Tennis World english 38 Tennis World English 38 | Seite 4

to bizarre loss, unable to explain his lack of
success and sudden loss of form. He is now
in the biggest crisis of his career since 2010.
Since becoming world number one for the
first time, Djokovic has had an unbroken run
of tremendous success. Only for a short
period at the end of 2012, when Roger
Federer briefly reclaimed the top spot, and
again in 2014 when Nadal also occupied the
number one ranking, did he experience any

Djokovic In
Crisis?
by Marco di Nardo

The signs have been there for a few
months, but we can no longer hide from
the obvious question: is Djokovic in
crisis? Indeed, after losing to Roberto
Bautista-Agut in the semi-finals of the
Masters 1000 event in Shanghai, it
seems obvious that something is very
wrong with the Serb’s game. Just a few
months ago it would have sounded utterly
absurd for Djokovic to be in any sort of
trouble in 2016. After his success at
Roland Garros, people were taking for
granted that he would win the calendar
Grand Slam, and openly speculating that
he would win more than 20 Slams.
Instead, he has lurched from bizarre loss

sort of real adversity. But even when he did
lose the top ranking for a while, he still won
several Slams and the ATP World Tour
finals, not to mention Masters 1000 events
along with smaller tournaments. So even
when he has not been technically ranked the
best player in the world, there has been little
doubt in anyone’s mind that he has been the
player to beat for the past five years.
Now, however, despite still being in first
place, Djokovic’s grip on the throne is
slipping. Andy Murray has been playing
better and better each week, and even
though Federer and Nadal are no longer
major forces in the sport, the Serb has been
unable to capitalize on their absence.
Djokovic has admitted that he has been
struggling both on and off the court, and it
seems some issues in his personal life are
affecting his tennis.
But what is most worrying is the fact that the
Serbian does not appear able to respond
positively to these challenges, at least not at
the moment. It is hard to believe that he has