Patrick Mouratoglou believes Novak Djokovic will be relieved by exiting the Australian Open after semifinal loss against Jannik Sinner as he offered an interesting take on the current state of mind of the 24-time Grand Slam champion.
Djokovic was backed to win a record-extending 11th title at Melbourne Park after remaining relatively untroubled during the first week of the season-opening slam.
However, his dreams of another successful title defense at the Happy Slam were shattered after he feel to World No. 4 Jannik Sinner in the final four clash on Friday. The Italian clinched a 6-1, 6-2, 6-7(8-6), 6-3 victory to record his third win in last four matches against the legendary Serbian as he reached the final of the tournament.
Remarkably, this was 36-year-old’s first match of his Grand Slam career – stretched over 400+ matches) – where he wasn’t allowed a single break point. It was also his first loss at Melbourne Hardcourts since 2018.
Mouratoglou always active as a coach and analyst took to Instagram to offer his exclusive insights on the match and admitted that the tennis great “wasn’t there” during the match.
“I would not be surprised if Novak felt relieved after that tournament as he didn’t realize how heavy that was on his shoulders,” the Frenchman claimed.
“It was very shocking to see Novak in a semi-final of a Grand Slam so unable to play. Djokovic played a match that was one of the worst I have seen from him. He wasn’t there. He was definitely not that court, on that day.”
He further talked about the heartbreaking Davis Cup defeat of World No. 1 against Sinner and described it painful as the Serbian wanted to win the ITF tournament for his country. Djokovic was on a 33-match winning streak at the Melbourne Park and Mouratoglou proclaimed the hardcourt maestro will be relieved after the defeat as the pressure of being unbeaten at the season-opening slam took a huge toll on him.
“When Djokovic played against Mannarino he was up 6-0, 6-0, 1-0. He played a bad game, and he lost the game and what struck me was what he said after the match,” he said.
Djokovic in his post-match press conference said that he felt it was “almost a good thing to give away a game just to be able to reset and refocus”.
“Think about it, he didn’t lose one match at the Australian Open since 2018, he had never lost a semi-final at the Australian Open, he won 10 titles here. Can he continue on that trend?,” Mouratoglou continued.
“No, it’s too much. It’s too much pressure and I have seen that even in champions. When it is too much pressure sometimes they need to fail and in a way they feel relieved.
“Not now [for Djokovic] as he is probably too disappointed, but after a few days [he will say] ‘wow that was so heavy [and] I can come back to the normal pressure, the pressure I am used to, which is the pressure of being No 1 and the greatest player of all time.
“But this was, I feel, too much for him.
“I still think Novak is going to win two to three more Grand Slams this year.”