Novak Djokovic lacking ‘juice in legs’ but ready to challenge at Australian Open

The 38-year-old was the only other man to beat either Alcaraz or Sinner at a grand slam last year, toppling the Spaniard in the quarter-finals here, and he remains arguably their biggest threat despite his advancing years.

He subsequently lost to Sinner twice and Alcaraz once in the semi-finals at the other slams, all in straight sets, but said: “I know that, when I’m healthy, when I’m able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together on a given day, I feel like I can beat anybody.

“If I don’t have that self-belief and confidence in myself, I wouldn’t be here. I still have the drive and, of course, I understand that Sinner and Alcaraz are playing on a different level right now from everybody else.

“That’s a fact, but that doesn’t mean that nobody else has a chance. So I like my chances always, in any tournament, particularly here.”

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Melbourne Park has been the most successful venue in Djokovic’s career, with the Serbian lifting the trophy 10 times, but he knows his own body is likely to be as big an obstacle as Alcaraz or Sinner.

Djokovic struggled to maintain his fitness over best-of-five sets last year, and he has not played a match since early November after niggling problems first brought an early end to his 2025 season and then prompted him to miss this week’s tournament in Adelaide.

“I had a little setback,” he said. “That’s why I didn’t go there, but it’s been going very well so far here. Obviously every day there is something here and there for me, and I guess for each one of us, but generally I feel good and look forward to competing.

“I’m missing a little bit of juice in my legs, to be honest, to be able to compete with these guys at the later stages of a grand slam.

“But I’m definitely giving my best, as I have in 2025, and I think I have done very well and challenged them on their route to the title.

“I’m still trying to be in the mix. I would love to have a chance to fight with one of those, or maybe both of these guys, here.”

Djokovic, meanwhile, addressed his shock decision earlier this month to leave the Professional Tennis Players Association – the body he founded in 2020 with Canadian Vasek Pospisil.

The 24-time grand slam champion had been very much the public face of the organisation but the news does not come as a complete surprise given he publicly expressed reservations about the lawsuits launched by the PTPA last spring against the sport’s governing bodies.

Djokovic insisted he still believes independent player representation is important, saying: “I still have the opinion that the system is failing us.

“It was a tough call for me to exit the PTPA but I had to do that because I felt like my name was overused in pretty much every single article or communication channel.

“And I also didn’t like the way the leadership was taking the direction of the PTPA. I am still wishing them all the best because I think that there is room and there is a need for a 100 per cent players-only representation organisation.

“Going back to the lawsuit, as well. It was partly I exited because of that because I didn’t agree with everything that was in there.

“Hopefully the vision will be clear for the people who are still in charge of PTPA. I don’t see it as clearly as it was in 2020.”