Other players realise Novak Djokovic 'not invincible' anymore, says Serena Williams ex-coach

Ex-coach of the former world number one Serena Williams, Rennae Stubbs, believes that players have started to realise that beating Serbia’s Novak Djokovic is possible. The 37-year-old is regarded as the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category in the Open era, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles.

Djokovic is going through a bit of a lean patch, as he has just won one title since the start of last year. That was the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, where he defeated Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in the final in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 7-6.

This year, Djokovic has participated in three events where he has been knocked out from the first round on two occasions. His most recent outing was at the Indian Wells, where he lost in the round of 64 to Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp with a score of 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. Ex-coach of the former world number one Williams, Stubbs, spoke in her podcast ‘The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast’ where she stated that players have started to realise that beating Djokovic is very much possible. Stubbs was of the opinion that the Belgrade-born star is getting slower with increasing age.

"At some point you hit an age where things just get harder,” she said. “And at 38, you get little bit slower, you get a little bit more nervous, you get less confident, and he hasn't won a tournament since he won the Olympics last year. I just think it's getting harder, and I don't care who is in your corner, you gotta do it yourself. You gotta convince yourself you're still good enough to win the matches. These guys are only getting better and better, and the key is that the players have started to realize that he's not invincible. The mental victory for these players, it's not as hard."