Novak Djokovic keeps going at the US Open even with nothing left to prove

Novak Djokovic has, literally, conquered all there is to conquer in tennis. So what is he still doing here?

It was two years ago (almost to the day) that I proclaimed Djokovic the undisputed Greatest of All Time in men’s tennis after his Olympic Gold Medal, one final notch in the cap to make the most decked-out cap possible. It’s got, like, pins and medals and a really cool design on the brim — it’s a sick cap.

But Djokovic has begun to think about the end of his tennis career after his most recent loss at Wimbledon. With every passing tournament, it’s becoming clearer to me (and him it seems) that Novak does not seriously have a chance against the new age of young, explosive, and annoyingly fit players who still can’t really beat him, but they can wear him out enough over the course of two weeks that someone will get the better of him. I mean, the guy is 39 years old. What do you want him to do?

Quit? No, how could he? What would he do? Relax on the beach somewhere with Federer and Nadal and talk about the good old days? Play golf? No, he can’t do that. He’s Novak Djokovic for God’s sake. He does everything on the court: serve, volly, dig out backhands and save impossible breaks; he hunches over in exhaustion, raises both fists in celebration and chuckles at tennis genius, his own or his opponents, with a wry little smile. The only thing he doesn’t do it quit.

That’s the hard thing with Djokovic and retirement: how can he retire when he’s still so good? By all metrics, standard and advanced, Novak is still a top five player in the world. He’s still ridiculously efficient, still wins an elite percentage of points and can still hold his serve with the best of them. Sure, outside forces may increasingly think he should retire, but can he actually do that when he’s still at this level? Tom Brady hinted at retirement once, realized he could still sling it, and came back until he really couldn’t handle it anymore.

Djokovic doesn’t even look old on the court. He just looks like a developed version of himself. He still has the backhand, and his serve placement is still all-universe. He just can’t necessarily hold up over the course of an entire tournament, liable to lose to a collection of players rather than anyone specifically. But he’s still very much a world-beater, especially on hard courts — the 39-year-old beat Jannik Sinner at the Australian Open this year, he just couldn’t beat Carlos Alcaraz in the next match.

The other question for Djokovic at this 2026 US Open is what the point of all this is anymore. Like later-career Serena Williams, Novak has majorly scaled back the number of tournaments he plays per year to save himself for as many Slams as possible… so what exactly are we doing here if he can’t realistically win a Grand Slam? It’s now been three years since his last one, the 2023 US Open, and the tour isn’t getting any easier.

But that’s the rub: he can still win a Grand Slam, he just can’t expect to with the duopoly of Alcaraz and Sinner running wild. But I wouldn’t put his chances any lower than the Felix Auger-Aliassimes of the world. Perhaps not even much lower than Alexander Zverev, who himself won a major this year when the duopoly failed to show up.

I don’t think Djokovic is done. He may never win another Grand Slam (I probably wouldn’t bet on it), but that doesn’t mean he isn’t out there competing at the highest level. And as much as I’d love to see him go out on a win, if he did actually win the US Open… how could he possibly go out on that? Knowing he’s capable? Knowing he has more to give?

Djokovic’s swansong may not be sunshine and lollipops, but that’s how it was always going to be. It’s still a miracle he can still compete at this level, it’s still awesome, it’s still enjoyable. But in sports, nothing ends well; otherwise, it wouldn’t end.