Novak Djokovic will play the Brisbane International next week and it will immediately be a very useful test to understand the condition of the Serbian legend. The former world No. 1 has not played an official tournament since October, when he reached the final of the Rolex Shanghai Masters losing to Jannik Sinner in front of Swiss legend Roger Federer.

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The 24-time Grand Slam champion has chosen to start his season early, wanting to finish in top shape at the Australian Open (scheduled for January 12-26 at Melbourne Park). The 37-year-old from Belgrade wants to win another Major title next year and is intent on giving his best to achieve this goal.The current world number 7 knows that the Happy Slam represents perhaps his best chance together with the Wimbledon Championships, while he will have fewer chances in Paris and New York. At almost 38 years old, Nole reiterated that tennis is still a priority for him and that he is not afraid to face opponents much younger than him.

The reference is to Sinner and Carlitos Alcaraz, who have dominated the men’s tour over the past year by winning every Grand Slam tournament. Novak knows the conditions of the Australian Open very well, it is the Major tournament he has won the most ever and he will be able to count on the precious help of Andy Murray.

The 3-time Grand Slam champion will be his coach in Australia and the collaboration between these two legends has aroused great interest from everyone. The details of their partnership are not known nor how long it will last, but it is clear that Nole’s result at the Australian Open will already be very important for the future of this ‘couple’. The former Scottish champion is not expected to be present in Brisbane, but he will join Djokovic directly in Melbourne to start preparing for the Happy Slam together.

In a long interview with ‘Express Sport’, former French ace Jeremy Chardy revealed how long the collaboration between Nole and Andy will last: “For me, they will go for the full year on the big tournaments and if it’s going well they will continue.When you’re an athlete, you know that nothing is magical, so it’s not because Andy is coming that it’s going to change everything, but we need six months to start to see improvement and to be able to do some work.”

He also added: “It’s not magical, it’s a process, you need to believe in the process, believe in the direction you are taking. If they have decided to work together, it means they believe they can do something really good together.

I’m not really surprised because I think the only goal of Djokovic is to win another Grand Slam and I think Andy is one of the best in tactics and I think he took him to try to find a way to win against the best players like Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, and to work on that.

It’s very serious. Djokovic is not here to have fun. He will play less tournaments because he starts to get older, physically it will be more difficult for him, but I’m sure he’s going to prepare to be at the peak at every Grand Slam and if he has Andy in his team, he’s 100 per cent sure he will help him.

You want to compete, you want to play, you want to win and once you lose this passion, you stop playing, you don’t play for fun. Especially when you’re a legend like Djokovic, and the same for Andy. You don’t go to coach Novak just for fun or to not try to help him.”

The former world No.1 is still not satisfied despite all his successes and 2025 could be his last chance to make tennis history. The 37-year-old from Belgrade completed his personal puzzle last year by winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, the last ‘trophy’ he was still missing and had been chasing throughout his career.

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The Serbian legend admitted that he has lost some motivation in recent months, a feeling that has become glaring especially in second-tier tournaments. Djokovic has promised that he will play more tournaments in 2025, having understood that he needs more pace to be able to be 100% in the most prestigious events on the calendar.

For example, the 24-time Grand Slam champion’s participation in the prestigious Doha ATP 500 in February has already been announced. This decision is also due to the fact that Nole has recently signed a new partnership with Qatar Airways.