time has confirmed he will play a greatly reduced tournament schedule from this point forward as he prepares to become a ‘part-time’ player.
It adds up to a narrative that makes another Djokovic Grand Slam win in 2025 seem unlikely, yet super-coach Mouratoglou believes the Serbian legend still has the possibility of winning a 25th Grand Slam and moving past Margaret Court as the player with the most majors in tennis history.
Speaking exclusively to Tennis365 ahead of the UTS Grand Final in London in December, Serena Williams’ former coach suggested writing off the all-time greats is a dangerous game.
“I think he had a very bad year, but it came after an incredible year,” Mouratoglou told Tennis365.
“Let’s not forget that only last year he won three Grand Slams and played in the final of the other. So we shouldn’t forget that was just one year ago, not ten years ago, just one year ago.
“He won the Olympics which was his main focus this year, beating Carlos in the final, playing fantastic tennis, so he is not far away.
“I think he can beat them (Sinner and Alcaraz). It’s very hard, there was a lot of margin before, but now there is none.
“When he plays them I think anyone can win, but I don’t think he’s far behind. I think he can still win Grand Slams, I’m sure about it.”
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Djokovic has insisted he still believes he can add to his collection of major titles, with Mouratoglou stressing the drive to push for more is the biggest threat to the former world No 1 in the final phase of his career after his big rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal retired.
“For Novak, it’s only about his motivation,” added Mouratoglou.
“I understand that he struggles with it at the moment because all his career was about beating the other two and being better than them, that was the fight of his life in tennis and he won.
“So to keep his motivation now, it’s very difficult. ow that Rafa is retiring, the whole year that was the problem, that’s how I see it, I don’t know if I’m right, but this year for Novak was tough.
“This is because from the start of the season, you could see that Rafa was struggling so much and probably came to his mind, well I won.
“When you fight all your life for something and you finally get it, where do you find the motivation?
“So I hope this difficult year is something he will be able to use to feed his motivation and come back next year as good as the previous one because then we’ll have a fight between those three that is going to be unbelievable and I want to see it.”
The UTS Grand Final will be played at London’s Copper Box from December 6-8.