WIMBLEDON, England — Less than an hour after leaving the court following his straight-sets loss in the semifinals to Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic said he didn’t believe this would be his final Wimbledon appearance.
The 38-year-old had an emotional exit as he walked off the court following the 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 defeat. He turned to wave to all sides of Centre Court as the crowd gave him a standing ovation. When asked if he would be “sad” if that was the last match of his career at the All England Club, he said he would be but didn’t think it was.
“Hopefully it’s not my last match on the Centre Court,” Djokovic said, “I’m not planning to finish my Wimbledon career today. So I’m planning to come back definitely at least one more time, play on the Centre Court for sure.”
Djokovic, a 24-time major champion from Serbia, had hinted at his impending retirement following his French Open loss last month in the same round, also to Sinner, when he said it could have been “the last match ever I played here.”
Subsequently his news conference on Friday garnered heavy interest, with nearly every seat occupied. The media theater was so full of reporters, it drew a “wow” from Carlos Alcaraz, the two-time defending champion, when he was rescheduled at the last-minute to speak during Djokovic’s initial time slot.
While Djokovic admitted on Friday he had been physically compromised “quite a bit” during the match — without offering any specifics — and said how difficult it has been to lose to Sinner and Alcaraz in recent meetings, he said he believed he was still playing well at Grand Slams.
“I’ve put everything I possibly can when it comes to training and preparing myself so I can play my best at Grand Slams,” Djokovic said. “I think, regardless of the fact that I haven’t won a Grand Slam this year, or last year, I still feel like I continue to play my best tennis at Grand Slams. Those are the tournaments that I care about at this stage of my career the most.”
Djokovic added he would consult with his team and his family in the near future to determine how best to proceed with his schedule “and where I want to peak and how I want to train.” Djokovic had previously said he planned on playing the US Open, which begins Aug. 24 in New York.
Considered among the best to ever play the sport, Djokovic tied Margaret Court’s longstanding record for the most major singles titles in history at the US Open in 2023. After such a strong season, in which he won three of the year’s four Slam titles and finished at year-end No. 1, he looked poised to capture the mark outright.
But since then, he has reached just one major final (losing to Alcaraz at Wimbledon last year) and four semifinals. He captured Olympic gold in Paris last summer — the only substantial title he had yet to win — but has otherwise won just one ATP title in that span. Alcaraz and Sinner, who will compete on Sunday for the 2025 Wimbledon trophy, have combined to win the last six Slam titles. Djokovic said the duo are “definitely several levels above everyone right now.”
