Novak Djokovic unsure of 2025 schedule with retirement date hint given

Novak Djokovic is unsure what his 2025 has in store with the Serbian winning through his second match at the 2024 Shanghai Masters successfully in a dominant display.

But despite that, Djokovic has faced a downturn this season with struggles on court to return to the level he had last season even. He said that his aim is to play Shanghai one more time in a potential retirement hint and the first hint about his future.

"Well, I always want to do very well in China, and I think my past results are a testament to how I feel in China," the Serbian star said. "I always had tremendous success, both Beijing and Shanghai. It is definitely due to incredible love and respect and support I'm getting from the Chinese people.

"So, my connection is very profound, and five years has been a very long period of not coming to China, so I will do my best to come back next year. I don't know what next year brings in terms of my schedule and so forth. I know that I still want to keep playing.

"I have to see where I am in my life with my body and everything, but I still have plans to go ahead, you know, as previous years, prioritizing the biggest events, but then I still would like to make my annual trip to China, at least for one tournament, because of the incredible energy and love I feel here."

But while that is the case, he still feels like he is able to compete with his recovery still being that as he was before.

"I'm feeling good," he explained. "I think the advantage of not playing many tournaments is that you're fresh. So, I don't mind playing long matches every single day, whatever it takes.

"I've been recovering pretty well, and (a) couple days of no match also helps the body. Yeah, maybe it's not ideal, you don't want to make too long of breaks when you're in the tournament already because of the game and kind of feeling that you have in your hands with the racquet.