{"id":29308,"date":"2025-02-28T01:54:03","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T01:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=29308"},"modified":"2025-02-28T01:54:03","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T01:54:03","slug":"novak-djokovic-former-world-no-1-reveals-what-is-starting-to-be-an-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=29308","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic: Former world No 1 reveals what is\u00a0‘starting to be an issue’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Novak<\/figure>\n

Novak Djokovic reacts during his match<\/p>\n

Former doubles world No 1 Rennae Stubbs has expressed concerns over\u00a0Novak Djokovic after the great Serb\u2019s injury-affected start to the 2025 campaign.<\/p>\n

Djokovic\u00a0began his 2025 season with a run to the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International, where he was beaten by Reilly Opelka.<\/p>\n

At the Australian Open, Djokovic found a high level to earn quality wins against Tomas Machac, Jiri Lehecka and Carlos Alcaraz in the third round, fourth round and quarter-finals respectively.<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old\u2019s quest to win a record-extending 25th Grand Slam title in Melbourne was ended by a left leg\u00a0injury that forced him to retire after the first set of his semi-final clash with Alexander Zverev.<\/p>\n

Djokovic confirmed the injury, which he sustained early in his win against Alcaraz, was a hamstring tear \u2014 but he made a swift recovery to return to action in time for the Qatar Open around three weeks later.<\/p>\n

The world No 7 was defeated in straight sets by Matteo Berrettini in the first round of the ATP 500 tournament in Doha \u2014 his first opening match loss at a hard-court event since the 2018 Miami Open.<\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic News<\/h2>\n

Novak Djokovic told \u2019emotional\u2019 issue which \u2018usually never happened\u2019 has emerged<\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic\u2019s ranking, prize money, sponsors and his next tournament<\/p>\n

Djokovic holds a 7-3 record from the three tournaments he has played so far this year. The tennis icon won his 99th and most recent singles title at the 2024 Paris Olympics in August.<\/p>\n

On an episode of The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, Stubbs assessed that Djokovic is starting to struggle more after his increase in injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cNovak Djokovic did lose to Berrettini. Berrettini did play the match of his life. He was hitting forehands all over the place for winners,\u201d said Stubbs, who coached Serena Williams in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he\u2019s had his issues at the start of this year with in Australia with the leg. He\u2019s struggling with injuries over the last couple of years now with the knee, with the leg.<\/p>\n

\u201cNovak has bounced back better than most, better than probably anyone. But this is starting to be a little bit of an issue now, not winning matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then when you haven\u2019t played for a while, then you come back and you\u2019re older\u2026 When you go and play a match, you\u2019re pushing yourself more, you\u2019re doing a little more, you\u2019re more nervous, your body\u2019s more uptight. And he\u2019s struggling more and more and more.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ NEXT:\u00a0Daniil Medvedev reveals why Stan Wawrinka has inspired him more than Djokovic, Nadal and Federer
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former doubles world No 1 has expressed concerns over\u00a0Novak Djokovic after the great Serb’s injury-affected start to the 2025 campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis"],"yoast_head":"\nNovak Djokovic: Former world No 1 reveals what is\u00a0'starting to be an issue' - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=29308\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Novak Djokovic: Former world No 1 reveals what is\u00a0'starting to be an issue' - 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