Novak Djokovic critics told they should stop telling tennis great ‘he should quit’
Novak Djokovic’s detractors have been told they have no right to tell the tennis great it is time to retire with former world No 1 Jimmy Connors saying “he doesn’t have to please anybody”.
The 24-time Grand Slam winner has played only two tournaments so far in 2026, reaching the final of the Australian Open before losing against Carlos Alcaraz in four sets, while he was beaten in a gruelling round of 16 match by Jack Draper at the Indian Wells Open.
Djokovic initially signed up for the Miami Open, but he withdrew from the ATP Masters 1000 event due to a shoulder injury and it remains to be seen when he will next feature on the ATP Tour as he has insisted he will only play a handful of events every year.
Some, of course, are upset that he is picking and choosing his events as they believe the time is right for him to retire, especially with the likes of Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner now the leaders of men’s tennis.
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However, fellow Grand Slam-winning great Connors has hit back, saying on The Advantage Connors podcast: “I like rooting for Novak [but] it catches up with everybody, getting older, recuperating not as fast and it wears on you mentally a little bit more when you have those long matches.
“But he works on it on a daily basis and I think we talked about this before, he takes care of himself, he eats the right food, he gets in a chamber, he does whatever he can to keep his fitness and do whatever he needs to do to play at that level.
“And here is another thing I don’t like. I don’t like people going round saying ‘he should quit’. There is only one guy who is going to tell me that he’s going to quit, and that’s him.
“You can’t take away something that somebody loves so much. The way that he has played, his record shows it, how much he enjoys doing what he is doing, and still trying to be at the level that satisfies him. I think that is more the key.
“I don’t think he has to please anybody. He does not have to please me; I’m a spectator.
“He has to please himself, and if he walks out of there and feels like he has done everything that he can, which he does, and it seems like he does every day, you cannot ask for any more than that.”
