Andy Roddick Makes Feelings Known on Novak Djokovic’s Emotional Runner-Up Speech After Australian Open Defeat
In the Australian Open final, Novak Djokovic lost to Carlos Alcaraz for the fifth time in their 10th career meeting.
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Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick (Image via The New York Times, X/ESPN)
After his defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic said it not once but twice that he is uncertain about his future, that he doesn’t know whether he will be returning to Melbourne as a player next year. Djokovic, after making a Grand Slam final for the first time since the 2024 Wimbledon, lost to Alcaraz in four sets.
En route to his defeat in the Australian Open final for the first time, Djokovic downed World No.2 Jannik Sinner in the semifinal to ruin his three-peat goal as well as snap the five-match losing streak. At this stage of his career, only Sinner and Alcaraz are troubling him, and to reach his historic 25th Major, Nole knows that he has to go past either one of them or both.
This time, although he knocked out Sinner, he couldn’t beat Alcaraz. During his runner-up speech, an emotional Djokovic thanked the crowd for their support and also dropped a retirement hint.
At the press conference as well, Djoker said he will be returning to Australia next year but may not be as a player. Andy Roddick thinks a major injury could end up stopping Djokovic from prolonging his career. He said on his Served podcast:
He might say I have every intention, and he has. He mentioned he likes to throw out like LA in 28 in the Olympics. He likes kind of throwing out those timelines, but you don’t know, like, is he a major injury away? Yeah. Like, do you come back from an injury at 38, 39, and we certainly hope that doesn’t happen. But he’s also a realist, like, he knows that I’m Novak. I can maybe pull off a miracle. I have that. It lives inside of me, right? These little miracles live inside of me. That’s what happened against Sinner.
The win helped Alcaraz improve his head-to-head record to 5-5. It was also Alcaraz’s fourth consecutive Grand Slam final, as before defeating Djokovic, he beat Sinner at the French Open and the US Open and lost to him at Wimbledon.
Greg Rusedski urges Novak Djokovic to skip the French Open
The next Major of the season is the French Open. In 2024, an injury forced him to give the walkover to Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals, while last year, he lost in straight sets to eventual runner-up Jannik Sinner. Former player Greg Rusedski has urged the 38-year-old to skip the French Open to focus on Wimbledon, where the Serb has lifted seven titles.
I think Novak Djokovic consider skipping the French Open and focusing on Wimbledon. Djokovic fans, there’s a lot of hope. Imagine if he plays this well at Wimbledon. He has a real shot for the title. French Open, I kind of feel like it’s out of his grasp just because of the physicality. But for all those Djokovic fans, what a two weeks it has been. He’s beaten Sinner, but hasn’t been able to do them back-to-back. And he shows on any given day at a Slam, he can beat one of the two guys.
Greg Rusedski said on his Off Court with Greg podcast
Djokovic is the winner of three French Open titles, lifting them in 2016, 2021, and 2023. He also made four more finals, losing thrice to 14-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal (2012, 2014, and 2020) and once to Stan Wawrinka (2015).
Had Djokovic won at the Australian Open, it would have been his record-extending 11th title in the tournament. The last time he won in the Major Down Under was in 2023 by defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas.
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