At 37 years old and without any outstanding accounts in his career, after winning the Olympic gold in Paris 2024, Novak Djokovic He will face the 2025 season without any pressure but with great objectives. The Serbian warned months ago that from now on he will focus his energy on the Grand Slams and the tournaments that he can play with his country’s shirt. And as if to pick up the pace facing the Australian Openwhere he will seek his 25th “great” to be the top absolute winner in that category, will start his campaign in the ATP 250 de Brisbane and will be the main attraction of the circuit’s first week of competition, which will not have action Jannik Sinner nor of Carlos Alcaraz.
And in his return to a competition that he only debuted once in his career – in 2009, with a loss in the first round against Ernest Gulbis-Nole will have a very special “supporting actor”. While waiting for the Scot Andy Murray, his old friend and rival, with whom he will debut the player/coach partnership at the Australian Open, he will form a doubles pair with the Australian Nick Kyrgios, his old enemy with whom he had several clashes of opinions, especially during the pandemic, but with which he reconciled a long time ago.
Djokovic had a longer preseason than usual, after a very emotionally and physically demanding 2024 and too few results for what his fans are used to: only one title, the Olympic, in what was his worst annual harvest since he inaugurated his record in 2006. After falling at the beginning of October in the final of the Masters 1000 in Shanghai against Sinner, who dropped him from the top of the ranking in June, he did not play the European indoor tour and was dropped from the ATP Finals due to an injury of which he did not give details. He only altered his rest to travel to Buenos Aires and accompany Juan Martin Del Potro in his final goodbye to tennis.
Serbian journalists who keep an eye on him reported that he spent the two weeks before Christmas Eve training behind closed doors in Dohaa city where he arrived to promote the competition that will be played there in February and which will debut his 500 status. A few days ago, he could finally be seen rallying on some cement fields in the Qatari capital. The big absentee in those work sessions was Murray, who would have spent Christmas in Marbella, according to Spanish media.
Djokovic split from his former coach Goran Ivanisevic in March, after six years of partnership, and spent the rest of the year without coach. And after finishing his season, he surprised by making public the “hiring” of Murray, another 37-year-old former number 1, winner of three Grand Slams and two Olympic golds and who had retired after Paris 2024.
“It took me about six months to think about whether I really needed a coach and, if so, who it would be and what the profile would be. We were tossing around different names and at that point I realized that the perfect coach would be someone who had been through the experiences that I have been through. A multiple Grand Slam winner… and I was thinking about some and the discussion about Andy came up on the table,” he said shortly after in an interview with Sky Sports.
And he added: “He has been one of my biggest rivals, we are the same age. We play on all the biggest stages in our sport, so I can’t wait to be there next season.”
Determined to regain prominence in the Majors – which this year was dominated by Sinner, winner in Australia and New York, and Alcaraz, champion in Roland Garros y Wimbledon– decided to strengthen himself with the presence of the Scot, who for many experts is one of the players who best reads and understands the sport and has one of the highest tennis IQs on the circuit.
The new company will debut in Melbourne. But first in Brisbane the Serbian, seventh in the ranking, will be the top favorite of the tournament, in which the Bulgarian will also play Grigor Dimitrov (10th and defending title), the Dane Holger Rune (13th) and the Americans Frances Tiafoe (18°) y Sebastian Korda (22°). Albiceleste tennis will be represented only by Mariano Navone (47°), since Sebastian Baez (27th) decided to drop out to extend his preparation for 2025 one more week.
Kyrgios will also appear in the draw, who will return to the courts after more than two seasons in which he played only one tournament (Stuttgart 2023) and was struggling with injuries and operations on his right wrist and left knee.
The Australian, former 13th in the world, lost all points for his long inactivity – in which he was still on everyone’s lips for his comments and harsh criticism of the anti-doping program and the HATEbased on the Sinner case – and will use his protected ranking to compete in the competition and prepare for the first Grand Slam of the year.
In the process, he will fulfill a promise he made to Djokovic last January, when they met at the Rod Laver Arena to record a podcast episode Good Trouble (Good Trouble) that he drove during his time away from the fields.
“You have to promise me something. You have to recover quickly and return to the circuit so that before I retire, we can play doubles together,” the Serbian told him during the talk.
Nick accepted the proposal and shook Nole’s hand. A few weeks ago, the Australian shared on his Instagram account an image of the final they played in Wimbledon in 2022 next to the phrase “Doubles in Brisbane. See you there.” And days later, the tournament organization confirmed the participation of the unique duo.
With Kyrgios as a partner on the court while he waits for Murray sitting on his bench, Djokovic will be the main protagonist in Brisbane, where he will seek his 100th title. An ATP season is coming in which he will seek to tune his racket and gain rhythm thinking about the Australian Open and his first big goal of the year: the 25th Grand Slam.
The women’s team, with number 1
Brisbane is also the setting chosen by Aryna Sabalenkanumber one of the WTAto start her 2025. The Belarusian, champion this year of the Australian Open and the US Open, will take advantage of the competition to finish her preparation for the first Grand Slam of the year, in which she wants to repeat the celebration.
Their greatest rivals will be the Americans Jessica Pegula (7ª) y Emma Navarro (8th), the Russian Daria Kasatkina (9th) and the Spanish Paula Badosa (12th). Although his great rival, Iga Swiatek (2nd) will not say present at that event.
The Pole preferred to start the year in United Cupa mixed competition for national teams that is played between Perth and Sydney, was launched on Thursday night in Argentina and will have Argentine participation, with Tomas Etcheverry y Nadia Podoroska at the head of the team.
Like Sinner, Swiatek was hit by a doping case in 2024. In her case, she was punished with a month’s suspension, which she completed during the break.
But unlike the Italian, who continued to achieve titles once his case was known, she suffered a downturn in the second half of the season, after her positive control for trimetazidine in August, and ended up giving up number 1.
The other tournaments that will “open the dance” of tennis 2025 will be Hong Kongwhere an ATP 250 will be played with the Russian Andrey Rublev and the Italian Lorenzo Musetti as top favorites, and Aucklandwhich will host a WTA 250 that will have the former number 1 Naomi Osaka as a great attraction.