Novak Djokovic’s body has given up, will he follow suit?

The tears flowed over the weekend. Two legends of the game, standing at different junctures of their illustrious careers.

Twenty-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer was in a much happier space, being inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, reminiscing about what he has achieved and “still writing my love letter to tennis” as he put it.

For 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic, it was more a labour of love, trying to do what he still thinks he is very good at, but slowly realising that his relationship with the sport he loves is going to end sooner rather than later.

And at 39 years of age, the Serbian is clearly staring down the barrel, there’s no other polite way of putting it.

His quest for a record 25^th Grand Slam title has progressively got distant this year, culminating in a first-round loss at the US Open, on a surface that he was once so formidable. On Sunday, the four-time US Open champion suffered his earliest Grand Slam exit in 20 years and said he doesn't know the solution to the physical problems he's battled in "pretty much every match" this year. The five-set defeat to unknown Argentine Mariano Navone also ended his run of 78 Grand Slam first-round victories, a streak stretching all the way back to Djokovic's 2006 loss to Paul Goldstein at the 2006 Australian Open.

Djokovic vomited on court and struggled with late-match cramps and back pain – an "awful feeling" that he's becoming used to. "It's something that I've been carrying, unfortunately, pretty much every match this year. Vomiting, throwing up – then my whole body starts to collapse, basically cramping and pain," he said.

Although he reached the final of the Australian Open this year and the semi-finals at Wimbledon, Djokovic added he's not equipped right now to go deep in tournaments – and he's not sure what the fix is.

"I'm just trying to address really what's going on and how far I can go this way," he reflected.

In a sport as physical as tennis, trying to match up to players nearly half his age who are fitter and faster than him seems to have eventually taken its toll on Djokovic. Add to that his all-consuming desire to lay the GOAT debate to rest with a 25^th Major, and it somehow feels like the clinical Serbian’s obsession does at times border on the delusional.

Age is also a great leveler in sport. Once not the best of friends on Tour, Federer and Djokovic have since buried the hatchet. When asked if Djokovic being considered the GOAT bothered him, the 45-year-old Swiss said: “That's OK. He has done incredible. It's amazing what he has been able to do."

The former world No. 1 also admitted he thought Djokovic would have shown a much bigger drop by this stage of his career. “He would not keep putting his body through Grand Slam tennis if he did not believe another big title was possible,” Federer said, adding that belief is one of the main reasons his old rival remains on tour.

And that belief is dangerous. It make you do things that lesser mortals would not even contemplate. Djokovic won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics in 2024 which should have completed his collection. He was 37 then. Federer retired when he was 41, the Serbian’s greatest rival Rafael Nadal did so at 38.

Djokovic showed the power of belief by winning three Grand Slams in 2023 and reaching the semi-finals of all four Grand Slams last season. It gave him hope that he could still compete with the best. That was still when his body willed itself to respond to his mind. Now it has given up. Djokovic has expressed his desire to carry on till the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Right now, that seems a bridge too far.