Novak Djokovic Shares What Roger Federer Taught Him About Grand Slam Preparations

World No.5 Novak Djokovic met Roger Federer 50 times and locked horns with him for the last time in 2020.

Novak Djokovic Shares What Roger Federer Taught Him About Grand Slam Preparations

Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic (Image via X/Dinora RF, Isidoro)

Novak Djokovic was last seen in action at the French Open where he reached the semifinal only to lose to eventual runner-up Jannik Sinner. He hasn’t signed up for any of the ongoing grass court tournaments and like last year, he will be playing only at Wimbledon.

During a recent interview with Slaven Bilic on the Neuspjeh Prvaka’a YouTube channel, the 24-time Grand Slam champion talked about how he handles his schedule. Many players are not a fan of the 11-month schedule and Djokovic learned from his longtime rival Roger Federer how to take a break and be ready for Grand Slam events.

But there are ways. Federer helped me a lot with that, not directly but indirectly. I watched how he planned his schedule. I learned a lot from him in that sense. It helped me understand how to time my form and when to take a break, even if I did not feel like it.

Djokovic, who edged Federer 27-23 in the head-to-head matchups, last met him in the semifinal of the 2020 Australian Open which he won. The Swiss Maestro, the winner of 22 Grand Slam titles, called time on his career two years later, at the 2022 Laver Cup.

Patrick Mouratoglou explains what is different about Novak Djokovic after this season

Novak Djokovic, even though he reached the semifinals of the Australian Open and the French Open as well as progressed to the Miami Open final and won the Geneva Open, he also lost three consecutive matches twice.

He has reached the twilight of his career and injuries have often hampered his campaigns. But Serena Williams‘ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou doesn’t think physical problems are the real culprit behind his form issues.

Novak Djokovic (2)
Novak Djokovic (Image via X/We Are Tennis France)

According to Naomi Osaka‘s coach, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal‘s retirements affected the Serb a great deal. He said that Djokovic used to work on his game to be better than Federer and Nadal, observing that Nole’s body language is different now because instead of being angry during matches, he’s rather “smiling“. Mouratoglou took to Instagram and said:

He lost this drive for the reason that he’s the greatest now. I felt it during the match. Of course, he did fight, of course. It’s a thin line between doing everything to play a great match and doing everything to, ‘I’m not going to f****** lose this match’. And this was always Novak.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion became the third man in the history of tennis to reach the 100-title tally by beating Hubert Hurkacz in the Geneva Open. It’s the first title he won since clinching his career’s first Olympic gold medal in Paris last year. He will next play at Wimbledon, where in the previous two seasons, he was defeated in the final by five-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz.

Djokovic last won a Grand Slam title at the 2023 US Open and reached just the Wimbledon final since then. At the Australian Open this year, Djokovic was inching closer to his historic 25th Grand Slam title as he progressed to the semifinal after knocking out Alcaraz in the quarterfinals. An injury forced him to retire mid-match after losing the first set against World No.3 Alexander Zverev.

Djokovic himself has said that his motivation level dropped after his longtime rivals’ retirements. The 38-year-old, since the 2024 season, has lifted just five finals, winning two titles. If he wins this Wimbledon, he will not only surpass Margaret Court with 25 Majors but will become an eight-time champion here, joining Federer.

He last lifted the grass-court Major in 2022 by beating Australia’s Nick Kyrgios. In 2023, Alcaraz denied him the Calendar Grand Slam by securing a five-set win in the Wimbledon final.

Also read: Alexander Zverev Aims to Reach Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz’s Level by Pushing to the Limits