Novak Djokovic gets savage reality check with retirement message sent ahead of US Open

Former British tennis star Andrew Castle believes Novak Djokovic should retire if he manages to win the US Open and rack up a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title. Djokovic has not won any of the game's majors since 2023, although he claimed an Olympic gold medal in 2024, in-part due to the emergence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.

Expectations are that the Spaniard and Italian will go on to dominate the game for some time, with Djokovic's last US Open title coming two years ago. However, while Castle admits he doesn't think that Djokovic will win the US Open, he rather colourfully hopes the 38-year-old gets the chance to "shove it up everyone's a****" and claim victory at Flushing Meadows.

The Serbian icon is heading to New York as the seventh seed and while Castle, 61, is quietly hopeful Djokovic can roll back the years, the US Open doubles quarter finalist isn't convinced the four-time US Open winner has much left in the tank with Alcaraz and Sinner both winning the last eight Grand Slams between them.

"It doesn't look like much to me," Castle told Betway when asked what Djokovic has left to offer. "I mean, it doesn't look like to me that if Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are around that he could win another Grand Slam.

"It looks like the perception is, he's finished in terms of winning Grand Slams. It's the last kind of chapter in this storied career and now we analyse what he has done.

"At the French Open, I believe it was his 19th quarterfinal at the French Open alone. That is what the locker room talks about. I mean, the 24 Grand Slams is obviously ridiculous. But 19 French quarter-finals... and there's records like that everywhere and Novak's won everything twice or three times. He's won every single title.

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"Let's just say he's had a good run but how do you think that he feels about it? Well, okay, wait until Sinner gets injured and Carlos has a bad day and loses, then we can have a different conversation.

"But as long as those two are there, I can't see Novak winning and it's probably exactly what he expects people to say. If anybody can turn that round and shove it up everyone's a****, I think he would love to do that.

"I think that's absolutely magnificent, and I would love it, I would be on my feet if he could get a run going and make it 25 Grand Slams at the US, especially the place where he was disqualified that one time," Castle added. He was referring to the controversial moment at the 2020 US Open where Djokovic was disqualified for accidentally hitting the ball at a line judge in his fourth-round match against Pablo Carreno Busta.

Castle continued: "It would be glorious and the moment he wins the 25th, I think he should retire. You can't go on forever, he should play as long as he wants but personally, I don't think he is likely to win this one or another one."

The likelihood of Djokovic taking home his fifth title at Flushing Meadows seems somewhat ambitious. The 38-year-old has not played since his straight-sets semi-final defeat to Sinner at Wimbledon back in early July.

On his decision to head to New York without much match practice, he told the media: "[I may be] 'cold' in terms of the matches, official matches... but I have put in a lot of training in last three, four weeks. I decided not to play because I wanted to spend more time with my family.

"And to be honest, I think I earned my right and have the luxury of kind of choosing, picking and choosing where I want to go and what I want to play."

Reiterating his stance on shortening his schedule, Djokovic added: "I'm not chasing the ranking, not collecting points, not defending anything, etc. I just don't think about it anymore. What's important is where I find motivation and joy. To be quite frank with you, I don't enjoy the two-week Masters events anymore. It's just way too long for me. My focus is mostly on the slams, and I have said that before."

Djokovic will begin his quest for a historic 25th Grand Slam in the first round on Monday against 19-year-old American Learner Tien.