"I think he needs to do different things for sure": Alex Corretja expects 'aggressive' Novak Djokovic to compete with young players in 2025

Former Spanish player Alex Corretja believes that Serbia’s legendary tennis star must be more ‘aggressive’ in order to get the better of younger players next season. The 37-year-old, who is regarded as the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis in the Open era, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles.

Djokovic has recently gone through a bit of a mixed season. He completed his trophy cabinet in 2024 after winning an Olympic gold medal for his country at the Paris Olympics after beating Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in the final in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 7-6. However, he failed to win a single Grand Slam in 2024. It was the first time in seven years that Djokovic finished a full season without winning a single major slam.

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All four major titles were shared by young players such as the reigning world number one Jannik Sinner and Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz. Two-time French Open runner-up Corretja has recently spoken to Eurosport where he highlighted that the Belgrade-born star must play more aggressively if he wants compete against younger players in 2025.

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"I think he needs to do different things for sure," he said. "Novak, because he's been very consistent, very solid and almost like a perfect machine. But right now the other guys are a bit younger, they move a bit faster. So I'm expecting a very aggressive version of Novak, otherwise he will struggle. He can just step back and just run. I mean, he will need to do that to defend because definitely, when you play the top guys, you need to know how to defend as well, because you cannot not always get in position. But at the same time, if you're not going on court, knowing that you need to go for it, serve well, you know, push with the return, and from time to time and change down the line, coming to the net, he will struggle."

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