Djokovic at 39: No 25th Slam in 2026. Is Retirement Next?

No. Novak Djokovic has not announced his retirement, and he has said he wants to keep playing until the 2028 Olympic Games. What did end this week is the 2026 question: a first-round exit at the US Open, his first at a major in more than 20 years, closed the last door on a 25th Grand Slam this season. He turned 39 in May, he is still the all-time record holder with 24 majors, and he is now carrying a physical problem he says has followed him all year.

Is Novak Djokovic retiring?

Not now, and not this year. Djokovic has repeatedly named the 2028 Olympic Games as the finish line he wants, saying he wishes to retire there with the Serbian flag in his hands. There has been no retirement announcement, and clips circulating with that claim are not accurate.

The confusion comes from what he said after losing to Mariano Navone in New York. Asked whether he had considered giving up, he said he had, but he meant retiring from the match, not from tennis: “Yes, I did. I did, but then I won a set and then another. At that point I said to myself, okay, maybe there’s a chance. I didn’t want to give up in the fourth or fifth set, I wanted to somehow finish the match.” He was vomiting courtside during the closing stages, and described it as a recurring problem: “It’s something that I’ve been carrying, unfortunately, pretty much every match this year.”

The 2026 season, in four acts

The shape of the year is the clearest evidence of where he is. He was two hours from a 25th major in January and out in the first round by August.

The numbers at 39

Djokovic’s 24 Grand Slam singles titles remain the benchmark the sport is measured against. He leads the all-time list ahead of Rafael Nadal (22) and Roger Federer (20). His most recent major, the 2023 US Open, came at 36. For the full all-time table, see our most Grand Slams won page.

Three years have now passed without a 25th. That is the longest barren run of his career at the majors, and it has coincided with the arrival of a generation that does not need him to be at his best to beat him.

The Alcaraz and Sinner problem

The head-to-heads are closer than the results suggest, which is part of what has kept the question alive. Djokovic is level with Alcaraz at 5-5 across ten meetings, and trails Sinner 7-5. But both of the most recent meetings went the other way, and both were at majors: Alcaraz in the Australian Open final, Sinner in the Wimbledon semi-finals.

The wider point is that it is no longer only those two. Alcaraz has seven majors and Sinner five, but Alexander Zverev won his first at Roland Garros this year, and Djokovic’s French Open exit came against João Fonseca in the third round. The draw is now dangerous long before the final weekend.

So what happens next?

The honest answer is that a 25th major is still possible and no longer likely. Djokovic remains capable of two or three sets of elite tennis; what he has lost is the certainty of producing them across seven matches in a fortnight, and the physical problem he described in New York is the clearest obstacle yet. If the target really is Los Angeles in 2028, the majors between now and then are as much about maintenance as about records.

What is not in doubt is that the record is already his, and that the question of whether he adds to it is now a bonus rather than a verdict on his career. Read our take on where that leaves the all-time argument in who is the tennis GOAT.

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Full Novak Djokovic profile · The Big Three streak ends: tennis already chose its successors · Most Grand Slams won · Who is the tennis GOAT? · US Open 2026 hub