{"id":1538,"date":"2026-01-02T09:30:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T09:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1538"},"modified":"2026-01-02T09:30:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T09:30:53","slug":"novak-djokovics-ex-rival-makes-given-up-claim-about-the-serb-challenging-alcaraz-sinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1538","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic\u2019s ex-rival makes \u2018given up\u2019 claim about the Serb challenging Alcaraz &amp; Sinner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former ATP Tour stars Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Mischa Zverev have weighed in on Novak Djokovic\u2019s prospects ahead of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/novak-djokovic\">Djokovic<\/a> begins the campaign ranked fourth in the world behind Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev.<\/p>\n<p>In 2025, Djokovic reached the semi-finals at all four Grand Slams, won titles in Geneva and Athens and was a runner-up at the Miami Masters.<\/p>\n<p>The 38-year-old will get his year underway at the Adelaide International, an ATP 250 tournament which will be held from January 12 to 17. He won the Adelaide International in his only previous appearance in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>The Serbian will then aim to win a record-extending 11th Australian Open title and 25th Grand Slam in total. Djokovic secured his most recent major at the 2023 US Open.<\/p>\n<h2>What did Jo-Wilfried Tsonga say about Novak Djokovic?<\/h2>\n<p>In an interview with Swiss outlet Blick, Tsonga addressed whether Djokovic can compete with Alcaraz and Sinner in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you hear him talk about Carlos and Jannik today, putting them on another level, you sometimes get the impression that he\u2019s already given up,\u201d said the Frenchman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I think he\u2019s still ready. He continues to play very good tennis. And if there\u2019s even an inch of opening, he\u2019ll strike.<\/p>\n<h2>Tennis News<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/novak-djokovic-insider-reveals-retirement-plan-abrupt-like-rafael-nadals-exit\"><strong>Novak Djokovic insider reveals retirement plan \u2013 and it won\u2019t be abrupt like Rafael Nadal\u2019s exit<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/novak-djokovic-told-practically-impossible-win-25th-grand-slam-kafelnikov\"><strong>Novak Djokovic told it\u2019s \u2018practically impossible\u2019 for him to win 25th Grand Slam by former world No 1<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can feel that with each step onto the court, he pushes the limits even further. It will be fascinating to follow him this year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tsonga, a former world No 5, holds a 6-17 record from the 23 matched he played against Djokovic.<\/p>\n<h2>What did\u00a0Mischa Zverev say about Novak Djokovic?<\/h2>\n<p>Speaking to the same publication, Mischa Zverev \u2014 the older brother of Alexander Zverev \u2014 also shared his thoughts on Djokovic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith Novak, you can still feel that something is missing,\u201d said the German, who peaked at 25th in the ATP Rankings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPerhaps the pace, which is currently a bit higher with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the final stages of Grand Slams or Masters tournaments, you should never rule out Novak. But his body clearly plays a role. He simply has a few more kilometres under his belt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlcaraz and Sinner are ahead, then comes Sascha (Alexander Zverev). And after that, we don\u2019t really know who follows.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mischa Zverev holds a 0-2 record against Djokovic.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Want more from Tennis365? Add us as <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\">a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ NEXT: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-features\/atp-rankings-rule-change-seen-djokovic-zverev-top-10-stars-drop-points\">The ATP Rankings rule change that\u2019s seen Djokovic, Zverev &amp; 5 more top-10 stars drop points<\/a><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/novak-djokovic-given-up-carlos-alcaraz-jannik-sinner-tsonga-comments\">Novak Djokovic\u2019s ex-rival makes \u2018given up\u2019 claim about the Serb challenging Alcaraz &amp; Sinner<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/\">Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former ATP Tour stars Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Mischa Zverev have weighed in on Novak Djokovic\u2019s prospects ahead of the 2026 season. Djokovic begins the campaign ranked fourth in the world behind Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev. In 2025, Djokovic reached the semi-finals at all four Grand Slams, won titles in Geneva and Athens [&hellip;]<\/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-1538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1538","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=1538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1538\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}