'Never count him out' - John McEnroe backs Novak Djokovic to 'find motivation again' in hunt for 25th Grand Slam title

Published 08/09/2024 at 08:00 GMT

For the first time in seven years, Novak Djokovic will end a season without a Grand Slam title to his name. The world No. 2's form and fitness issues throughout 2024 have raised questions about whether he will be competing for major honours next year. Eurosport expert John McEnroe warned to "never count him out" as the 24-time major winner will "find motivation to get number 25".

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John McEnroe has backed Novak Djokovic to “find his motivation again” in the hunt for a record-extending 25th major title, warning that “you never want to count him out”.

The Serbian completed a career ‘Golden Slam’ by winning Olympic gold at Roland-Garros in the summer, defeating Carlos Alcaraz in a thrilling final.

But it has otherwise been a difficult season for the record 24-time Grand Slam champion, who suffered a shock third-round exit at the US Open to ensure he would end the year without a major title for the first time since 2017.

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Questions have been raised about whether the 37-year-old's age is finally starting to show after a season of struggles for fitness and form in which he has only won one title, at the Olympics, and reached one final at Wimbledon.

McEnroe remains convinced that Djokovic has what it takes to prove everyone wrong once more, but admitted things do feel a little different now.

“You never want to count him out,” McEnroe told Eurosport when asked if Djokovic will win a major next year.

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“This would certainly be the first time where you could say with some seriousness that you start to wonder if he's going to win again.

“How long can this guy keep motivated? Then he won the Olympic gold. I'm amazed that he's kept it [motivation] for this long.

“I'm sure to be surprised either way. If he doesn't win [a major], you would be like wow – he won three of the four last year. And now we're saying he'll never win it again.

“And then I would sort of be surprised in a way if he did, because his age. At some point, that catches up to you, and you lose a little bit of that fear factor with some of the guys.

“Then guys that didn't think they had a chance feel like they have a chance, and that whole thing changes and makes it much tougher.

“That's what he's facing right now. It will be interesting to see if he's able to pull it off. But I do think he'll try to find that motivation to get number 25.”

Alcaraz ‘better than Big Three at his age’

One obstacle standing between Djokovic and a 25th major title next year is sure to be Carlos Alcaraz.

The Spaniard is a four-time Grand Slam winner by the age of 21 and denied Djokovic in dominant fashion at the Wimbledon final in July.

Although Alcaraz is ranked No. 3 in the world, behind Djokovic and world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, McEnroe believes he possesses generational talent that is better even than the ‘Big Three’ of Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

But the American thinks that the sport would benefit from more of the rivalries that were such a feature of the trio’s period of dominance in the sport.

“I think Alcaraz is the most complete player I've seen at his age, better than those other guys. That's how good he is,” McEnroe said.

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"If you had told me that Djokovic, Federer and Nadal would all have 20 majors, I would have said you were crazy.

“Somehow, they took the sport to a whole new level. You're talking arguably about the three greatest players that ever lived playing at this time.

“To think that that won't be a big void would be crazy. Of course, it's a big void. You've got these all-time greats.

“We are lucky Djokovic is still playing so well that these young players, Alcaraz, Sinner are the two most obvious, come along and are able to have somewhat of a rivalry with him.

“The next step for me is getting, you know, hopefully, some American men and a couple other players, because in a one-on-one sport, in my opinion, you need rivals. You need great rivalries.

“That's what made that so interesting and made them better players. It's very important. But as you know, in all sports, Father Time never loses.”

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