Djokovic needs match play, not practice, says Wilander
Novak Djokovic faces a tough decision about his upcoming clay season schedule, and former champion Mats Wilander has some straightforward advice: play more tournaments, not fewer.
The 37-year-old Serbian has been playing tennis since he was just four years old. That’s over three decades of hitting tennis balls, and thousands of hours spent perfecting his craft on courts around the world.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| rs Novak Djokovic | 37 | 8,360 | 18 - 6 |
Despite his age, Djokovic is still chasing history on the ATP Tour.
He’s trying to organize his schedule in a way that gives him the best chance of winning more titles. But what exactly does that look like for a player at this stage of his career?
Last year, Djokovic suggested he’d focus mainly on Grand Slams and drastically reduce his tournament appearances. But 2024 has seen him play far more events than fans expected, even though he hasn’t lifted a trophy yet this year.
His most recent appearance was in Miami, where he lost in the final to 19-year-old Jakub Mensik. Now, with clay season just around the corner, the 99-time ATP title winner needs to decide which tournaments to enter.
Former world No. 1 Mats Wilander has a clear opinion on what Djokovic should do.
“I don’t think that he needs to practice any more – I don’t know if he gets any better any more in practising,” Wilander told TNT Sports. “I think he needs to get better at playing matches again because that’s the one thing you lose.”
The Swedish legend believes match play, not practice, is exactly what Djokovic needs right now.
“When you start losing a little bit of confidence and when you get older, you start forgetting how to play matches and how to bring your intensity level to 100 per cent on points that are not important on the scoreboard,” he explained.
Wilander emphasized that certain aspects of competition can’t be replicated in practice sessions.
“Now, you cannot practice the nerves that you have for the first 10, 15, 20 minutes in the match. Those nerves can only be practised when you are playing a match.”
One reason Djokovic recently appointed Andy Murray as his coach is that Murray has navigated similar career challenges before his recent retirement.
Has Djokovic actually declined physically? Wilander doesn’t think it’s significant.
“Has he slowed down just a little bit? We’re talking about maybe two percentage points,” Wilander said. “Is his backhand not as dangerous? Or is it just the fact that today’s players hit the ball harder than the players that Novak Djokovic had to beat to become the greatest of all time?”
The Swedish expert believes the competition has simply gotten tougher.
“I think that is most probably the possibility, because I personally think that the level of tennis today is better than it’s ever been, even though the greatest generation of all time has just passed us by in Roger Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic.”
