“So close, yet so far” -This was the story for Serena Williams at the 2019 US Open. The 23-time Grand Slam champion inched closer to matching Aussie legend Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam titles, but a rookie teenager spoiled her plans. The 19-year-old Bianca Andresscu from Canada defeated Serena in straight sets in the final, and that was that for the American legend. She still played after that, but never really got the chance to reach that milestone. Serena eventually retired from the sport three years later! Recently, Novak Djokovic’s defeat to another 19-year-old, Jakub Mensik, at the Miami Open final has brought back memories of Serena’s struggles in the latter phase of her career. Is age playing a major hindrance to the Serb’s goal of joining Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer’s (103) in the elite club of 100 ATP titles?

The 2024 season was the first time since 2017 that Djokovic failed to win a major title. His only success last season was winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympics. Is retirement looming for the maestro? In a previous interview, Djokovic claimed, “Deep down, I still feel like I have a few more Grand Slams to win. That’s what drives me to compete, to feel like I can still do it.” He started the 2025 season on a decent note as well, reaching the QF in Brisbane and even making it to the SF at the AO, but after that, he failed miserably in Doha and the Indian Wells.

Djokovic was so disappointed with his second-round exit at the Indian Wells that he admitted, “You know, things are different obviously for me the last couple of years. I’ve been struggling to play on the desired level.” The 37-year-old, who has a win-loss record of 12-5 this season, has never been without a title for such a long time. Although he came closer to clinching one in Miami, Mensik defeated him by 7-6(4),7-6(4) in the final. Is age really taking a toll on the Serb? The renowned tennis commentator dropped his verdict, drawing a similarity with Serena Williams in the recent episode of the ‘Served with Andy Roddick’.

Wertheim said, “How much of this do we say? Well, Novak is a couple of weeks from turning 38 years old, right? He’s like, same age as Steph Curry, by the way. I’m surprised to see that. But Novak’s almost 38, so he’s double the age of his opponent, and he’s still playing deep in these events, and he’s still a couple of points here and there from winning. On the other hand, what goes when you get older? It’s not necessarily the miles per hour. It’s the consistency.”

Interestingly, the man who once claimed that Novak Djokovic is “like no other athlete” and “at 36 he would beat the 24-year-old Novak of 2011,” looked a bit concerned this time. Wertheim further added, “And to me, this had echoes of Serena Williams is amazing. She was gonna get that 24th major. All she had to do was beat Angie Kerber or Bianca Andreescu. And it just doesn’t quite happen on that day. And you had a little feeling that’s what was going on with Novak. Strange delays. I mean, there’s a lot of dynamics.”

Surprisingly, when Andreescu defeated Serena Williams in the 2019 US Open final, the American heaped praise on the Canadian by saying, “If anyone could win this, outside of [sister] Venus, I’m happy it’s Bianca.” And when Mensik got the better of Djokovic in Miami, the 24-time Grand Slam champion took a similar route.

Novak Djokovic hates losing, but this time he admitted, “Never really happy to lose, but he’s one of the very few players that I would be happier to lose to, to be honest.” But apart from Wertheim, what do the other experts think about Djokovic’s poor run in the last twelve months?

Former world number one predicts Novak Djokovic’s struggle in the early weeks of the clay season

A few weeks ago, the two-time French Open runner-up, Alex Corretja, spoke to TNT Sports, where he analyzed the recent downfall in Novak Djokovic’s performance graph. He drew a similarity to himself, trying to figure out what must be going on with the Serb at the moment. “You feel like you’re practising quite well and your level is quite high, and you’re playing with players and you feel like you can beat them, but somehow, when you play matches, tournaments, you struggle,” he said.

Corretja reckons perhaps things are not as clear in Djokovic’s head at the moment, and hence, he tends to lose the kind of matches he would’ve found a way to win in the past. Corretja further claimed, “When you feel like everybody’s playing such a great match against you, it is because maybe you’re not as great as before.”

After his disappointing loss in Miami, Djokovic is now expected to enter the Monte-Carlo Masters later this week before he starts his preparation for the Roland Garros. What are his chances on the clay courts? Well, according to the former World No. 1 Mats Wilander, “I think he’s going to run into some problems, and I think that that’s the one thing that we’ve seen with Novak, is that the early part of the clay season is not necessarily his best season. The reason for that to me is that he’s a great clay court player without being a clay court player, because of the way that he hits the ball.”

Continuing further, Wilander added, “I think for someone like him, when he goes and plays his first few clay court tournaments, pretty much any person in the draw, I think, feels that they have a chance to play with Novak to make it a close match because of the way that Novak plays.”

Novak Djokovic has won the French Open title three times (2016, 2021, and 2023) in his career. Can he add another one to his tally? Share your thoughts in the comments below.