Patrick Mouratoglou has a very interesting theory on Novak Djokovic’s subpar year at the Grand Slam level as Serena Williams’ former coach thinks knowing that he beat Rafael Nadal in the Slam race may have mentally impacted the Serb and his motivation levels.

When the 2023 season started, the 37-year-old was still one Major behind the Spaniard. But after making all four finals last year and adding three Slams to his last collection, the Serbian tennis giant became the first-ever male with 24 Slams.

While Nadal was able to kick off his post-hip surgery comeback in the first week of 2024, he instantly picked up an injury and didn’t play at the Australian Open. The 38-year-old’s only Grand Slam this season was the French Open, where he lost in the first round.

On the other side, Djokovic appeared in all four Majors – but didn’t win a single title on that stage for the first time since 2017. But since his biggest rival is set to officially retire at next month’s Davis Cup Finals, he is guaranteed to finish with the all-time Grand Slam record.

“For Novak it’s only about his motivation. I understand that he struggles with it at the moment because all his career was about beating the other two and up being better than them, that was the fight of his life in tennis and he won. So to keep his motivation now, it’s very difficult. ow that Rafa is retiring, the whole year that was the problem, that’s how I see it, I don’t know if I’m right, this year for Novak was tough,” Mouratoglou told Tennis365.

“This is because from the start of the season you could see that Rafa was struggling so much and probably came to his mind, well I won. When you fight all your life for something and you finally get it, where do you find the motivation? So I hope this difficult year is something he will be able to use to feed his motivation and come back next year as good as the previous one because then we’ll have a fight between those three that is going to be unbelievable and I want to see it.”

Mouratoglou backs Djokovic for more Grand Slam success

When the time came for the 2024 Australian Open, there was no doubt who was the top favorite for the title. But from the early stages of the tournament, something seemed a bit off in the record 10-time Australian Open champion’s game. And while he managed to make it past his opening five matches in Melbourne, he was given no chance by Jannik Sinner in the semifinal.

A couple of months later, Djokovic reached the French Open quarterfinal but had to withdraw due to a knee injury. At Wimbledon, the 37-year-old got beaten by Carlos Alcaraz in the final for a second consecutive year. The US Open title defense was a catastrophe after the current world No. 4 suffered a shock third-round loss to Alexei Popyrin.

Djokovic maybe didn’t win a Slam title this season but he captured the gold medal at the Paris Olympics and completed his resume.

Heading into the 2025 season, Sinner and Alcaraz – who splits Majors between them this year – are considered the two top favorites for the biggest titles next year. But Mouratoglou – who recently started working with Naomi Osaka – is not ready yet to write off the record 24-time Major winner.

“I think he had a very bad year, but it came after an incredible year. Let’s not forget that only last year he won three Grand Slams and played in the final of the other. So we shouldn’t forget that was just one year ago, not ten years ago, just one year ago. He won the Olympics which was his main focus this year, beating Carlos in the final, playing fantastic tennis, so he is not far away. I think he can beat them (Sinner and Alcaraz). It’s very hard, there was a lot of margin before, but now there is none. When he plays them I think anyone can win, but I don’t think he’s far behind. I think he can still win Grand Slams, I’m sure about it,” Mouratoglou explained.

In one of his recent interviews, Djokovic said that he is aware that some are pushing the narrative that he is done and that he should walk away from tennis. However, he made it clear that he plans to keep playing and return for the 2025 season.

Since the Australian Open has been by far Djokovic’s most successful Grand Slam, there is no doubt that the 37-year-old will arrive in Australia looking to end his Slam drought there.