© Getty Images Sport – Mark Kolbe
Coach Patrick Mouratoglou thinks the 2023 version of Novak Djokovic is a better player than the Serb of 2015. In 2015, Djokovic went 82-6 and won his season-high 11 titles, including titles at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and US Open that year.
This year, 36-year-old Djokovic appeared in 12 tournaments and the Davis Cup. In 2023, Djokovic posted a 56-7 record and won seven out of 12 tournaments he participated in. “It’s interesting to think if the Novak of 2023 is a better player than the Novak of 2015.
I think the Novak of today is better. His game evolved, his confidence evolved, he’s played so many more matches. He has so much more height when looking at his game, looking at his opponent. He didn’t drop physically.
If he had have dropped physically, then probably the Novak of 2015 would have been a better player than the Novak of 2023. But his fitness level I think is the same. He’s as fast, he’s as flexible, he’s as balanced when he hits his shots, he’s as resistant.
So, he’s a better player today, yes,” Mouratoglou said on the latest episode of Tennis Majors’ Eye of the Coach.
Mouratoglou on Djokovic: What he is doing is something unheard of
Never before happened that a 36-year-old player made all four Grand Slam finals in a single season and won three Majors.
But Djokovic, who will be turning 37 in May, has managed to do unprecedented things. This year, Djokovic broke the two biggest tennis records – he is the first male player with 24 Grand Slams and also became the player with the most weeks spent at No 1 by a man or woman.
At the age when many players are retired or done, Djokovic is making history. “I think the 2023 season of Novak is one of the best of his career. As good as the best ones he had in the past, 2015 for example, which is crazy when you think about it, because there is almost 10 years between those seasons. At 36 years old, it is something unheard of,” Mouratoglou said.
