As the 2017 french open came to its conclusion, the ATP ranking suffered a new update today. Novak Djokovic dropped two spots in the general ranking being now the holder of the fourth slot. It's the poorest status the Serb is having since 2009. It says a lot about how bad things are lately for him. Unable to sustain a decent pace, he is now merely a shadow of the tremendous player who used to send chills on the opponents' spine. At 30 years of age, he is now facing one of those hard tests, a pivotal point for what his career could mean in the future years.
It's the same crossroad Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal went through. It's interesting to see how the Serb tennis star will manage the inner turmoil as his predecessors.
A short break to reassess the situation
Walking out of the clay court swing means that Djokovic will escape from the trap of constantly defending his points from the previous season. As the ATP calendar is moving towards the grass session, the Serb will walk free for several weeks. Last year he suffered an unexpected loss at Wimbledon falling to Sam Querrey in the third round. He bounced back later at Western&Southern Open in Cincinnati winning the Masters 1000 event while at the US Open he was a runner-up to Stan Wawrinka. So, Wimbledon Championships might be the right place to press the reset button.
It'll be hard to accomplish something special given the fact that Nadal is on fire and Federer might step in and steal the show once again.
It's hard to explain how a perfect athlete like Djokovic is constantly failing to get the job done. The most likely scenario is an accumulation of routine from all those years of constantly being on a roll.
To stay focus around the clock playing on different surfaces, in front of different crowds and under different weather conditions requires a tremendous effort. For several years, Djokovic was the embodiment of perfection when it comes to being a complete tennis player.
A title could reignite the inner passion
Djokovic won a single ATP title in 2017.
His lone success of this season occurred in Doha back in January where he topped Andy Murray in the final. Since then he has been struggling to win something. Recently, he made it to the final in Rome in what seemed to be a wake-up call just in time for the French Open. But the young star Alexander Zverev dismantled Djokovic in that final. Having no warm-up event for Wimbledon scheduled yet it seems that he could wait for a little longer until another ATP crown will land in his lap.