Can Novak Djokovic accept being third best? Is Iva Jovic the next teen phenom? – Tennis mailbag
This week, The Athletic’s tennis writers Matthew Futterman and Charlie Eccleshare answered your mailbag questions on the season to date. Here are their responses.
Editor’s note: Questions have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Patrick K: Will Novak Djokovic win a 25th major? And do you anticipate that 2026 will be his final year on the ATP tour?
I don’t think he will, no. As he himself has acknowledged, beating one or both of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz over the best of five sets is just too much of an ask physically for him at 38. Maybe Djokovic will get lucky and Sinner and/or Alcaraz will suffer upsets earlier on at a slam, but it’s hard to imagine at the moment.
As for the final year on the tour point, I always assumed 2026 would be. But being in the room with him after he’d lost to Alcaraz at the U.S. Open a few weeks ago, my view has slightly shifted. We assume that surely such a serial winner must be hating his return to the role as the third man of men’s tennis, and yet the way he was talking, it genuinely didn’t sound like that.
Djokovic said that he’d loved competing hard with Alcaraz for a set and, revealingly, that he revelled in the adoration, which he might feel has been overdue, he received from the crowd.
“I still enjoy the thrill of competition,” Djokovic said in a news conference. “Today, I received amazing support again on the court from the crowd. Very thankful for that. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Yeah, that’s one of the biggest reasons why I keep on going. The love that I’ve been getting around the world has been amazing the last couple of years.”
Djokovic reached the semifinals of all four majors this year and has fairly comfortably taken care of top-five mainstays Taylor Fritz and Alexander Zverev at the slams over the last few months. He is, whatever the rankings might say, clearly the third-best player in the world. And he’s belatedly feeling the love most places he goes.
Maybe that’s not such a bad position to be in? Even for a player used to being the undisputed top dog.
Charlie Eccleshare
How severe is Ben Shelton’s shoulder issue? He seems like the only player on tour with the current ceiling and weapons to even challenge Sincaraz…(Sally M)
Players are very protective with information about their injuries.
He’s hopeful that he will return for an indoor tournament before the Tour Finals, if he remains in contention for that. That said, given the force and torque he puts on his shoulder to generate his power, any shoulder injury at his age is concerning.
Matthew Futterman
Is Iva Jovic the next teen phenom in women’s tennis? She is 35-13 overall (at the start of this week), ranked No. 37 as a 17-year-old and just won her first title. What’s her outlook for the rest of the year and beyond? (2166Cadmus)
Yeah, there’s so much upside for Jovic, who’s also a very impressive person. Having spoken to her a little at the U.S. Open, I was struck by her maturity and focus.
I’m wary of bigging up youngsters too much, so I’ll let another former teen phenom (possibly the teen phenom’s teen phenom) do that. Here’s Tracy Austin, a U.S. Open champion aged 16 and 18, from a phone interview we did at the start of the year: “I’ve known Iva a long time and she’s always been very consistent. An incredible competitor. Very accurate. Iva is going to have a great career.
“Probably her backhand (is what stands out) and she moves well. Great depth, consistency, it’s tough to beat her. Tough to hit through her now. Physically, you are still developing at 17, but I think she’s doing great.”
As for the rest of the year, Jovic will look to build on her first WTA title, won in Guadalajara this week, and then look to secure a top-32 ranking that would see her seeded at the Australian Open, which would be some achievement for a player ranked outside the world’s top 200 at the end of 2024.
Maya Joint, the 19-year-old Australian ranked No.36 is another youngster to look out for. But as we looked at earlier in the year, when Mirra Andreeva was the only teenager in the world’s top 100, there has been a big shift in women’s tennis away from teen phenoms dominating the sport.
Charlie Eccleshare
One of the most exciting and talented young players in the sport, Arthur Fils, suffered an injury in the French Open. Been off the radar since. He has an amazing game… I would appreciate any info on his recovery. (Benjamin K)
At last check, Fils was out for the rest of the year. It’s apparently a stress fracture in his back. Bianca Andreescu had one of these and there isn’t a ton she said you can do other than rest and wait for a callus to form over the fracture.
