Marion Bartoli disagrees with many individuals who believe Novak Djokovic’s career is finished, cautioning his youthful opponents about cramping concerns.
The former French WTA player remains convinced that the Serbian is capable of dominating the ATP Tour. Djokovic has easily controlled the Tour for the last decade, and it wasn’t until this year that things began to unravel for the 24-time major winner.
Part of what went wrong this year was due to injuries, which haven’t plagued him much in the past. Djokovic was defeated fairly and squarely in the Australian Open, but who knows what could have happened if he hadn’t damaged his knee at Roland Garros?
Young players including as Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are making their way up the rankings, but Djokovic remains a top contender.
Bartoli spoke with RMC Sport about how she sees the Tour evolving in the future. She pointed out that Djokovic is still ahead of all of his competition, implying that his heyday is far from over.
“When we see the Roland Garros final between Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev, who are obviously very great champions, and the number of unforced errors that they still commit, the cramps of Alcaraz and Sinner in the semi‐finals.”
Although it is not only about other players stepping up, but also about Djokovic failing to play at the level he once did, Bartoli also sees a problem with young players suffering from cramps, adding that the Serbian legend did not suffer from cramps during his golden years.
“Tell me how many times Djokovic cramped during finals versus [Roger] Federer or [Rafael] Nadal that lasted more over five hours? The amount of mistakes committed by these players in the finals of higher-level Grand Slam tournaments. “This is not the end of the Novak Djokovic era.”