Former world No 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov has revealed his \u201cdoubt\u201d that Novak Djokovic can win a record-extending 25th Grand Slam singles title in the future.<\/p>\n
No man in tennis history can match Djokovic\u2019s<\/a> staggering haul of 24 Grand Slam singles titles, with the Serbian ultimately set to finish ahead of legendary rivals Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the all-time Grand Slam standings.<\/p>\n However, while Djokovic\u2019s grip atop the all-time standings is likely to remain for quite some time, it has now been over two years since the Serbian\u2019s most recent Grand Slam victory at the 2023 US Open.<\/p>\n He has reached just one major final since then \u2014 at Wimbledon in 2024 \u2014 with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner having split the last eight Grand Slam titles between them, and dominating on the ATP Tour as a whole.<\/p>\n While Alcaraz turns 23 and Sinner turns 25 in 2026, Djokovic will turn 39, and has faced an array of physical issues in recent years.<\/p>\n The Serbian is still competing at a high level and finished 2025 ranked fourth in the world despite playing just 13 tournaments, though he was beaten in the semi-final of all four Grand Slam tournaments.<\/p>\n Djokovic was forced to retire injured versus Alexander Zverev at the Australian Open, before straight-set defeats to Sinner at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and to Alcaraz at the US Open.<\/p>\n Beating the \u2018New 2\u2019 is proving one of the biggest obstacles to Djokovic\u2019s hopes of a 25th major title, and former world No 1 Kafelnikov<\/a> doubts he will overcome it.<\/p>\n Carlos Alcaraz\u2019s \u2018biggest mistake\u2019 revealed after reported fallout between his father and coach<\/a><\/p>\n Serena Williams \u2018ripped\u2019 and \u2018ready physically\u2019 to make a comeback, according to former coach<\/a><\/p>\n Speaking to CLAY<\/em><\/a>, the two-time Grand Slam singles champion claimed that Djokovic was \u201csimply too old\u201d to compete for major titles at this stage.<\/p>\n Kafelnikov said: \u201cHonestly, I doubt that he can do it.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is the greatest player of all time, no question about it, but competing with these young guys\u2026 Novak is not even 35 anymore, he\u2019s 39 now ]in May]. Believe me, the body and metabolism don\u2019t allow you to recover quickly enough or move like a younger player. Nobody can beat nature.<\/p>\n \u201cA 39-year-old is simply too old to compete with a 22-year-old in peak physical condition. He can still compete in best-of-three events, but best-of-five\u2026 that\u2019s practically impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n Having not won a Grand Slam title in two seasons, many have questioned how long Djokovic will remain competing in the sport.<\/p>\n There is no doubt that the Serbian is still competing at a very high level, with the 38-year-old arguably still the best male player in the world behind both Alcaraz and Sinner.<\/p>\n Djokovic recently reiterated that he would remain on tour while still competing at a \u201chigh level\u201d<\/a>, and was using the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games as one of his main targets.<\/p>\n But Kafelnikov, who was also an Olympic gold medallist and four-time Grand Slam doubles champion during his career, claimed it was hard to understand the reasons why Djokovic was still playing.<\/p>\n \u201cI honestly have no clue,\u201d added Kafelnikov.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve said it before -\u2013 maybe he feels too loyal to his fan base around the world, to the people who want him to keep going. And that\u2019s fine. Hats off to Novak for that.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just shows his courage and dedication. But I really can\u2019t come up with any other reason why he\u2019s still playing.\u201d<\/p>\n Djokovic\u2019s 2026 season will start at the ATP 500 Adelaide International, where he will be the top seed.<\/p>\n That will then be followed by the Australian Open, where he has won 10 of his 24 Grand Slam singles titles.<\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites<\/a> list for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n Read Next<\/strong>: 2026 Australian Open: Who has received a wildcard and will Nick Kyrgios be awarded one?<\/a><\/p>\n The post Novak Djokovic told it\u2019s \u2018practically impossible\u2019 for him to win 25th Grand Slam by former world No 1<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former world No 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov has revealed his \u201cdoubt\u201d that Novak Djokovic can win a record-extending 25th Grand Slam singles title in the future. No man in tennis history can match Djokovic\u2019s staggering haul of 24 Grand Slam singles titles, with the Serbian ultimately set to finish ahead of legendary rivals Rafael Nadal and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1529\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tennis News<\/h2>\n