Djokovic departs: the end of a tennis era
On Friday Novak Djokovic lost at Wimbledon in three sets to the no.1 seed, Jannik Sinner. It was a huge defeat, probably spelling the end of the Serb’s career and certainly the end of a golden age in men’s tennis.
Djokovic won 24 Grand Slams. He won his first in 2008 and fifteen years later, in 2023, he won his last Grand Slams, three in total, the fourth time he had won three in a single year. The last time he won at Wimbledon was in 2022.
Djokovic is now 38. Playing against Sinner he looked his age. So did Sinner, aged just 23. He will go on to play Alcaraz, only 22, tomorrow. There is a new generation in town. Apart from Sinner and Alcaraz, the top five seeds were all in their 20s: Alexander Zverev (28), Jack Draper (23) and Taylor Fritz (27), all at least ten years younger than Djokovic.
It’s not just that Djokovic is so much older than the other top players. At last his age has started to catch up with him. Commentators pointed out that he looked prone to injury and took medical time outs in both the Quarter- and Semi-Finals. He was slower, his serves and returns were less formidable than in his heyday and his temperament was precarious.
Djokovic (born 1987), of course, is the last survivor of that extraordinary generation that also included Roger Federer (born 1981), Rafael Nadal (born 1986) and Andy Murray (1987). For almost twenty years, from 2003-2022, no one else won the Men’s Singles at Wimbledon. Between them they won the US Open 14 times, the French Open 18 times and the Australian Open also 18 times. It was an amazing period of dominance by such a small group of players. Djokovic is the last one still standing.
If you were a betting person you might think a similar period of dominance is already under way. Alcaraz has won five Grand Slams (including two Wimbledon titles) and Sinner three in the last few years. One of them will win at Wimbledon again this year.
Apart from the quality of their play, there is something else these two groups have in common. They are all European players, except for the American Taylor Fritz. The American golden age of Sampras, Connors, Agassi and McEnroe of the 1980s and 1990s is long gone. No American man has won at Wimbledon or at the US Open since Sampras, or at the Australian Open since Agassi in 2003.
The same is true of the women players. Venus and Serena Williams dominated women’s tennis for almost twenty years, from 1999-2017. Between them they won Wimbledon 13 times, the Australian Open 11 times, the US Open 8 times and the French Open, 5 times. That makes a total of 37 Grand Slams between them. Only three American women (Sofia Kenin, Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens and Coco Gauff) have won a Grand Slam since the Williams sisters and only Coco Gauff has won two.
Listening to Agassi and McEnroe, commentating superbly on the Djokovic/Sinner Semi-Final and the other Semi-Final between Alcaraz and Fritz, was like a trip down memory lane. Almost certainly we won’t hear any of their European successors on BBC TV in years to come. Either their English isn’t good enough or (in the case of Murray), just too boring, even duller than Tim Henman and John Lloyd. Boris Becker, of course, was superb but, sadly, he is still persona non grata at the BBC after almost twenty years as a commentator. Andrew Castle and Andrew Cotter look pretty safe for years to come.
There is, of course, much great tennis to look forward to for years to come and, we hope, tennis coverage. But most of us are already missing the great generation of Federer, Nadal, Murray and Djokovic. It is the end of an era.
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