McEnroe sets a date for Djokovic's retirement

Novak Djokovic is going through a tough second half of the season. Despite reaching the final of the Australian Open earlier this year and the semifinals at Wimbledon, the North American tour has been a terrible burden for his aspirations, with the first-round defeat at the US Open against Mariano Navone as the culmination. John McEnroe has spoken about his situation, the physical problems revealed by the Serbian, and when he believes Djokovic will end his career.

At 39, Djokovic has shown throughout parts of the year that he still has the strength to compete head-to-head against the new generations. However, the heat and humidity of recent tournaments have left a worrying image for Nole. Lacking energy from the start of matches, vomiting, and leaving fans who have seen him triumph many times speechless. McEnroe does not believe he has much left in the tank, but knowing Djokovic he also revealed that he does not think he will hang up his racket until he feels truly capable of winning another Grand Slam.

"On one hand, you think that age is catching up with him, as it happens to all athletes at some point. On the other hand, he has had an incredible streak. He defeated Jannik Sinner in Australia, reached the final and won the first set against Carlos Alcaraz and played well. Then he reached the semifinals at Wimbledon and had a great victory over Felix Auger-Aliassime in the previous round. That made me think that by the time he got to the US Open, he was probably the third or fourth best player in the world. So what we saw in the first round was shocking. As they say, time is invincible," acknowledged the former world number one at a Eurosport and HBO event.

2027, could it be Djokovic's last year on the circuit?

Novak's game is still there, but at a physical level McEnroe acknowledges that “I don’t know what’s happening to him, you know, the heat and humidity. That can be a problem for anyone. This heat and humidity. It wasn't unbearable heat, so I don't know what's going to happen next. I'm sure you know he's thinking a lot about what’s ahead, but at the same time, I don’t think he wants to end that way, in the way you know what happened. Honestly, I don’t know what he’s going to do. He should do whatever makes him happy.”

Given what we've seen, many experts believe that 2027 could be Djokovic's last professional year on the circuit, something John agrees with.  “Well, you would certainly think so. For starters, he's 39, which for most people, including me, is past the expiration date for tennis. You don’t want to get to the point where you say, ‘Why did I stop when I could have maybe won more?’. That’s more or less what Novak is facing. He reached the final in Australia. He thinks: 'Maybe I could win one more',” he concluded.

This thought is leading Djokovic to pace himself significantly during the season, playing fewer tournaments with all that entails. On one hand, this allows him to arrive more rested, but on the other hand, it also means a lack of competitive rhythm, which affects him particularly physically. At his age, when a match gets tough, he already has all the odds against him, although the same was said in Australia or Wimbledon and he ended up surprising the world. Therefore, Nole has earned the right to decide on his own terms when to say goodbye to tennis.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, McEnroe pone fecha a la retirada de Djokovic