Serena Williams’ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou found himself in the spotlight recently for his comments on the Wimbledon 2023 final between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz. Mouratoglou believes that the match was more of a mental battle between the two superstars. The French coach, who is currently coaching World No.6 Holger Rune and also a tennis pundit, is known to be a huge Novak Djokovic enthusiast.
However, Carlos Alcaraz’s win seems to have created a doubt in Patrick Mouratoglou’s mind when it comes to Novak Djokovic being the overwhelming favorite at any Grand Slam going ahead. The coach shared his thoughts on Instagram about the issue.
Is history slowing Novak Djokovic down? Patrick Mouratoglou believes that the main reason Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic is because of playing a majority of the most important points in the match, with a free mind. He opined that in his younger days, Djokovic would have approached a Grand Slam final in the same way as Alcaraz did.
While Mouratoglou did not express that the loss means the 23-time majors champion is on a decline, he feels he could play much better if he gets a hold of his nerves rather than playing with the mindset of being the tournament favorite.
“The reason why Carlos won the Wimbledon final, I believe is because he felt free to go for his shots in the big moments and Novak didn’t. It was a very mental match and both of the guys get tense.
“But at the end, if you put Novak in the perspective of where Carlos is now, Novak would have done the same. Playing like the underdog and playing unbelievable in the big moments.”
Mouratoglou made a huge claim that Novak Djokovic is ‘beatable now’ in big Grand Slam matches because of the fact that he has to play them with history at the back of his mind. This perhaps implies that the World No.2 is a victim of his own greatness due to the high standards he has set for himself, that makes most believe that he will win every competition by dominating each opponent.
“I think in the situation he is now, he is really beatable in those matches because of the weight of history. I feel that being this ultimate favourite all the time and playing for history – it has to be a burden. I don’t think Carlos has an edge on Novak,” Mouratoglou added.
“I think, he beat him in a Grand Slam final, Novak beat him in Roland Garros. So I think both players are very close in terms of level. I think Novak can play much better than what he did in the final. I think he was very nervous. He has to be able to play more free.”
Did Djokovic pull out of Toronto for US Open? Recently, Novak Djokovic announced that he would not be playing in the Rogers Cup, i.e. the Toronto Masters. Instead, he will only play in the Cincinnati Masters, as he requires just one warmup tournament to prepare for the US Open 2023. Djokovic has taken this decision being wary of fatigue after playing the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back.
With Djokovic now focused on winning the US Open for the first time since 2018, it is likely that Grand Slams will be his top priority. Although the downside of missing the Rogers Cup is that it could see him remain stagnant in the ATP rankings and deny himself a shot at the year-end No.1 ranking, because Carlos Alcaraz will be participating in the event.
