Rafael Nadal’s retirement leaves Novak Djokovic as the last gunslinger standing and almost certainly the best man ever to stroll on to a tennis court.
He’s probably not the nicest guy to face across the net, there’s never been another with the grace, poise and killer instinct akin to James Bond which is possessed by Roger Federer.
Djokovic is, however, the only player to win 24 men’s singles grand slams while being the world No.1 for 428 weeks across 13 different years.
He can improve that record by winning an 11th Australian Open in Melbourne at the turn of the year and the signs are good as he has just reached the final of the Shanghai Open.
But there’s the rub, Nole will be 38 before the sun and most likely rain beats down on the next All England Championship at Wimbledon and young guns like Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner keep improving to such an extent they are on the cusp of making life intolerable for everyone’s favourite Serbian.
Sinner, who has the same marmite qualities as Djokovic, beat the GOAT in the Shanghai final in straight sets and while Novak may still be better than the vast majority it’s starting to look like Father Time has his number.
It is going to less of a shock every time he is beaten by a supposed underdog and the question is how many times he can summon up the energy to win one of the four major tournaments.
There’s no doubting the willpower remains at its unfathomable best but once the body is in decline it can be a rapid process.
Melbourne is Djokovic’s best chance to break the record he shares with Margaret Court for the most slams won and he is 13/4 with Unibet, Bet UK and BetMGM to be celebrating for an 11th time on the Rod Laver Arena In January.
But he’s only the third favourite in the market and defending champion and current world No.1 Sinner is the 5/2 favourite with bet365 after a season in which he won his first two majors.
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Sorry Novak, you have ploughed plenty of cash into our accounts but there’s a new kid on top of the the charts and your time is up. It’s time to join Rafa and Roger on the beach.
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