Novak Djokovic has high expectations for next season, in which he will try to win a Grand Slam title again. The former world No.1 — who hasn’t lifted a trophy in a major since the 2023 U.S. Open — has had a fairly tough 2024 in which he has hardly ever played his best tennis.

The 37-year-old from Belgrade has only reached the final at the Wimbledon Championships (lost to Carlos Alcaraz) and the Rolex Shanghai Masters (lost to Jannik Sinner), but he still made his season unforgettable thanks to his triumph at the Paris Olympics during the summer.

Winning the gold medal for his country was perhaps the last piece of the puzzle he was missing and few imagined that he would achieve this feat on the red clay and in his last Olympic participation (although the Serbian ace did not rule out participating in the Los Angeles Games in 2028). Nole knows that it will not be easy at all to compete with Sinner and Alcaraz in 2025, two very strong opponents and much younger than him. The 24-time Grand Slam champion has been working very hard during the off-season and will make his debut in Brisbane at the beginning of January, so as to find the right rhythm ahead of the Australian Open.

After parting ways with Goran Ivanisevic in mid-2024, Novak no longer had a real coach. A few weeks ago – however – the current world number 7 announced the start of a new collaboration with his former rival Andy Murray.

This news has left both fans and insiders speechless, considering that the former Scottish champion has no coaching experience at the highest level. It is not clear what the terms of their partnership are and if it will continue even after the Happy Slam, but there is great curiosity to understand how the relationship between these two legends who have known each other for a very long time will work.

During a recent interview with ‘Express’, former French ace Jeremy Chardy raised some doubts about this collaboration: “I don’t think so because they also have big respect for each other and respect on the court, off the court.

They are not like really close friends but they know each other so it’s difficult, the relationship will be difficult because Andy was one of the top players and he beat him and when you are outside, on the box, you don’t see the things the same way.

I don’t think they will have a fight. But maybe! Because sometimes you need to have a fight, it’s good to have a fight. No, I think they respect too much each other.” The Australian Open is the Grand Slam tournament in which Nole has the best chance of winning together with the Wimbledon Championships. The former world No. 1 has triumphed ten times at Melbourne Park, most recently in 2023, and is set to clinch the 25th Major of his legendary career before retiring.

At almost 38 years old, Djokovic will need a number of favorable combinations to achieve this feat. The Serbian ace will be the number 7 seed at the 2025 AO and his draw could be very tough from the first week. The 37-year-old from Belgrade has accustomed us many times to shocking the world, but his disappointing results in 2024 have increased the confidence of his opponents that he can defeat him.

Despite the difficulties of the last year, Djokovic has no intention of giving up easily and will give his best in Melbourne in just over two weeks. On the latest edition of the ‘Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast’, former WTA star Andrea Petkovic discussed Nole’s chances of winning another Major title: “I think for him to achieve that extra title, which I think he can definitely, he needs to be a bit lucky. He needs to be lucky in the first week to contain energy. He needs to have a draw where he cruises.

He will be fit, he will be at 100%, he will come from off-season, he will have trained amazingly and he will have Andy Murray in his box. And so all the negative energy will be trapped in the players’ box, not on the court, in the persona of Andy Murray.”

The former Top 10 continued: “I think he just needs to get a little lucky in the first week so he contains energy in a sense that he cruises through the first four rounds, I’d say

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And then can focus on, because he might play an Alcaraz, might play a Sinner or whoever, and then has his full powers there.”