Random musing: Should Novak Djokovic take a leaf from Lionel Messi and retire?

Novak Djokovic with Lionel Messi in 2023 (Source: Instagram / Leo Messi) British philosopher Bertrand Russell, a pacifist who was arrested for opposing World War I and spent six months in prison where he wrote An Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy, said: “Conventional people are driven to fury by departing from convention, primarily because they see such departure as a criticism of themselves.”This perhaps explains why Novak Djokovic continues to anger so many people, especially the commentators. Of course, pissing off op-ed columnists isn’t a particularly difficult task, as they usually lose their appetite for a lot of things, from the lack of LGBT representation in Harry Potter to “architectural sexism about buildings jutting up ejaculating into the sky.”But one column that lives in this author’s head without rent was written after Novak Djokovic won his 23rd Grand Slam, which argued: “Suppose a tennis player comes along who is 10 feet tall. Every serve is an ace. He never loses a service game. He wins 30 Grand Slams. Is he the GOAT (the greatest of all time)? Or is there a ridiculous notion. No. world wars and most young men are retired, but the Grand Slams are still played and Dave wins 30.You don’t have to be a Cambridge don – although they allow anyone to be one these days, as long as they have fairy tales – to decipher why Djokovic ruffled the feathers of conventional people.Like Muhammad Ali, who refused to be drafted during the Vietnam War (“I have no quarrel with the Vietcong”), Djokovic refused to succumb to the bullying of the COVID era, even if it meant bypassing history and becoming the first man to win 20 Grand Slams. He refused surgery, created a rival players’ organization, wrote “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia”, organized a solo tour during the pandemic and challenged equal pay. His father was even filmed with fans carrying the Russian flag at the Australian Open, when it was polite in the WENA countries to pretend that the Russo-Ukrainian war was the only global conflict that mattered.

File Pic – Argentina’s Lionel Messi kisses the trophy after winning the 2022 World Cup. (Photo by AP/PTI)

And let’s not forget the fact that despite having the misfortune of being born at the same time as two of tennis’ greatest champions, Djokovic not only outlasted them, but also ensured that the next generation would come up empty when counting their Grand Slam wins. Until his US Open first-round loss to Argentine Mariano Navon, he was the only one who looked capable of challenging the Alcaraz-Sinner tennis duopoly, despite the fact that the two were born after Djokovic made his professional debut.Djokovic’s dominance, along with Messrs Federer and Nadal in 2010 and 2010, was such that only three men born in the 1990s had won the Majors. Unfortunately, the 90s generation was sandwiched between those born in the 80s and the Alcaraz-Sinner hegemony that followed in the 2020s, meaning victory became a distant dream unless one of the protagonists got injured or had a rather bad day.But the recent retirement, in this case of Lionel Messi, a compatriot of Djokovic’s killer Navone, from international duties has raised the question of whether Djokovic should also consider hanging up his racket.Messi and Djokovic have a lot in common.Both came from poor backgrounds and became the greatest ever to play their respective sports.Both were even born in the same year, just 33 days apart. Both chased dreams that seemed unattainable, with families staking their futures on their children’s success.Both had similarly close paternal relationships and left home early to train.Both even faced similar physical limitations in their early days. Messi needed growth hormones; Djokovic changed his diet and fitness to achieve extraordinary endurance that had never been seen before in tennis.Both even had to wait until the twilight of their careers for national redemption, with Messi winning the 2021 Copa América and 2022 World Cup and Djokovic winning Olympic gold for Serbia in 2024.Even at the age of 39, both remain elite athletes who nearly achieved greatness again. While Djokovic reached the final of the Australian Open in 2026 after defeating Sinner and falling to Alcaraz, Messi took Argentina to the final of the 2026 World Cup before ultimately falling to a vastly superior Spanish side.In a note he reportedly planned to publish on July 21, two days after the latest loss, Messi wrote: “I’ve emptied myself. I have nothing more to give. Besides, great young players are coming who deserve to be here.”Anyone who has followed Messi knows that the boy from Rosario has long been tormented by his inability to repeat his club success for his home nation, despite giving it his all.But Novak Djokovic is not Lionel Messi and tennis is not football. Djokovic does not take up any young player’s space or block anyone in team sports, unlike his once great rival Ronaldo who did so in the Portuguese national side.There is no perfect swan song for the aging GOAT, and if the 22-year-old can’t beat the 39-year-old Djokovic, he’s a rookie. Djokovic also remains an elite contender, having reached the Australian Open final in eight of the last 11 majors and at least the semifinals before the US Open. It’s just Djokovic’s incredible record that makes it look like a bad innings.

X/@usopen | Novak Djokovic was defeated by Argentine Mariano Navone.

Most don’t have perfect swan songs, with Sampras perhaps the only one left on top. Federer’s last professional match was a doubles defeat; Nadal lost in Davis Cup. Serena Williams lost in the third round of her US Open final.One loss won’t spoil anything Djokovic has achieved in his career, and winning number 25 remains tennis’ holy grail. Djokovic currently shares 24 Slams with Margaret Court, and the only question is what Djokovic meant by “pretty much despising every moment he’s spent on court”.After the match, he said: “Then my whole body starts breaking down, basically cramping and aching. My back just gave up, it ended up being my shoulder and I couldn’t close it.”The question is really one that only Djokovic and his team can answer: Has time taken its toll, or was this a one-off that will get the old Djokovic back on court and cracking jokes again? Either way, this loss in the first round makes one think of what Winston Churchill said after the British victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein in North Africa: “This is not the end. It is not the beginning of the end. But it may be the end of the beginning.”One hopes that Djokovic’s first-round loss isn’t the end of the beginning, because as long as the Serb is around, he’ll continue to defy conventional wisdom and constantly infuriate his opponents. And without it, tennis will be a much poorer sport.