{"id":1642,"date":"2026-01-21T14:00:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T14:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1642"},"modified":"2026-01-21T14:00:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T14:00:40","slug":"novak-djokovic-told-he-can-defy-john-mcenroes-damning-comments-at-australian-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1642","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic told he can defy John McEnroe\u2019s damning comments at Australian Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic\u2019s<\/a> hopes of winning a 25th Grand Slam title have been written off by tennis legend John McEnroe, but former British No 1 Greg Rusedski has offered up an alternative verdict.<\/p>\n

Djokovic reached the semi-finals of all four Grand Slams in 2025, but came up short in his battles against Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> and Jannik Sinner<\/a> at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.<\/p>\n

That inspired McEnroe to suggest the player who has won more major titles than anyone else in the history of the men\u2019s game will not add to his collection<\/a> so long as he has to beat Alcaraz and Sinner to get over the winning line.<\/p>\n

Speaking to TNT Sports, McEnroe proclaimed that he does not think Djokovic possesses the belief that he can overcome both Alcaraz and Sinner at a Grand Slam.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn his heart of hearts and in my opinion, no,\u201d said the former world No 1.<\/p>\n

More Tennis News<\/h2>\n

Novak Djokovic motivation question asked by former top 10 star at Australian Open<\/a><\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic told his Grand Slam dream might not be blocked by Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he can beat both of those guys when he has already had to go through five matches \u2014 that\u2019s the problem. That\u2019s the reality he has talked about.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people might think, \u2018Why are you still going at this point, you haven\u2019t won in a couple of years and you are so used to winning?\u2019 Why not would be the question?<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my book, he is No 3 in the world. He made four semis last year and beat Alcaraz here. He must think he can still win this otherwise, because he won\u2019t play unless he thinks he can win, which is tougher because he doesn\u2019t play much.\u201d<\/p>\n

That judgement will be shared by many in the game, but Rusedski insisted writing off a player who has broken almost every record in tennis is a big gamble.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was really interesting to hear McEnroe\u2019s comments that he doesn\u2019t feel Novak can beat Alcaraz and Sinner back-to-back,\u201d said Rusedski on an episode of his Off Court Cuts podcast.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe all feel that, but boy was he good in his opening round and let\u2019s look at one statistic. 100 wins Down Under in Australia and he has done that in three of the four Slams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only one he hasn\u2019t done it is in the US Open. 400 wins at majors! Most people don\u2019t do that on all of the tournaments they play. Don\u2019t discount Novak if he can move through the rounds easily.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone was talking about his neck being a little bit sore and asking whether he would be healthy enough, but he knows how to manage his body. That\u2019s why he\u2019s the GOAT.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the age of 38, he\u2019s playing better than 97 or 98 of the players in the top 100 in the world. It was an impressive opener and he saved a lot of energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Novak, he\u2019s talking big. He\u2019s had an incredible record down in Australia, so don\u2019t ever discount a great legend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic\u2019s polished performance in his first round win against Pedro Martinez suggested his pre-tournament injury concerns are not pressing right now, but he will face bigger hurdles en-route to a possible semi-final showdown against Sinner.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Australian Open: Novak Djokovic gets \u2018never say never\u2019 verdict in 25th Grand Slam bid from ex-world No 5<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Novak Djokovic told he can defy John McEnroe\u2019s damning comments at Australian Open<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic\u2019s hopes of winning a 25th Grand Slam title have been written off by tennis legend John McEnroe, but former British No 1 Greg Rusedski has offered up an alternative verdict. Djokovic reached the semi-finals of all four Grand Slams in 2025, but came up short in his battles against Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik […]<\/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-1642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642","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=1642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}