{"id":627923,"date":"2025-09-06T10:39:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T09:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/?p=627923"},"modified":"2025-09-06T10:39:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T09:39:23","slug":"novak-djokovic-clears-the-air-on-2026-plans-amid-tough-losses-against-alcaraz-and-sinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/novak-djokovic-clears-the-air-on-2026-plans-amid-tough-losses-against-alcaraz-and-sinner\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Very Difficult for Me\u2019 \u2013 Novak Djokovic Clears the Air On 2026 Plans Amid Tough Losses Against Alcaraz and Sinner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There&rsquo;s a popular saying in sports: Father Time is undefeated. No matter how dominant you are, no matter how physically impressive you are, age will catch up to you. It&rsquo;s quite humbling, actually, and makes a sportsman&rsquo;s prime all the more important. The Serbinator Novak Djokovic is inevitably experiencing the same situation. But in 2025, that struggle has become even more noticeable. Perhaps that&rsquo;s why questions over his future have grown, and now Djokovic has answered them clearly.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">After his loss to Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic says one of the reasons he keeps playing is because of the love he&rsquo;s been receiving from fans around the world these last few years:<br><br>&ldquo;I still enjoy the thrill of competition. Today I received amazing support from the crowd. Very&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GpVDB6lvrI\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>pic.twitter.com\/GpVDB6lvrI<\/a><\/p>&mdash; The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheTennisLetter\/status\/1964091758494798005?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>September 5, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Novak Djokovic Opens Up On the Challenge Of Beating Alcaraz and Sinner<\/strong><\/h2><p>In three of the last four Grand Slams, Novak Djokovic has lost to Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner. After losing to Sinner at Wimbledon, Djokovic had accepted that his body prevented him from having long matches against the duo. That became visible again when <a href=\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/novak-djokovic-and-big-threes-22-year-reign-us-open-semifinal-loss-against-carlos-alcaraz\/\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>Djokovic lost to Alcaraz <\/a>in straight sets, and by the third set, his performance had a noticeable dip. Naturally, after the match, the 24-time Grand Slam champion made his feelings clear on this situation.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NOVAK DJOKOVIC.<br><br>We are not worthy. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1uOtHA3jqF\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>pic.twitter.com\/1uOtHA3jqF<\/a><\/p>&mdash; US Open Tennis (@usopen) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/usopen\/status\/1964072237155180705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>September 5, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure><p>Talking about his future, Djokovic said, Quite a candid acceptance from the Djoker. Certainly beating them back-to-back is extremely difficult, especially at the level that those two are playing in right now. However, that doesn&rsquo;t mean Novak Djokovic has let go of any hopes to win the Grand Slams. Far from that, the Serb believes he can play the entire cycle again.<\/p><p><em>&ldquo;I still want to play full Grand Slam season next year,&rdquo;<\/em> declared Djokovic. However, once again, he hinted at his body&rsquo;s present condition and whether it would allow him to embark on this mission.<em> &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s see whether that&rsquo;s gonna happen or not,&rdquo; <\/em>he said. So just what is it that&rsquo;s pushing Djokovic to play more despite clearly falling behind the new big 2 of tennis? Simply put, it&rsquo;s him making a gamble.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Novak Djokovic Press Conference | 2025 US Open Semifinal\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_qaOgHkOsOI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p>Sinner and Alcaraz cannot make it to every final or semi-final of every Grand Slam. Novak Djokovic is naturally hoping to be there when either of them stumbles. Beating two of them back-to-back is tough, but Djokovic has the capacity to beat one of them. Perhaps that&rsquo;s all the Djoker needs. Certainly, at this stage of his career, that&rsquo;s the kind of bet that Djokovic can make.<\/p><p><em>Mandatory Credit: Mike Frey-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"mm-layout mm-layout-type-post mm-layout-slot4\">\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can Novak Djokovic Find a Way to Win His 25th Grand Slam?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":627925,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mux_skip_reasons":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[4770],"tags":[4917,4948,5619,4949,4936,5113,7904],"class_list":["post-627923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis","tag-atp","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-jannik-sinner","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-tennis","tag-us-open","tag-us-open-2025"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&lsquo;Very Difficult for Me&rsquo; &ndash; Novak Djokovic Clears the Air On 2026 Plans Amid Tough Losses Against Alcaraz and Sinner - 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