"You hit a wall": Rennae Stubbs expresses concern about Novak Djokovic's lack of motivation after Madrid Open first-round defeat

Ex-coach of the former world number one Serena Williams, Rennae Stubbs, has expressed concern about the ‘motivation’ of Serbia’s Novak Djokovic after another disappointing outing. The 37-year-old, regarded as the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category of the Open era, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles, is going through a rough patch, according to his high standards.

Djokovic has not won an ATP event since the start of 2024. This year, he has played in seven events, where he managed to secure a spot in the final only once. In the last four ATP 1000 events, the Belgrade-born star has been knocked out in the first round on three occasions. His most recent outing was at the Madrid Open, where his journey ended in the round of 64 after he lost to Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-4.

Ex-coach of the former world number one Serena, Stubbs, in a series of posts on her official account on the social media platform X — previously known as Twitter — expressed her concern about Djokovic’s motivation after suffering yet another first-round exit from a mega-event.

“The worry index continues for Novak, as i pointed out on my latest podcast. He’s making way too many unforced errors (32 today) & NOT locking down in the biggest moments. Guys are not intimidated anymore because of that & thats the biggest key for these player, they see/feel it,” she wrote. “When you lose your aura, and in turn are NOT locking down & making these guys suffer, like double faulting 2 x in a row to drop serve in the 1st set. U would never see that from Nole at his best. How do u get that confidence back? U have to win & i worry the motivation is gone. At some point in an athlete’s professional life, u hit a wall, age, stress, travel, family life, packing bags, flights, customs, hours on court, in the gym, it gets harder & harder. Ur motivation starts to wain & u stop wanting to push thru those tough barriers to get the results. Do i think he can still win a slam, of course! He’s the greatest player of all time BUT it’s getting harder & harder every week because i don’t care who u are, you can’t buy confidence ! U have to earn it & currently his confidence is getting chipped away at more & more.”