Novak Djokovic was unable to compete in the 2022 edition of the Australian Open due to his choice not to get vaccinated against the Coronavirus. Although Nole had received a valid exemption to travel to Australia, the problems started as soon as he set foot in Melbourne.
At the end of a ten-day soap opera, the local government expelled him from the country and imposed a three-year ban. Many things have changed in the last few months. The government is no longer the same and all restrictions related to COVID have been removed.
Also due to his vaccination status, the former world number 1 had to skip the US Open and all the American Masters 1000 (Indian Wells, Miami, Montreal and Cincinnati). The Serbian champion lifted his season by triumphing at Wimbledon for the fourth time in a row, the seventh ever.
The 35-year-old from Belgrade has thus hoisted himself to 21 Grand Slams, just one length away from Rafael Nadal’s record. In a video posted on Instagram, Patrick Mouratoglou analyzed Djokovic’s prospects in detail.
Mouratoglou praises Djokovic
“Big news in the tennis world, Novak Djokovic is allowed to play at the Australian Open so probably he will be able to play three grand slams minimum next year. That changes completely, potentially the history of the game because Novak is the one who is winning the most Grand Slams for a few years except in 2020 because Wimbledon was cancelled but otherwise he is scoring between two and three grand Slams every year,” Mouratoglou said.
“So if he plays three of four more years and is able to win two to three Grand Slams then he can score between three to ten more Grand Slams. Can you imagine? It is unbelievable,” Mouratoglou said. Mouratoglou also questioned how long Nadal would be able to swing his racquet: “And the real question is how long is he gonna play Rafa, which is a big question and will the young generation, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev, all this generation and Zverev and the younger generation, Alcaraz, Holger Rune and Sinner.
Will they be able to win Grand Slams and in a way prevent Novak from winning 2 to 3 per year. That are the questions that are so interesting in the future and now because he can play the Grand Slam we are so excited to witness that,” Mouratoglou concluded. Djokovic won all of his group-stage matches to qualify for the semifinals.