At 37, has Novak Djokovic reached a tipping point in his career, again?

When Novak Djokovic gets into one of those implosive moods that he is notorious for, it is bad news for his fans. The much publicised split with Andy Murray on Tuesday, a peer and now coach after barely six months, is hence not unexpected — as the GOAT of men’s tennis looks for a new direction to his career.

‘’Thank you, Coach Andy, for all the hard work, fun and support over the last six months on an off the court,’’ the man with 24 grand slam titles said in a social media post. The decision to part ways — with little more than a week to go for the French Open and Wimbledon coming up next month — shows that the fiery Serb has reached a tipping point again, looking to end the most barren period of his career in recent times.

The pair had hooked up with much fanfare last November, but their association failed to yield a single ATP title for the former world no. 1. Djokovic began the new year on a promising note at the Australian Open, his happy hunting ground, wearing down Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-final before an injury forced him to retire in the semi-final against Alexander Zverev.

Thank you, coach Andy, for all the hard work, fun & support over last six months on & off the court. I really enjoyed deepening our friendship together 🙏 pic.twitter.com/iXqkdIN2Gb

— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) May 13, 2025

The tune-up for the clay-court slam, however, began on a faltering note with early defeats to unheralded opponents Alejandro Tabilo and Matteo Arnaldi in Monte Carlo and Madrid. His best performance was a runner-up finish in the Miami Open before that, when he lost to unseeded teenager Jakub Mensik. The 37-year-old champion’s ego must have taken a beating after those early losses and Djokovic described himself as entering a “new reality”.

A video of one of Djokovic’s training sessions with Murray in Madrid, which went viral, shows him cursing the sport in Serbian as the Briton hands him a pair of tennis balls. A torrent of four-letter words gush forth from the Serb in his native language, and it is evident he is losing patience with himself, which makes Murray more of a high-profile casualty than anything else. It’s certainly Djokovic’s call as the 37-year-old now wants a change of direction, though the timing of the split could be questioned as both Murray and Djokoic know a thing or two about Wimbledon.

The Geneva Open, a small ATP 250 event held on the eve of the French Open next week, will see Djokovic enter as a wildcard. Not quite the ideal preparation, but he surely wants more match-time as he gets ready for arguably the most gruelling slam of the year.

Andy Murray rubbing off on Novak Djokovic during his practice session in Madrid:

"F*** this sport, f*** tennis, f*** everything" 😭😭😭😭

pic.twitter.com/BN9pJJ9Qz4

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) April 24, 2025

Henin not surprised

Commenting on the split, the Belgian seven-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin said on Eurosport: ‘’I'm not surprised about this decision. We can speak about the timing of it. We thought maybe they would have been going to Wimbledon together. This is what they said after the Australian Open: let’s speak about it and if we still want to collaborate.

‘’But did they really expect something? Both of them? What is certain is Djokovic knew Andy Murray would be helpful, but it was also to bring something fresh, some power, telling himself, With Andy Murray, I have to find this motivation, to offer him my motivation. He probably thinks about this, about this motivation, and that’s why he has taken this decision now.’’

Well, Djokovic has been there before. It’s just that his waning powers may now have made him more fallible than in the past, and the feeling of been-there-done-that has seeped in. If the two upcoming slams don’t convince him to extend his run on the centre stage, then his legion of fans need to brace for the curtain call.