{"id":321537,"date":"2025-10-21T16:01:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T16:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/321537\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T16:01:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T16:01:13","slug":"roger-federers-old-coach-explains-what-he-would-like-novak-djokovic-to-do-before-the-end-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/321537\/","title":{"rendered":"Roger Federer’s old coach explains what he would like Novak Djokovic to do before the end of 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Follow us on Google Discover <\/a> <\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic returned to the court at the Six Kings Slam last week, although his event was ended early due to retirement.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Djokovic lost to Jannik Sinner<\/a> in his opening match in Riyadh, where he received a bye into the semifinals.<\/p>\n

The Serbian veteran then met Taylor Fritz in the third place playoff, but Djokovic retired after losing the first set<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Most stars of the tournament have now returned to the ATP Tour<\/a> after Sinner won the final against Carlos Alcaraz, but Djokovic<\/a> is not in action this week.<\/p>\n

The veteran has, however, managed to qualify for the ATP Finals, which take place in Turin early next month.<\/p>\n

\"NovakPhoto by Clive Brunskill\/Getty ImagesWhat Roger Federer\u2019s old coach wants Novak Djokovic to do before the end of 2025<\/p>\n

Djokovic would be making his 18th appearance at the year-end event if he decides to play, having opted against doing so last season due to injury.<\/p>\n

Former player Steve Johnson has now shared his take on the situation, having been asked on Tennis Channel if he thinks Djokovic should play in Turin.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI don\u2019t know whether he should or he shouldn\u2019t, but I don\u2019t see him doing it. I mean, he is somebody that is so meticulous about his schedule, I think all that matters is that Grand Slam 25.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if he feels as if playing this event will help get him there, maybe get an edge over one of these guys and getting a win over a Sinner or Alcaraz, then I think he should do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roger Federer\u2019s former coach Paul Annacone<\/a> then commented: \u201cI think the thing that he\u2019s realized so well, and I think all the all-time greats do at the end of their career, is they get the macro picture. And Stevie said it so well, he\u2019s trying to figure out how to win number 25.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould he like to win this again? Sure. But does it matter? Not really when you look at what he\u2019s done. So will that help him for next year?<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, for me, if I pretended to put on my coaching hat, I would like him to play either Paris or Turin. I don\u2019t think he needs to play both. But I would like him to play just a few more matches before the end of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what he\u2019s done in Australia, and we know how good he can be down there. I think the only question I have in my mind is, can he beat Alcaraz and Sinner back-to-back? That\u2019s one question.<\/p>\n

\u201cActually I have two questions in my mind. Second question that is can he play seven three-out-of-five set matches at that level and at the latter stages? Those are the only two things.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when you look at his year like Stevie said, it\u2019s an amazing year. The guy has had an incredible year. But for what we\u2019ve compared it to in the past, it\u2019s only been okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Coco Gauff states what she has learned from Novak Djokovic after seeing footage early on in his career<\/a><\/p>\n

Continuing the debate, Johnson added: \u201cI feel like he may want to play this ATP Finals just to try and get maybe a little bit of an edge, maybe see these guys a little bit more, try and beat them in a two-out-of-three match.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we all know, beating them three-out-of-five seems impossible, and I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s anybody on tour that can beat those guys back-to-back on a Friday and Sunday at a Grand Slam.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo for Novak, maybe getting a win here at the ATP Finals over one of those guys could prove great for his confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Annacone says what he thinks is more difficult between the ATP Finals and Grand Slams<\/p>\n

Djokovic admitted to struggling against Sinner and Alcaraz<\/a> in best-of-five matches, where physicality and endurance play key roles.<\/p>\n

He did manage to reach the semifinals of all four Grand Slams this season, but was beaten at three of the events by either the Italian or the Spaniard.<\/p>\n

Federer\u2019s old coach Annacone was incidentally also presented with the all-time ATP Finals titles list, of which the Serbian legend tops with seven.<\/p>\n

Federer is second with six titles, while both Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras have won the year-end event five times.<\/p>\n\nTitles<\/strong><\/td>\nPlayer<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n7<\/td>\nNovak Djokovic<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n6<\/td>\nRoger Federer<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n5<\/td>\nIvan Lendl<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n5<\/td>\nPete Sampras<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n4<\/td>\nIlie Nastase<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n3<\/td>\nJohn McEnroe<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n3<\/td>\nBoris Becker<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Most ATP Finals titles<\/p>\n

Djokovic meanwhile also tops the list for the most men\u2019s Grand Slam titles with 24, followed by the 22 of Rafael Nadal and the 20 of Federer.<\/p>\n

Asked if he thinks the ATP Finals list or the Grand Slam list is more impressive, Annacone replied: \u201cI think the major is tougher because three-out-of-five sets over two weeks. It\u2019s a different kind of pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere you can lose a match and still win the title. I\u2019ve seen Mr Sampras do that, I\u2019ve seen that happen in the past. So it\u2019s a little less pressure. But there aren\u2019t any good draws here.\u201d<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see what action Djokovic takes with the ATP Finals and indeed the ATP Masters 1000 later this month, with his mind clearly still set on one more Grand Slam success.<\/p>\n

But that may now be out of the question for the 38-year-old given his age and the current levels of Sinner and Alcaraz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover Novak Djokovic returned to the court at the Six Kings Slam last week,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":306826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[1479,9125,158140,62,1464,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-321537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-atp","9":"tag-novak-djokovic","10":"tag-paul-annacone","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tennis","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115412997910447541","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}