Novak Djokovic has been encouraged to find his “next big goal” as he needs “something to push him”, according to former doubles world No 1 Pam Shriver.
Following a record-breaking 2023 campaign that saw him take his Grand Slam record to 24, the tennis great was expected to dominate again this campaign.
However, he has won only one title – gold at the Paris Olympics where he defeated Carlos Alcaraz in the final – with his best return at the Grand Slams is a runners-up trophy at Wimbledon.
Outside of those performances, Djokovic lost in the semi-final of the Australian Open, withdrew from his quarter-final at Roland Garros due to injury and was recently stunned in the third round of the US Open by Alexei Popyrin.
Speaking on the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, Shriver – who won 21 women’s doubles Grand Slam titles – believes many of the players no longer fear Djokovic.
“Novak seems to have lost a little bit of that giant aura that he had that would make him start with a two love lead in each set,” the American said.
“Obviously the French Open, the injury to the knee, the surgery on the meniscus … when you think about how he was [before] – just one tournament win in the year and that was Olympics, no ATP Tour wins as he got to the final of Wimbledon, semi-final of the Australian Open.
“That was probably foreshadowing his year when he couldn’t fire at the calibre he usually does in a semi-final of a major, losing to Sinner, then the injury [at Roland Garros].”
After undergoing knee surgery following this French Open withdrawal, Djokovic made a miraculous recovery and reached the final of Wimbledon, but his ultimate goal for 2024 was always the Olympics at Roland Garros.
He won the gold medal with victory over Alcaraz as he became only the fifth player to win the career Golden Slam (all four majors and Olympic singles gold).
But now that he has ticked that off his list, Shriver feels it is time for new objectives.
She added: “Obviously he put all in to do one of thing in the sport he had not done, which is win an Olympic gold medal, and I don’t think there was enough time for even him to reset. He didn’t play Canada or Cincinnati, didn’t play a warm-up tournament.
“I don’t think he has been able to reset and establish his next big goal. Is it to get to 25 singles in majors, he’s got to have something to push him.”
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