McEnroe reveals what his ‘gut is telling him’ about Novak Djokovic’s schedule
Novak Djokovic has secured his place at the 2025 ATP Finals, but he continues to keep his cards close to his chest in terms of his participation at the season-ending tournament and Patrick McEnroe has shared his views on tennis great’s plans.
The 24-time Grand Slam winner’s most recent event was the exhibition Six Kings Slam in Riyadh nearly a fortnight ago where he lost in the semi-final before he retired from his third-place playoff match against Taylor Fritz.
Although he didn’t give an official reason for his retirement, he appeared to struggle with a leg injury and later stated: “Now it’s rest and really addressing some of the issues I have with my body. Then hopefully playing the last couple of tournaments of the season, let’s see.”
You have to go back to October 4 for the last time Djokovic played on the ATP Tour as his most recent official match was at the Shanghai Masters when he was stunned by eventual champion Valentin Vacherot in the semi-finals.
But his ATP 1000 campaign in Asia was also overshadowed by health and fitness problems as he played with a strapped shoulder, vomited during two of his matches and also required treatment on his glutes.
Having opted to skip this week’s Paris Masters, the 38-year-old’s next tournament is the Hellenic Championships in Greece next week and he will be the top seed at the ATP 250 event.
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The ATP Finals is the final event of the season and Djokovic is one of five players who have already qualified with Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz the stars who have booked their spots in the Turin showpiece tournament.
Tennis commentator and former French Open doubles champion Patrick McEnroe shared his thoughts on Djokovic’s scheduling plans.
“The ATP Tour would love to have Djokovic there, but we are getting mixed messages from the great one,” the American told Forbes. “Sometimes he says he needs to play more events, other times not.
“He has certainly earned the right to play when he wants. My gut tells me he doesn’t play but begins gearing up for another run in Australia.”
Djokovic opted not to play at the 2024 edition of the ATP Finals, but the former world No 1 has so far given no indication about his plans for the 2025 tournament.
He is yet to reveal if he will play any warm-up events before the 2026 Australian Open as this year he played at the Brisbane International before the season-opening Grand Slam while in 2024 he took part in the United Cup.
