Reality creeping up on Djokovic after Shanghai shock

Novak Djokovic may be wrestling with his tennis mortality after losing a second major final this season.

The Serb with 24 Grand Slam trophies, can look to just the Paris Olympic trophy as a major accomplishment in 2024; and his pride was dented even further this season as he lost the Shanghai title match to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in straight sets at the weekend.

With the 37-year-old fast reducing his schedule after possibly capping his career with the games gold, Djokovic’s upcoming schedule is a huge question mark,

His lone certainty is a well-paid appearance at the Saudi exhibition event which pays participants in excess of USD 1 million just for fronting up.

While he is automatically entered in the Paris Bercy Masters starting on October 28 and is sixth in the points race to the ATP Finals in Turin, those events remain question marks for the Serb.

Djokovic did little to bring any clarity to the situation after his loss to Sinner.

“Comparing to most of my seasons throughout my career, this has been one of the worst-performing seasons in terms of results,” he said, adding: “My main motivation comes from love and passion for the sport, and also the desire to keep competing.

“These are kind of the matches and challenges that I still strive for, to be in a position to play against the best players in the world, on the biggest stage, in the finals of some of the biggest tournaments in the world.”

With only  the Olympic title so far in 2024, Djokovic could understandably be at a low ebb, with his motivation now a looming question mark.

But he expressed optimism as he prepared to head to Saudi from China.

“I don’t know what the future brings, I’ll just try to kind of go with the flow to see how I feel in a given moment. 

“I still plan to compete and play next season and, yeah, let’s see how far I go.”

Main photo:-Novak Djoovic celebrates by Roger Parker International Sports Fotos Ltd