Former French player Nicolas Escude has predicted that Serbia’s Novak Djokovic will not win another Grand Slam in his career. The 37-year-old, who is regarded as the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles in his illustrious career, is going through a bit of a rough patch, according to his own high standards.
Djokovic has not won an ATP event or a Grand Slam since the start of 2024. The only big accolade for the Belgrade-born star during this time was an Olympic gold medal in Paris last year, where he defeated Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in the final in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 7-6.
Djokovic most recently appeared in the Miami Open, where he finished as the runner-up after losing to the Czech Republic’s young Jakub Mensik in the final in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 7-6. Former French player Escude has been recently quoted in a report by Tennis 365, where he claimed that he could not see Djokovic winning another Grand Slam in his career. The former world number 17 also stated that the former world number one is ‘definitely’ on a ‘downward slope’.
“He’s definitely on a downward slope,” he said. “Given what he’s accomplished, he’ll no longer be able to achieve, not just feats, but win every tournament he entered, dropping only a few sets here and there. So, yes, he’s on a downward slope. At the beginning of the year, we already asked ourselves the question about Novak Djokovic and, in my opinion, I don’t see him winning a Grand Slam anymore; it’s far too complicated for him. There are people now competing against him, there’s rivalry. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are really sucking in a lot of players just below them in the rankings. And unfortunately for him, and it’s been the same for [Roger] Federer, [Rafael] Nadal and [Andy] Murray, the more you push, the more there are physical problems here and there, and it wears you down.”