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Former Roland-Garros runner-up Alex Corretja says that Novak Djokovic will enjoy plenty more success in 2024 – but it will be very difficult for him to win the Golden Slam he wants so much.
“I think that would be a little bit surprising [to win a Golden Slam] because even if he improves his game so much, he’s getting older,” Corretja said to Eurosport.“It’s normal that he is getting older and the recovery is not the same. But at the same time, he’s got the experience and he’s just focused on the important tournaments and the ones that he feels are going to make a difference in his life.“I’m sure that he’s going to keep on winning Slams, but it’s going to be tougher and tougher and he knows that.“And in a way, I feel the match that he lost against [Jannik] Sinner in the Davis Cup might be good for him.
It’s a wake-up call to say, ‘OK, I’m doing unbelievably, but I can’t relax for one second because some of the guys behind me, are going to push me so much. They’re very dangerous and they know they can beat me now.’”
Sinner is just one of the players the Spaniard thinks will be challenging Djokovic for the big titles this year – starting with the Australian Open.
“He is the main favourite; I think it’s going to be one of the most [open] Australian Opens we had in the last few years, because we have several players that can do very well and are playing their best, physically,” he added.
“They’re growing, they’re getting stronger. And mentally, it is pretty much the first time you have players who believe they can do well in a best-of-five slam, and sustain their level for a long time.
“After three, four matches they were already exhausted. But now I think you have players that they can really cause problems to Novak [Djokovic]. And that’s what I think is going to be probably the most open Australian in the last years.
“I’m sure. I’m sure that [Carlos] Alcaraz is ready to do well. I’m sure that Sinner is going to be ready to do well. [Daniil] Medvedev, [Alexander] Zverev, [Holger] Rune, [Andrey] Rublev have been playing very well too.”
He added: “Tsitsipas also likes to play in Australia and some of the young ones that might surprise us, like [Sebastian] Korda and [Ben] Shelton.”