Novak Djokovic issued retirement warning after | Sports News

Tennis legend Novak Djokovic has been urged to hold up his racket, regardless of the Serbian star insisting he has no intention of stepping away from the game anytime quickly.

The 38 yr previous not too long ago declared his motivation stems from reaching longevity and dismissed any retirement speak. However, former world No. 1 doubles participant Rennae Stubbs, who beforehand coached Serena Williams, has now argued “there is no reason” for the 24-time Grand Slam champion to proceed battling it out on tour.

Djokovic has endured a mounting sequence of bodily problems all through this season. He was pressured to withdraw from his Australian Open semi-final in January and has subsequently discovered it difficult to match the depth of rising stars Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, significantly during grueling five-set Grand Slam encounters.

The world No. 5 additionally encountered difficulties on the latest Shanghai Masters, requiring medical consideration on a number of events all through the event and seemingly sustaining a hip downside during his semi-final loss to Valentin Vacherot, who was ranked past the highest 200.

Djokovic subsequently withdrew from his third-place playoff encounter towards Taylor Fritz finally week’s Six Kings Slam exhibition, informing spectators that he needed to resolve his bodily considerations earlier than doubtlessly concluding the season with a few further tournaments.

Stubbs now believes the challenges will solely intensify for Djokovic, as she questioned his need to proceed competing on tour. Speaking on her podcast, she remarked: “He’s just breaking down all the time.

“If there was a legit harm [vs Vacherot in Shanghai], which I’m assuming it was within the first set… he seemed fairly good within the second set. But the identical factor retains taking place [in the] latter components of tournaments for him.”

Though Stubbs recognizes that Djokovic remains capable of advancing to the semi-finals of Majors and Masters 1000 tournaments, the Australian indicated that it might not be sufficient.

“Novak simply does not seem like he has enough on the ball anymore towards some of these gamers. I imply, look, he is the best participant of all time. He has all of the information, however sooner or later, and I’ve spoken about it for months truly, possibly a yr or two, Father Time catches up with you and he simply appears to be like like he does not fairly have enough on the ball,” she added.

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“He’s not imposing himself enough. He’s not serving as great as he used to when he gained a lot of these massive tournaments and large matches. And sooner or later, it catches up with you, and also you simply marvel, how long is he going to do that for?”.

“He’s title-hunting. He’s not making an attempt to win one other Masters 1000 or a 500. He’s acquired all of the information. There’s no purpose for him to play anymore. So I simply assume, mentally, it is such a grind.”

Nevertheless, Djokovic holds a different perspective. Although he may not be securing major titles currently, he draws inspiration from fellow athletes who continue competing at age 40.

Speaking at the recent Joy Festival in Riyadh, he declared: “Longevity is one of my largest motivations.

“I really want to see how far I can go. If you see across all the global sports, Lebron James, he is still going strong, he is 40. Cristiano Ronaldo, Tom Brady played until he was 40-something years old, it is unbelievable.

“They are inspiring me as properly, so I wish to keep going, that’s one of the motivations I’ve after which I wish to additionally stay to see, stay which means keep on enjoying professionally, what’s coming for our sport, and I’m tremendous enthusiastic about it.”