THE FINAL STRETCH

Given the form of Alcaraz and Sinner, 38-year-old Novak Djokovicok looks unlikely to grab a 25th grand slam singles title in Melbourne, writes Jamie Braidwood, and that's OK

- 

Consider these Novak Djokovic moments from 2025. January's vintage quarter-final win over Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open. June's poignant touching of the clay after a battling defeat to Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals of Roland Garros, as the Paris crowd chanted his name. The deflating losses to Sinner at Wimbledon and Alcaraz at the US Open, as well as the admission that he "ran out of gas" against his young rival. But, still, reaching four grand slam semi-finals in one season at the age of 38. Winning the 101st title of his career in a three-hour epic against Lorenzo Musetti in November, as all four sides of the arena in Athens stood and his children cheered on with them.

What do they say about the source of his enduring motivation, as Djokovic enters the 22nd season of his career? Back in Paris in the summer, when Djokovic sounded closer to retirement than perhaps ever before, it was hard to imagine the 24-time grand slam champion settling for the position where he now finds himself. But that was before what Alcaraz and Sinner produced in their Roland Garros epic, and completed a second consecutive year of splitting the grand slam titles between them.