He loves the game and is heartbroken to not be able to compete.
Matthew Futterman
I’m exhausted just watching all these tournaments. Why is their schedule so relentless? There’s no real off-season, no point in calling anywhere “home”. Each day it becomes clearer why Ash Barty up and left the sport. There must be a breaking point for players, and I imagine we will reach it soon. So my question is: what is the breaking point? (Mar S)
Given the announcements from players such as Elina Svitolina and Jack Draper in the last few weeks that their seasons are over, it feels like many have already reached their breaking point.
And clearly the season is way too long, and the absence of a proper pre-season is a major, major problem. These are among the few things that the various warring tennis factions all agree on.
And yet still nothing really changes, which is why your question is so pertinent, because it makes you think what it will actually take for the sport to come together and make the kind of changes that will improve the situation. Does it need one of Sinner or Alcaraz, or Aryna Sabalenka or Iga Świątek to suffer a serious injury? Those players are among a group trying to push the slams for reform, but as The Athletic reported on Wednesday, those talks are currently at an impasse.
And we await the conclusion of the PTPA’s lawsuit against some of tennis’ governing bodies, which on Tuesday was expanded to include the slams in the New York lawsuit. A big part of that lawsuit was based on allegations that players are forced to play too many events.
So it feels like we’re beyond the breaking point and yet the sport still staggers on doing pretty much the same thing.
Charlie Eccleshare
How has the commercialisation of tennis tournaments changed fan engagement? With the likes of celebrities (Stephen Curry, GS final appearances etc.), it seems that tennis has left its traditional audience and focussed on viewership and ratings numbers. (Vwgzg8Rsrc)
Very interesting topic. As we’ve reported with initiatives such as the ATP partnering with Overtime and TikTok, reaching a younger audience is a key strategic aim for them and the WTA. And at the U.S. Open, the focus on celebrities and creating a festival-like atmosphere is very apparent (which is true too of the Australian Open).
I personally enjoy that element of those events, but can understand why some traditionalists might bristle and can see why some older or more established fans might think the grab for younger fans is a rejection of the sport’s core demographic.
I don’t think the two have to be mutually exclusive, but what will be interesting is how much the casual interest of fans on platforms such as TikTok will translate to fans really engaging in the sport and supporting it. It’s too early to say yet, but the tours are certainly hoping and anticipating that it will over the next few years.
Will the traditional audience remain? As long as the slams remain largely unchanged, then I expect so.
Charlie Eccleshare
Sometimes I hear commentators muse about changes to the way tennis is played and scored, especially as matches have gotten longer over time. Additionally, some tournaments and formats (Ultimate Tennis Showdown, college tennis, doubles) use different rules. Are there conversations about making any changes to singles on the pro tours? Do you think any of them have merit? (Benjamin K)
These conversations are always going on, but at tour level I’m not expecting anything to change imminently.
There are a few innovations I definitely do think have merit. I’m a big fan of a third-set match tiebreak, like they have at the Laver Cup. Matches have got so much longer that we’re often seeing three-set matches stretch to beyond three hours (on the day I write this, Maria Sakkari’s win against Ashlyn Krueger at the China Open took three and a half hours) and I don’t think that’s particularly good for anyone. I’m also an advocate of making the Grand Slams best of three for the first week and then best of five for the second — for men and women.
Reducing the length of matches, which have spiralled out of control, is the priority for me when it comes to these kinds of reforms. Though I think the tennis system is devilishly genius and is to be savoured, so I would not countenance things like no-ad deuce at tour level.
Getting rid of service lets I don’t feel that strongly about, but as it would save a bit of time, sure, get rid of them. It ticks the box of reducing match times without losing the essence of the sport — which, in my view, should be the starting point for any tweaks.
Charlie Eccleshare
(Top photo: Novak Djokovic embraces Carlos Alcaraz at the 2025 Australian Open; William West/AFP)
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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