There are many questions over the future of Novak Djokovic after Roland Garros.
Djokovic lost to Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals of Roland Garros, before stopping to wave goodbye to the crowd on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
This has led to many questions over how much longer the 24-time Grand Slam champion will compete, with Rennae Stubbs now predicting Djokovic’s retirement tournament.
Now Naomi Osaka’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, has given his verdict on Djokovic and what he has noticed is different about him in 2025.
Photo by Tim Clayton/Getty ImagesPatrick Mouratoglou explains what is totally different about Novak Djokovic in 2025
Mouratoglou was at Roland Garros coaching Osaka, but remained in Paris to watch the rest of the tournament.
In a new video on his Instagram, Mouratoglou has spoken about Djokovic’s defeat to Sinner and what he thinks was the cause of it.
While Mouratoglou believes that Djokovic still has the game and physical capabilities to compete at 38 years old, the Frenchman claimed his motivation has dropped since the retirement of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
“I think tennis wise, he’s there,” began Mouratoglou. “He’s completely there. I can totally see him winning that match against Jannik. Of course it would be a very tight match, but he had so many in the past and most of the time he found a solution to win.
“Level wise, he’s there. Physically wise, he’s there. Of course he can be better prepared. I think it affected him also that he didn’t play much. Because you look at [Carlos] Alcaraz at the start of the clay season and Alcaraz here in Roland Garros, the level is so much higher.
“Why? Because he won a lot. Even the best players in the world need to win. You can’t play the same when you’ve won a lot and when you haven’t won. And Novak lost a lot this year, so it affected him. That’s one thing, but his tennis I don’t see any difference.
“Now winning those matches is not about the tennis. It’s more about the mental side of it. I felt he did accept too much the dominance of Sinner on him, which is not Novak. I didn’t see the Novak I know and I still think his motivation is not high enough.
“He’s there, but I don’t know where it is exactly. Is it ‘I want still show the world that I’m the best?’. Which was a little bit his motivation before, because everybody was a fan of Roger, everybody was a fan of Rafa. Everybody was saying they were the best players in the world and he wanted to prove that he was the best and I think that was something that really drove him.
“He lost this drive for the reason that he’s the greatest now. I felt it during the match. Of course he did fight, of course. It’s a thin line between doing everything to play a great match and doing everything to, ‘I’m not going to f****** lose this match’. And this was always Novak.
“Now why did I feel that? Because of his body language during the match was different. He was smiling to his team, he was kind of enjoying the moment. This is not Novak. Novak is a beast, he is a fighting beast.
“Throughout all his career, all the big matches he wanted to win, he was just in a state that was closer to being angry, smashing rackets, than smiling and being happy to be here. This is not him. I’m exaggerating a little bit, but it’s what I felt during the match.
“The motivation he has now is not the same as before. He’s happy to be here on the big stages, still in the semi-final of a Grand Slam playing the guys, showing that he’s close. But it’s not a question of life or death to win those matches. That’s the difference.”
How was Novak Djokovic different at Roland Garros compared to the Olympic Games?
Djokovic won Olympic gold last year in Paris, which was the last significant title that he was missing from his resume.
He was able to do this on Court Philippe-Chatrier by beating Carlos Alcaraz in the final, with Mouratoglou continuing to explain the contrast between Djokovic’s performances at the Paris Olympics to Roland Garros.
“The final of the Olympic Games of Novak against Alcaraz was on the exact same court 10 months ago,” said Mouratoglou. “Look at the two videos. You have a bull ready to do everything to win. Question of life or death, this was the Olympic Games.
“And you have someone, of course did his match, but was happy to be there enjoying the moment. This is an exaggeration, but there is a bit of that. And what does it tell me? Motivation.
“And again, I understand fully that to find the same motivation when you’re fighting the fight of your life, which is what he was doing for so long to show the world or to himself that he was the best player in the history.
“He cannot have the same motivation as now to win a Grand Slam. It’s not the same. I mean for anyone to win a Grand Slam is the highest motivation possible, but not for him he’s won so many and his purpose was not that. His purpose was the fight against the two others to decide who’s the greatest of all time.”
The next goal for Djokovic will be Wimbledon, where he will bid to win a record eighth title and 25th major overall.
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