Novak Djokovic Won’t Continue To Play ‘If He Doesn’t Think He Can Win,’ Patrick McEnroe Says

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 24: Novak Djokovic of Serbia acknowledges the crowd as he leaves the court after retiring from the Men’s Singles Semifinal against Alexander Zverev of Germany during day 13 of the 2025 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 24, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

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The good news for Novak Djokovic is that he’s reached the semifinals of all three majors he’s played in this year.

The bad news is that the 24-time Grand Slam champion is 38 years old and hasn’t won a major since the U.S. Open in 2023. He will be bidding to win a record 25th major at the U.S. Open, which begins on Sunday.

Given all that – and the fact that Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have combined to win the last seven Grand Slam tournaments – it’s fair to ask how much longer Djokovic will stick around.

Patrick McEnroe says it might not be that much longer if Djokovic believes he can’t beat those two guys on the biggest stages. Djokovic is coming into the Open having pulled out of the Cinncinati Open and not having played a hardcourt warm-up event.

“I think Novak definitely needs some help [to win the U.S. Open],” McEnroe said in response to my question on an ESPN conference call on Wednesday. “I think the bigger question we may be asking ourselves by the time this tournament is done, is, will he come back? Will he be back? Because I have my doubts. I don’t think he knows. I don’t have any inside information. I don’t think he knows, but what I do know is that he’s not going to continue to play if he doesn’t think he can win. And I think time’s running out for him to win.”

Djokovic lost in straight sets to Sinner in both the Roland Garros and Wimbledon semifinals and trails their head-to-head 6-4. He retired against Alexander Zverev in the Australian Open semis with a hamstring injury.

The Serb is 5-3 against Alcaraz, including wins in the Paris Olympics gold-medal match last summer and the Australian Open quarterfinals this year. But he’s also lost two Wimbledon finals in 2023 and ’24 to the young Spaniard.

Djokovic will be the No. 7 seed at the U.S. Open and could potentially face Sinner or Alcaraz in the quarterfinals. He might have to beat both of them – plus another top player – to win the title.

The draw comes out Thursday and much will become clearer then.

“Well, first off, you never count out the Serbian sniper, the rubber band man. In my opinion, the greatest player ever to hold a stick,” veteran tennis coach Rick Macci, who coached Venus and Serena Williams, told Tennis365. “You never count him out.

“But I think the only way he could win a Slam…it’s not gonna happen on clay, it’s just too physical, three out of five, I just think it’s too much on the body. And if the draw would break correctly, I know that happens with anybody, but let’s face it, if the draw broke correctly, if Alcaraz or Sinner got hurt, or you got a couple of walkovers… if things broke for him, absolutely.

“He can win the U.S. Open, because he still checks enough boxes – and he has to make sure that he’s not playing four or five hours the other matches because you got a day or whatever to get back and do it again. It’s the physical and mental toll that’s gonna be tough on his body.

“But if the draw breaks the right way, or if Alcaraz or Sinner – something happens to them along the way – it changes the whole roadmap, the way you’re looking at this thing. But absolutely.

“He definitely could win the US Open, but those things have to happen. But if he has a lot of tough matches and then he has to go through both those guys, I think that’s kind of rough sledding.”

ESPN’s Mary Joe Fernandez said Sinner is the “modern version of Novak,” and that Djokovic struggles against him.

“He’s totally focused on trying to win, one more major, and he’s played well,” she said. “He’s played well in Australia. He played well at the French and he played well at Wimbledon. But he’s run into Jannik Sinner, who, to me, is the modern version of Novak.

“I think he’s starting to do everything Novak does just a bit better, so it’s getting a little bit faster, a little bit harder, and he even Novak said it after Wimbledon, it’s getting just a lot tougher to sustain at that level with that type of player. The draw is a big part of it, right? How does the draw pan out? Are there upsets? Do one of those two [Sinner and Alcaraz] lose early? Then it’s possible, you know, and that’s why he’s playing. You just never know how things are going to pan out.”

All that said, Patrick McEnroe said he’s picking an American man to win the title, but he would not say if he thinks it’s Taylor Fritz, last year’s runner-up to Sinner, Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe or someone else.

An American man hasn’t won a major since Andy Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open.

“I’m going to say there’s going to be an American man winning this year’s U.S. Open, and you can all try to figure out which one that is,” McEnroe said, “because I’m not going to tell you.”