Roger Federer's ex-coach Ivan Ljubicic noticed a stunning Novak Djokovic stat and stated that the game of tennis "will go back to normality" only when the record 24-time Grand Slam champion calls it a career.
Although the 38-year-old Serbian hasn't had much Grand Slam success since 2024, he is still a firm top-10 member and currently sits at No. 6 in the world. In live rankings, he is nine years older than anyone else ranked inside the top-20 - Daniil Medvedev and Karen Khachanov are both 29.
Tennis writer Christopher Clarey dug out the stat and posted about it on X.
"Crazy stat. At 38, Novak Djokovic is NINE years older than anyone else in the ATP Top 20 live rankings," Clarey wrote.
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Reacting to the stat, 2006 French Open semifinalist and former world No. 3 Ljubicic stated: "Once he retires, we will go back to normality, where humans will not be able to be competitive at highest level after certain age..."
What we know about Djokovic's future?
Throughout last year, Djokovic was quickly shutting down any claims that he should retire. This year, the Serb seemingly softened his stance on it by openly admitting that Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are ahead of him and by suggesting that he would not allow himself to continue playing if he didn't feel like he had a legitimate chance of winning a Grand Slam.
After losing to Sinner in the Wimbledon semifinal, Djokovic didn't hide his disappointment. However, he also very openly said that he was planning to play at The Championships at least one more time before retiring.
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I would be sad, but hopefully it's not my last match on Centre Court. I'm not planning to finish my Wimbledon career today. I'm planning to come back definitely at least one more time," Djokovic said.
