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Rennae Stubbs Thinks ‘This’ Will be Novak Djokovic’s Career’s Last Grand Slam After Wimbledon Defeat

Originally posted on FirstSportz | By Gouri Das | Last updated Jul 15, 2025 4:41 PM ET

Many from the tennis world thought this year’s Wimbledon was the best as well as the last chance for Novak Djokovic to lift his historic 25th Grand Slam title. But when the draw was released, many had predicted the Serb to lose in the semifinal.

It was mainly because, in the semifinal, he faced eventual champion Jannik Sinner. Djokovic was no match for the now four-time Grand Slam champion, losing to him in straight sets.

Following Wimbledon, Serena Williams‘ former coach Rennae Stubbs made her prediction about Djokovic’s retirement. She thinks Djokovic will try to get his hand on another Major title at the Australian Open next year. She said on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast:

I think he has sort of hinted that the last Grand Slam will be the Australian Open, and I think the reason for that is because it has been his most successful, winning it nine times. I think it’s not a bad way for him to go out if he decides to. It has clearly been the best place for him to win a Grand Slam. If he can get to 25, that is probably where he is going to do it.

Djokovic, for the first time since 2018, failed to progress to the Wimbledon final. In the last two seasons, he was defeated in the finals by five-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz.

Djokovic was chasing his second title of the season at Wimbledon, following his victory at the Geneva Open where he defeated Hubert Hurkacz to become the third man after Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer to take home the 100 ATP singles title. Apart from the Geneva Open, the 38-year-old had also reached the final of the Miami Open, losing the match to Jakub Mensik.

John Isner explains why Novak Djokovic suffered from fitness issues during the Wimbledon semifinal

Novak Djokovic suffered from injury problems during this year’s Australian Open and finally, an injury stopped him from completing his semifinal match against World No.3 Alexander Zverev. He handed a walkover to the German ace after losing the first set.

Then at the French Open, he gave his all but couldn’t beat Jannik Sinner in a tight semifinal in straight sets. Djokovic, for the first time at Wimbledon, lost to the World No.1.

Fitness problems and the two youngsters, Sinner and Alcaraz, are stopping him from reaching his 25th Major. But this time at Wimbledon, Djokovic suffered a “nasty slip” during his quarterfinal match against Flavio Cobolli and former player John Isner thinks it was the reason behind him failing to play to his full potential against Sinner. He said on the Nothing Major podcast:

This was a result of a slip; this was not him coming in tired and haggard and too many miles on his body throughout the course of the tournament. It seems to me that Centre Court, and maybe I’m completely wrong, but it is a bit more slippery than any of the other courts because Sinner, when he did his elbow, was on Centre.

Sinner had slipped and injured his elbow in the first set of his fourth-round match against Grigor Dimitrov. The Italian survived a scare as he dropped the first two sets but Dimitrov later handed him the walkover because he damaged his pectoral muscle. After beating Ben Shelton and Djokovic in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, the 23-year-old denied Alcaraz a three-peat in the grass-court Major with a four-set win in the final.

These players will next be focusing on tournaments on the North American hard-court swing. Sinner will be bidding to defend his title at the US Open, where Djokovic lifted his last Major in 2023.

This article first appeared on FirstSportz and was syndicated with permission.

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