Experienced tennis journalist Kevin Palmer reckons Novak Djokovic needs Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s absence to win his 25th Major. Djokovic hasn’t been able to go all the way in the Grand Slams and mostly Alcaraz and Sinner have been the spanner in his works.

Djokovic recently suffered a straight-set loss against Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon semifinal. The Serbian had suffered a loss in the summit clash of the Australian Open to Carlos Alcaraz after he had managed a thrilling semifinal win against Sinner.

The 24-time Slam champion had suffered a third round loss against Joao Fonseca at Roland Garros.

Djokovic has said he wants to represent Serbia at the LA Olympics in 2028.

Kevin Palmer said on Greg Rusedski Off Court podcast, “Well Novak says he wants to retire with a Serbian flag around his shoulder at the next Olympics. That’s still a couple of years off so we could still see a bit more.”

Palmer said Djokovic is still third-fourth favorite to win a Slam despite being 39-year-old.

“As we’ve said many times on here that when Carlos is out, if Sinner did get injured, get ill, have a heat problem, whatever it might be, Novak’s still second or third favorite to win (a major) even at the age of what will be 40 next year at Wimbledon.”

Palmer highlighted that Djokovic looked vulnerable against Sinner in the Wimbledon semifinal and he is not sure if the veteran would be able to turn a corner.

“I watched that Sinner-Djokovic semifinal and even though the scoreline doesn’t suggest it was pretty one-sided, Novak knew he was going to lose, I think almost from halfway through the first set, and it just didn’t seem like he had any answers, so I don’t see in a year’s time how that’s particularly going to change.”

Djokovic would look to be at his best at the American hard-court swing.