Lack of physical condition, the serve supports Djokovic in 2025

Andrés Tomás Rico | 2 Oct 2025 | 22.30

Lack of physical condition, the serve sustains Djokovic in 2025. Photo: Getty Images.

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Novak Djokovic relies everything on his serve. The Serbian, aware that at the age of 37 his body is no longer as flexible on the court and his stamina in Grand Slam matches is not what it used to be, leans on his serve. Despite being considered the greatest returner of all time by many, in 2025 his serve has been his best weapon.

The competitive drive of Novak Djokovic to clinch his 25th Grand Slam title has been halted by three factors: Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and his physical condition. In fact, his tennis has carried him through all four Grand Slam events this year, because without it, neither he nor anyone else would reach the semifinals in all four majors of the year.

Serve, Novak Djokovic's Best Ally in 2025

Many may think it's thanks to his innate powerful backhand or his feared cross-court forehand, but what has truly earned Novak Djokovic many points in 2025 has been his serve. So much so that this season has been the third best of his career in terms of service percentage. He has surpassed many aspects of his service compared to his average over his more than 20 years as a professional.

These are confirmed by statistics from Infosys ATP. In 2025, the Belgrade native has won 88.3% of games on his serve, while throughout his career he has an average of 86.1%. This season ranks as his third best in this statistic, behind 2023 with 88.4% and 2015 with 89.5%. He is the fourth best player on tour in this aspect, following Reilly Opelka (88.7%), Taylor Fritz (90%), and Jannik Sinner (91.3%).

He has also exceeded his career averages in first-serve percentage (66.6% compared to 64.9% career average) and points won on first serve (76.4% compared to 74.2%), even maintaining a similar level in points won on the second serve (55.3% compared to 55.5%).

Since 2021, Novak Djokovic's serve has become more effective

Novak Djokovic's improvement in serving has grown exponentially throughout his career, like fine wine. Before 2021, the Serbian had never won more than 76% of his points on first serve in a season, which despite being a weakness, did not prevent him from winning all possible tournaments on the circuit. However, this year he is on track to exceed this for the fourth consecutive time. His excellent form with his serve also translates into aces. This season, he averages 8.4 per match, whereas his career average is 5.5.

These statistics make it very difficult to break his serve. This was confirmed by Taylor Fritz after his defeat to Djokovic in the quarterfinals of the US Open 2025. "I believe what makes it hard is that he serves well, with an aggressive second serve. It's tough to take advantage of his serve because he also plays very solid from the baseline. He backs his serve incredibly well."

In conclusion, lacking fuel and strength to go toe-to-toe with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner and dominate the circuit as he has in many years of his career, Novak Djokovic relies on his serve to keep hope alive to fight for one last Grand Slam.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, A falta de físico, el servicio sostiene a Djokovic en 2025