“I don’t think I have ever received this much support in this stadium in my career in big matches against the best players in the world,” Novak Djokovic thanked his fans for never failing to rally behind his cause at the 2025 French Open. And yet, the 24x Grand Slam winner’s possible last time on the Court Philippe Chatrier turned out to be less than memorable, despite having all the support he needed. Courtesy of Janik Sinner.

Sinner crushed the 38-year-old’s dreams of bagging his 25th Grand Slam with a 6-4, 7-5, 7-6(3), that saw the former push through fatigue and exhaustion in a way that only Sinner can. However, that’s all in the rearview mirror. For Novak Djokovic, it’s the road ahead that matters. With Wimbledon being the next big event on the tennis calendar, speculations are rife about what fate holds for the last of the Big 3. Patrick Mouratoglou, for one, isn’t seeing much hope for Djokovic to get back to the top of the food chain.

The veteran tennis coach was heard talking about the Serb’s chances of winning this year’s Wimbledon in a post on Instagram from June 14. “In this carousel, I share my thoughts on what’s next for Novak — and what we might expect from him in the coming months,” wrote Serena Williams’ former coach as the caption of the IG post, before going ahead with his thoughts based on Novak Djokovic’s press conference post his semi-final loss to Sinner.

“I think, tennis wise, he’s there. He’s completely there,” Mouratoglou said, “I can totally see him winning that match against Jannik,” noting that on a different day, Novak could have easily taken down the 23-year-old Italian tennis star. “Level wise? He’s there. Physically wise? He’s there,” Naomi Osaka’s coach couldn’t stop reiterating the fact that Djokovic shouldn’t be discounted at any cost. With that, he also mentioned that the Serbian powerhouse, not having played many games this year, might have also affected his game. “Of course, he can prepare better,” admitted Mouratoglou.

“It’s not about the tennis, it’s more about the mental side of it. I felt he did accept a little bit too much the dominance of Sinner on him, which is not Novak. I didn’t see Novak I know, and I still think his motivation is not high enough. It’s there, but I don’t know where it is exactly,” the coach went on about how Novak Djokovic accepting that Sinner might be a better player than himself also could have impacted his mental stamina to keep pushing despite all odds.

Mourtoglou also underscored the fact that maybe Novak’s need to prove his worth might have also become feeble, with both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer having hung up their shoes. “Everybody was fan of Roger, everybody was fan of Rafa, everybody was saying they were the best players in the world, and he wanted to prove that he was the best. And I think that was something that really drove him. He lost his drive for the reason that he’s the greatest,” the coach said about Djokovic.

But Mourtoglou isn’t the only one who’s thinking that the Serbian giant might be reaching the end of his line. Just a few days ago, former pro star Luke Saville also claimed that Novak Djokovic is fighting a losing battle. “He has 24 Slams, you know he’s got that record sewn up. He’s won every event there is, all the Masters, the most Master series, weeks at number one. But I sort of felt like watching him against Sinner, it was the first time I felt like he sort of didn’t have that belief, in my opinion. I could be wrong, but just watching him, it was like I felt like there was a realization from him that he can’t compete at this level with those top two anymore,” Saville said during an interview on Australian Open TV.

But hold up, though! What is going on exactly? This is Novak Djokovic we’re talking about, after all. Maybe it’s the poor result in almost all the tournaments he’s entered this year that’s making the experts think twice before already handing the Wimbledon trophy to Djokovic? From the Australian Open in January to the Madrid Open in April, Novak has failed to move beyond the semis or quarterfinals in most cases. Winning the Geneva Open in May was only a faint speck of silver lining amidst all the bleakness. And yet, knowing what he can produce under tough situations, not everyone is up for giving up on the tennis icon.

Novak Djokovic still has believers in his corner

Jack Sock is pretty confident that Wimbledon would see a different side of Novak Djokovic, especially considering this track record on the grass court. “ am excited to see Novak at Wimbledon because it’s on grass and I think his game and his age, the points are going to be shorter and he will be able to do a bit more damage from the baseline,” Sock said. Rick Macci, another former coach of Serena Williams, also said something similar: “real shot at getting number 25 at BIG W.”

“His success on all the Grand Slam surfaces has been pretty amazing, let’s face it,” Jimmy Connors also reiterated that Novak Djokovic still might have a few tricks up his sleeves to take down the likes of Alcaraz or even Sinner. Grand Slam winner Andy Roddick also feels like his comrade could yet earn his 25th Grand Slam title on the most prestigious stage of them all.

“I’m going to say this right now: Novak can win Wimbledon…Nothing he does at 38 becomes easier when he steps onto a clay court… Everything he does well at 38 gets better when he steps onto a grass court,” Roddick said during a podcast episode. What do you think? Can Djokovic prove Mourtoglou’s skepticism wrong? Or has the seasoned coach got it correct? Tell us your take on the matter in the comments!