Novak Djokovic ‘losing motivation’ as Federer, Nadal and Murray theory raised

Renowned tennis coach Gunter Bresnik thinks Novak Djokovic’s time at the top of men’s tennis is coming to an end following his Wimbledon final loss to Carlos Alcaraz. The 36-year-old is getting no younger and lost his world No 1 ranking this year.

Bresnik, who trained the likes of Boris Becker, Patrick McEnroe and Dominic Thiem, feels the changing of the guard is now. And his theory is that Djokovic is no longer as motivated because his great rivals Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray are not challenging him for the Major titles.

“I have the theory that the rivalries with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray drove him to top performances – of course that also applies to the others. Not only in the match, but also in the time in between, during training or preparing for a match,” Bresnik told Kleine Zeitung.

“And this rivalry does not exist with Alcaraz. I have always said that Djokovic will lose motivation once there is no more constant competition with Nadal and Federer and he has won 23 Grand Slam titles.

“Alcaraz, on the other hand, played freely and finds it easier against the older ones, because they are on the decline. The branches are high, but descending.”

Becker has also recently claimed the young guns are now ready to step into the shoes of the Big Three.

“I see it as a changing of the guard,” the German claimed. “I see it as a game that will go down in history, and we’ll be talking about it in ten years.

“This is the day Carlos Alcaraz came of age, and we’ve seen a lot of praise now in the last 48 hours. But who did he do it against? Yes, against the most successful of all time, so not just anyone.

“This is a next, very important point. Where is tennis going? Roger, Rafa and Novak, there will probably never be such triumphs again. Three players who have won 20 or even more Grand Slams.

“In my time, Pete Sampras did the impossible at 14, but now you have three players who have won over 20 majors. And, of course, they have also ensured incredible popularity, worldwide.”