Djokovic has a plan: This is how he plans to beat Alcaraz and Sinner in 2026

Jose Morón | 19 Jan 2026 | 20.00

Djokovic has a plan: This is how he plans to beat Alcaraz and Sinner in 2026. Photo: Getty

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Novak Djokovic has two goals for this 2026. The first one: to beat Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. The second (which he needs the first for): to win another Grand Slam. To achieve this, he has wanted to take it a step further and surround himself with someone who could help him regain what he has been losing due to the passing of time: the physical condition of his youth.

So, during this preseason, Novak called Mark Kovacs. A scholar of the human body who has helped many athletes improve their performance at a sports level to extend and maximize their careers as much as possible.

Who is Mark Kovacs?

He is a mix of many things. In other words, a personality very similar to Novak's: someone who deviates a bit from what can be considered "normal." Someone with many studies, who has always wanted to go beyond in studying the body and high-intensity sports. He is a doctor, physiotherapist, coach, advisor, player... Everything!

He describes himself as a cross between the medical world and training, fitness, and coaching. He helps people develop their maximum potential at a sports level. He helps fit the pieces together. He has worked with Isner, Keys, and other athletes from the NBA, NFL, and MLB.

He is a very particular type of person, and listening to what he says in his different conferences helps to understand more about this sport which is tennis and to discover why Djokovic has chosen him to elevate his level in this 2026 to be able to beat Alcaraz and Sinner.

Strength/Power, Not Always Equal to Performance

Kovacs argues that there is a physiological and biomechanical limit in the human body which makes it impossible for us to see someone serve at 260km/h someday. Perhaps within 50 years, we will see tennis players who are 2.5m tall with rackets that are twice as powerful, proving him wrong. But Kovacs always talks about being able to serve much harder than now, but always with limits due to bodily constraints and the necessary technique for serving.

"If you were to make Isner gain an extra 15 kilos of mass, he would serve stronger, yes, but he would break down when running across the court. You cannot add size without paying a price on the knees or back. That's why there is a limit," Kovacs argues.

In terms of tennis, he started in juniors and coincided in Australia with tennis players like Lleyton Hewitt. He played junior doubles with Andy Roddick, but played little at a professional level after going through college due to shoulder problems. He was misdiagnosed with tendinitis when he had actually a torn labrum, rotator cuff, biceps tendon, and a nervous issue.

This led him to take an interest in the human body at a time when that wasn't important. He learned biomechanics and physics of movement, and began to teach that at a tennis level when no one else did. He worked at the USTA, where he helped Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz, as well as Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens, among others.

Why Did Djokovic Choose Kovacs to Improve?

Mark proposes to build the work through five major blocks. The idea is not how much to work but what to work on and how to do it.

Mobility

This is what gets lost the quickest with age. It improves with consistency. Regarding tennis, it is necessary to enhance hip flexors, internal hip rotation, internal shoulder rotation, and thoracic mobility.

Strength

Suggests lifting some weights to avoid sarcopenia (muscle loss after 40) with resistance training. Sets of six to eight repetitions with weight close to your limit. The muscle should endure repeated efforts.

Joint Health

Loading weight in a controlled manner can reduce pain and strengthen the body. Eccentric (tension while the muscle lengthens) and isometric training (like wall squats) that load without joint movement.

Endurance

As one ages, cross-training off-court is recommended to reduce impact, like swimming, cycling, or using the elliptical. Recommends interval training, similar to tennis. That is, alternating periods of high activity with slightly slower pace. Something that raises and lowers your heart rate as tennis does. For example: 20 seconds going all out on the bike, followed by 40 easy. Alternating like that.

Injury Prevention

Daily stretching and mobility (or every other day) focused on specific muscle groups like shoulders, core, hips, ankles, or lower back. The idea is to move "stagnant" or deoxygenated blood out of the worked area and bring oxygenated blood with nutrients. This can also be done with contrasts of temperature using cold and hot showers, electrostimulation, red light therapy.

Another strong point of Kovacs is his explanation of stretching with a performance focus. He advocates for dynamic pre-stretching as actual activation, and post-stretching as a tool to recover lost ranges. He provides a specific fact: after a long match, internal shoulder rotation can significantly decrease; it is not an occasional issue, it is a protective mechanism. The problem arises when that range does not recover day by day and becomes a chronic loss. His message is clear: the body "adapts" to the good and the bad equally.

This doesn't guarantee Nole to beat Alcaraz and Sinner, but it does help him work to narrow the gap between them. At almost 39 years old, he is not afraid to embark on a tough, long, and complicated journey. While others ten years younger than him don't even consider it, Djokovic is willing to accept the challenge of defeating the current top two and adding another major title to his collection. We'll see if he can achieve it in this 2026.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Djokovic tiene un plan: Así piensa ganar a Alcaraz y Sinner en 2026