Novak Djokovic is ‘still the favourite to win the Grand Slam titles this year’, says Olympic champion
After losing out at the 2024 Australian Open, Nicolas Massu declared that Novak Djokovic is still the favourite to win the three Grand Slam titles this year.
The former Olympic champion referred to Djokovic’s remarkable 2023 season as something fantastic and highlighted the Serbian’s continued exceptional physical fitness.
In the Australian Open semifinals last week, world No. 4 and eventual champion Jannik Sinner defeated Djokovic in four sets, ending his 33-match winning streak in the competition.
The world No. 1 enjoyed one of his most successful seasons to date in 2023, winning three of the four Grand Slam tournaments and finishing second at Wimbledon.
The 36-year-old finished as the ATP year-end world No. 1 after winning seven of the twelve events he played in last year, setting a record.
Massu, who competed for Chile in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, winning gold medals in both the singles and doubles competitions, fell to Djokovic in his two career matchups in 2006 and 2007.
After quitting tennis in 2013, the 44-year-old Chilean worked as a coach for Dominic Thiem, the 2020 US Open champion and former world No. 3 player, from 2019 until 2023.
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Djokovic is the man to beat at Grand Slams, according to Massu, who made this claim in an interview with the Serbian publication SportKlub.
“Novak remains the world’s top player and the overwhelming favorite to win the Grand Slam titles this year. He has remarkable physical fitness. He accomplished something amazing last year, as the former world No. 9 stated.
I’ve known Novak for a very long time, and I really admire him. He defeated me to win his maiden title in Amersfoort in 2006, and he’s still at the top today. He can still win slams; I’m confident of it.
“The other guys—you know who I mean—have excellent odds and are among the favorites to win the Slams, but Novak is in the same boat. I have no doubt that this year will be exciting.
Another former star who recently backed the 24-time Grand Slam winner to respond forcefully to his disappointment in Melbourne is Marion Bartoli, a champion at Wimbledon in 2013.
“He is a guy that came from a year that was tremendous for him in 2023, and he was worn down and exhausted. We already know that he has four significant deadlines left: the Olympic Games, the final three Grand Slam events, and Bartoli told RMC Sports.
After spending some time with his family and recharging his batteries, he will prepare for Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the Olympics—a challenging sequence given the two surface changes—and study the background material for those events.
And even if the younger generation is making an effort, it is clear that [his] loss was still an accident, in my opinion. We cannot declare that Djokovic’s career is over; it is far too soon to make such a claim. He didn’t make it to the Australian Open, but rest assured, he won’t miss the season.
