Exclusive: Novak Djokovic’s former rival reveals ‘logical way’ tennis legend has evolved his game
What has allowed Novak Djokovic to maintain his dominance in tennis for so long?
Despite winning his first Grand Slam singles championship more than 17 years ago, the Serbian, who turns 38 in May, is still ranked in the top five of the ATP Rankings and won Olympic gold for the first time last summer.
In addition to his incredible longevity, Djokovic has had unmatched Grand Slam success in recent years.
Djokovic has greatly increased his major championship collection over the last ten years, despite the fact that he did not win a major title in 2024 and had to quit due to injury at the Australian Open this January.
Since his 30th birthday in May 2017, the former world No. 1 has actually won 12 of his 24 Grand Slam trophies, or precisely half.
Four Australian Open wins and four straight Wimbledon crowns, along with two French Open and two US Open titles since then, have been highlights of Djokovic’s career since turning thirty.
The Serbian was one victory away from the Calendar Grand Slam in 2021 at the age of 34, and he went 27-1 in Grand Slam matches in 2023, the year he turned 36.
Djokovic’s success in the early years of his career was attributed to his fierce physicality and movement, as well as his capacity to stay in rallies for as long as necessary in order to exhaust his opponent.
But according to one former rival, his late-career domination depends on a shift away from that strategy.
Having lost 11 of his 12 matches with the 24-time Grand Slam champion, former world No. 6 Gilles Simon is all too familiar with the difficulty of confronting Djokovic.
Additionally, the 2022 retiree from France has observed what he sees as a “logical” shift in Djokovic’s style of play.
“It’s a very logical way,” said Simon.
“He’s serving better and better, because he needs more free points than before. He’s less capable of holding his level playing full intensity, every point from the baseline for four or five sets, what he was doing before with Rafa [Nadal] – we all watched it.
“It has already been a few years [now] where he can only play that level for one hour and a half and sometimes one set, or some moments in the match.”
“Even when he won the French Open or Wimbledon, there is one set where he is not playing it, because he needs to recover – something he would never do before. Before he was full gas, first to last point.
“That’s logical, and it’s changing also the way he plays. Instead of long rallies, maybe he’s going to go for a short point.
“He’s improving his serve to get more points there, sometimes he’s going to be a bit more aggressive at some moments, because he cannot run through the same rallies.”
Only two guys, including 33-year-old Grigor Dimitrov, are in the top 30 of the ATP Rankings, while Djokovic is the only man over 30 now in the top 10.
Simon thinks the “smart” tennis legend will still be a threat even if he hasn’t participated in the last five Grand Slam events.
He added: “The choices he is making sometimes are different because he has to know how to handle this energy and regulate it, to play the five sets.
“That’s where the logic is different. It’s no longer: ‘No matter what happened, I will go full power first to last point’.
“He’s really smart, he understands everything, he’s super good obviously.
“He understands now how his body is responding and where the limit is, and where he has to change the choice and be a bit more aggressive to have shorter points in some moments, to hold the whole match.”
