Tim Henman believes Novak Djokovic's best chance of winning a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title lies at Wimbledon in 2025. Injuries are increasingly affecting the 37-year-old, but Henman sees Djokovic's experience on grass and the potential for fewer strong contenders as key factors. Henman also criticizes the Australian Open crowd for booing Djokovic when injured and hopes Andy Murray will continue coaching, potentially with up-and-coming British players. Lastly, Henman states Wimbledon has no desire to extend the tournament to 15 days.
Novak Djokovic 's best chance of winning an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam singles title is at Wimbledon in 2025, according to former British No 1 Tim Henman . Djokovic currently shares the record with Margaret Court and missed the opportunity to move clear on his own when losing last year's Wimbledon final to Carlos Alcaraz.
Injuries are increasingly affecting the 37-year-old at the back-end of his career, with the Serb pulling out at the quarter-final stage of last year's French Open with a knee injury, while he lasted only one set of his Australian Open semi-final against Alexander Zverev last week due to a torn muscle in his left leg. Henman believes that Djokovic's familiarity with the grass court surface and the potential for fewer competitors feeling comfortable on it, make Wimbledon his best bet. 'I think Wimbledon is his best shot to win a 25th Grand Slam,' Henman said. 'He made the final last year on the back of knee surgery. And I think it's a combination of his confidence and understanding of grass-court tennis, and there perhaps being fewer other players who are comfortable on grass. 'You look at who realistically could have won in Australia, there was four, maybe five players? On grass it probably ends up being even less... Jannik Sinner has been in the semis, but I think grass is probably the surface that he's most vulnerable on; there's Djokovic and Alcaraz, but beyond that it's difficult to predict.' Henman also criticized the Melbourne Park crowd for booing Djokovic off the court when visibly injured after losing that opening set to Zverev in his semi-final exit. 'You dig a bit deeper, in my opinion, he's always craved the affection that has been shown to Federer and Nadal,' Henman reasoned. 'He absolutely doesn't deserve to be booed off the court, in the semis of a slam, when he's had to retire. 'I, like a lot of people, said I think they got it totally wrong. For someone that is going for their 11th Australian Open title, and their 25th slam, to have pulled out after a set, he was obviously in a bad way. 'For him to be booed in that moment, I think it's pretty indefensible.' Henman hopes that Murray will continue coaching, potentially with up-and-coming British players. 'My advice to Andy was take your time,' Henman said. 'So he obviously didn't listen to that. 'I don't necessarily think he saw it coming either. It was a bit of a call out of the blue. But perhaps getting that opportunity to work with one of the greats of the game was too good of one to turn down. 'For all of us that were involved in Australia, it was another fascinating element. And to see Andy courtside, seeing how calm he was, I thought it was fun to watch. 'We're all slightly guessing, but I think there's been enough indications from Andy that he would like to go down the coaching route. 'I would have thought he would like a little bit more of a project, a work in progress, if you will. And I do hope that it's within the British game. Andy's obviously got so much to offer.' Finally, Henman expressed that Wimbledon has no desire to extend the tournament to 15 days, citing concerns over court maintenance and tradition. 'I think the appetite to go to 15 days is zero, first and foremost because of the courts,' he said. 'The big issue from when it was a 13-day event was that the middle Sunday was absolutely about watering the court to make sure that it was going to be still alive for the latter part of the tournament. 'Centre Court is the one that gets played on the most because it's used every day and to have it in the best possible condition for the final weekend, it was a big decision to go to 14 days. The research and data around that, you're looking at 80 hours of tennis on Centre, that's the sort of maximum.' While tradition remains important at Wimbledon, Henman admitted there was little option other than to dispense with line judges from this year's event onwards. 'You know, every event on the ATP Tour will have electronic line calling this year,' he said. 'So if Wimbledon were to have taken the decision to say, 'oh no, we're actually going to keep line judges', I think that would have looked very bizarre.'
Novak Djokovic Wimbledon Grand Slam Tim Henman Andy Murray Coaching Injuries Tennis
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