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Novak Djokovic is more beatable now than ever before according to Patrick Mouratoglou.
Djokovic suffered just his fifth defeat of the 2023 tennis season after losing a five-set thriller to Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final last week.
In the process, he missed his chance to not only increase his Grand Slam tally to 24 titles and equal Roger Federer's record of eight All-England Club crowns, but also go one step closer to achieving the elusive calendar slam.
And as far as Mouratoglou — former coach of Serena Williams and current coach of Holger Rune — is concerned, the weight of history is getting to the Serbian superstar, making him more beatable in the process.
“I think in the situation he is now, he is really beatable in those matches because of the weight of history,” Mouratoglou said in a recent Instagram video post (via Tennis 365). “I feel that being this ultimate favorite all the time and playing for history – it has to be a burden. I don’t think Carlos has an edge on Novak,” continued Mouratoglou.
“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 he did in the final. I think he was very nervous. He has to be able to play more free.”
That freedom, according to Mouratoglou, was ultimately what helped Alcaraz defeat Djokovic to win his second-ever Grand Slam title.
“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,” Mouratoglou said. “It was a very mental match and both of the guys get tense. I mean a Grand Slam final has to be mental, for sure.
“And I think the best image is this tiebreak in the second set, and he (Djokovic) has this backhand and he hits the net. He could have killed the match and he didn’t. We can say the same for Carlos, he was two sets to one up and he had these two break points at the start of the fourth. And Novak is really super down at that time, and he (Alcaraz) doesn’t make them either.
“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.”
