NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 05: Carlos Alcaraz of Spain (R) greets Novak Djokovic of Serbia (L) following their Men’s Semifinal match on Day Thirteen of the 2025 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 5, 2025 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
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After spending the last few years saying he’s primarily focused on the Grand Slams, Novak Djokovic reiterated that he has a “better” chance against world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 2 Jannik Sinner in Masters 1000 tournaments.
“The Masters events are played over almost two weeks,” the 38-year-old 24-time major winner told reporters at the Shanghai Open, where he is a four-time champion. “That’s where I feel I have a better chance, you know, to win a trophy or to make a significant result.”
Djokovic, now No. 5 in the world rankings, made similar comments after losing to Alcaraz in straight sets in the US Open semifinals. He reached the semis in all four majors in 2024, losing twice to Sinner, once to Alcaraz and once to Alexander Zverev.
“Yeah, that’s what I said after the US Open, because I really felt that playing best-of-five against these guys at the latter stages of the tournament makes it really challenging for me,” he said.
“I feel like I don’t come in as fresh as they do in the semis. “That’s okay. I mean, that’s just a biological fact that eventually I have to accept.
“I’m still working my hardest that I possibly can in the circumstances to challenge the guys or to challenge myself primarily, and really see how I can do on all the tournaments that I take part in.”
Djokovic also reacted to concern among top players about the tennis schedule. The Masters 1000 events are now mostly two weeks long, and the schedule as a whole takes up almost the entire calendar year.
Alcaraz, who withdrew from Shanghai after winning the Tokyo Open, slammed the schedule and said: “They are going to kill us in some way.”
WTA No. 2 Iga Swiatek said the season was “too long and too intense” while Sinner said that players needed to begin skipping tournaments if they wanted to get a break from tennis.
“Well, I was personally against the extension of the days of duration of the Masters 1000 events, right?” Djokovic said. “I felt from the very beginning I was against it. Actually, even when I was in the council, I think I was at the time president of the council, so I was not supportive of that. I think for the players it’s not good.
“From one perspective you could say, I mean, for me at my age right now, to have the days between the tournaments is good. But I think overall for most of the players it just takes away the days in the schedule, in the calendar. Personally, I’m not supportive of that.
“I understand that there is upside to the tournaments and so forth, but as a player I never liked that. So I do empathize or sympathize with players who are against that, because now they are realizing, I guess, that it’s not really great.
“But at the same time, look, you know, you always have, it’s an individual sport, so there are choices to be made. In the end of the day you can still make choices. I see some players maybe say there are rules imposed and etcetera.”