Novak Djokovic has been making it plain that the end of his career is approaching, with the 38-year-old dropping his strongest hint ever about his future on court.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion who has been keeping his ATP scheduling options open and has competed this season only at the Australian Open (finals loss to Carlos Alcaraz) and winning two rounds last month at Indian Wells.

“Tennis is still very important to me, but it’s no longer everything,” the Serb told Esquire Australia, adding that family matters and two children are starting to take precedence in his life.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges – finding the right balance between tennis and family life, especially as my children are growing and have school commitments, so they can’t travel with me as much as before.

“When I’m on the court, I’m motivated not just to win, but to set an example – to show them values like dedication, resilience, and love for what you do. That motivation is very powerful and very personal.”

Main photo:- Novak Djokovic was runner up to Carlos Alcaraz in AO26 – by ISF Ltd

Fading former top 10 regular Stefanos Tsitsipas has lashed out at one-time coach Goran Ivanisevic, accusing the former Wimbledon winner of unfair criticism during their brief collaboration last season.

Greek Tsitsipas once stood among the big beasts of the ATP, achieving a top ranking of this in the world,  with Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros and Melbourne.

But with his ranking now at 49th, the 27-year-old remains in a struggle with his game and blames most of his troubles on a lingering back injury.

Croat Ivanisevic, 54, had a brief spell with Tsitsipas last summer as the player attempted to break away from his longtime coach, his father Apostolos.

But family ties proved to be too strong, with Ivanisevic given the elbow after a Wimbledon first-round retirement.

Tsitsipas has complained of unfair criticism from his one-time mentor after Ivanisevic – who formerly coached Novak Djokovic – let loose on the player’s work ethic.

“He has to find a solution for his back issue. I was shocked. I’ve never seen such a poorly prepared player in my life,” Ivanisevic told Croat outlet SportKlub recalling the incident.

“Me, at my age and with this bad knee, I’m three times in better shape than him,” the former world No. 2 added.  “In the end, I didn’t say anything bad. Everything I said was true and proved to be so.”

While Ivanisevic has moved on to work with French youngster Arthur Fils, Tsitsipas continues his comeback struggle.

“I didn’t see any point in it. If it was a way of him pushing me into working harder and getting my s*** together, it was definitely not the right tactic.

“I was really hurt,” he told London’s Times.

The ATP needs to shake up the tournament calendar and re-organise in a logical manner using the Formula 1 or world gold model.

That’s the call from Diego Schwartzman, a former top 10 Argentine who retired in 2024.

The South American currently works with Tennis Australia as a liaison between players and  the corporate suite.

But Schwartzman told online outlet Clay that the currently confusing calendar needs an immediate shakeup to make it more appealing and logical to casual fans.

“Hopefully the Grand Slams, the Masters 1000 events and some of the big tournaments can create a more structured tour, more centred on the elite of world tennis, where people can watch everything on the same channel or the same app,” he said.

With the ATP fighting negative reaction from players, media and tennis public alike over the unwieldy 12-day Masters 1000 experiment, the situation is ripe for a re-do.

“Players have clearly shown their dissatisfaction with the two-week Masters 1000 events,” the Argentine said.

“The calendar has been extended by almost a month because of those extra five days per tournament. Obviously, it represents much higher revenue for the tournaments, and the ATP says that in theory that goes to the players, but it’s a lot of days and I don’t think it was a great decision.

The plans to shoehorn in yet another Masters 1000 to satisfy a bottomless supply of Saudi sponsorship money in February, 2028, the confusion looks likely to continue.

“The calendar needs to be restructured into a shorter one, with fewer tournaments, where priority is given to the Masters 1000 events and the Grand Slams, followed by the 500s and the 250s,” Schwartzman said.

“It makes some sense, so the calendar becomes more organised, because right now it’s a bit of a mess. 

“Even people watching on TV don’t know which tournament they’re watching or how many points each one offers. It needs to be organised somehow, and hopefully that can be achieved in the coming years.”