"This is not the last we have seen of him": Tim Henman backs Novak Djokovic for more glory despite US Open 2024 debacle

Former Britain’s number one Tim Henman believes that there is much more to come from Serbia’s legendary tennis star Novak Djokovic despite a disappointing outing at the US Open. The 37-year-old is already regarded as the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles.

Djokovic recently participated in the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year in New York, where he was defending his title. However, the Belgrade-born star did not have the outing he was expecting as he was knocked out after losing in the third round to Australia’s Alexei Popyrin with a score of 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

After the match, Djokovic admitted that he had played some of the ‘worst’ tennis of his career in the competition and that even reaching the third round could be classified as a success for him. Henman, while talking to British media outlet Sky Sports as quoted by Tennis365, stated that there is more to come from the former world number one player in the near future. The 49-year-old was of the opinion that Djokovic’s performance at the Flashing Meadows was down to fatigue after playing the French Open, Wimbledon, the Paris Olympics and the US Open in a short period of time.

“He didn’t play very well and by his own admission, it was some of his worst tennis,” he said. “The serve looked completely off, it didn’t have any rhythm. I think he served more double faults in that match than any other Grand Slam. If you don’t play well, you are going to come unstuck. He has such a busy time and challenges to overcome with the knee injury, but obviously the Olympics was his goal his year and winning goal. I was surprised by the performance because we are so used to seeing Djokovic produce masterclasses, but we said that this year with the French Open, Wimbledon, Olympics and US Open so close something had to give. It’s easy to focus on the physical demands, but it was the mental and emotional demands as well. Djokovic was flat out there, but this is not the last we have seen of him, for sure.”