{"id":325804,"date":"2025-08-07T17:58:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T17:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/325804\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T17:58:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T17:58:12","slug":"jimmy-connors-admits-the-one-thing-that-worries-him-about-novak-djokovic-ahead-of-the-us-open-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/325804\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Connors admits the one thing that ‘worries’ him about Novak Djokovic ahead of the US Open this year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Novak Djokovic is somewhat of an unknown quantity heading into the US Open this year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Djokovic last competed in the semifinals of Wimbledon<\/a>, where he lost to eventual champion and world number one Jannik Sinner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite originally being entered to play these tournaments, Djokovic has since withdrawn from the Cincinnati Open<\/a> and the Canadian Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There is a lot of speculation surrounding Djokovic\u2019s future in the sport<\/a>, and now former world number one Jimmy Connors<\/a> has admitted his concern heading into the US Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"NovakPhoto by Sarah Stier\/Getty ImagesJimmy Connors admits Novak Djokovic\u2019s Cincinnati Open withdrawal concerns him<\/p>\n

Connors is a six-time US Open champion<\/a>, and now has a podcast with his son, Brett, which is aptly named Advantage Connors.<\/p>\n

In the latest episode, Jimmy Connors was discussing which man he thinks is going to win the US Open singles title next month.<\/p>\n

Connors actually backed Djokovic to win a record 25th Grand Slam title<\/a>, but admitted that his withdrawal from the Cincinnati Open<\/a> concerns him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am thinking of [Novak Djokovic],\u201d answered Connors. \u201cYou can\u2019t count him out. The only thing that is worrying me, is I wish he would go to Cincinnati and just go and play two or three matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the only thing that worries me that he left Wimbledon in the semis, which was a pretty good result, but he didn\u2019t play in that match like he wanted to and lost in three straight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen to take two and a half months off, he has a family, going on vacation and getting away. But you never know!\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic last won a Grand Slam at the 2023 US Open<\/a>, with Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> sharing all seven major titles since then.<\/p>\n

How has Novak Djokovic performed at the US Open before when he has not played in Cincinnati?<\/p>\n

This is the fourth time that Djokovic<\/a> is expected to play the US Open after missing the tournament in Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

However, all of the other years Djokovic has played at the Olympic Games<\/a>, whereas that is not the case in 2025.<\/p>\n

Two of the three previous times that Djokovic has missed the Cincinnati Open<\/a> he has gone on to reach the US Open final, but he was unable to get anywhere near last year.<\/p>\n

After winning Olympic<\/a> gold, Djokovic would lose to Alexei Popyrin<\/a> in the third round of the US Open, which is still his earliest Grand Slam defeat since 2017.<\/p>\n\nYear Novak Djokovic missed the Cincinnati Open<\/strong><\/td>\nHow Novak Djokovic performed at the US Open<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2016 (Did win the Canadian Open) <\/td>\nFinal \u2013 Lost to Stan Wawrinka<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2021<\/td>\nFinal \u2013 Lost to Daniil Medvedev<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2023<\/td>\nThird Round \u2013 Lost to Alexei Popyrin<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Although he is not entered to play in any singles events prior to the New York major this year, Djokovic is competing in the US Open mixed doubles tournament<\/a> that takes place the week prior.<\/p>\n

Djokovic is partnering his compatriot Olga Danilovic in the US Open mixed doubles event, which takes place on August 19-20.<\/p>\n

The main draw of the singles tournament at the US Open will get underway on Sunday, August 24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic is somewhat of an unknown quantity heading into the US Open this year. Djokovic last competed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[4294,72556,4295,79,1068,16,15,5067],"class_list":{"0":"post-325804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-atp","9":"tag-jimmy-connors","10":"tag-novak-djokovic","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tennis","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-us-open"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114988784260532769","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}