Jannik Sinner faces doping suspension, Novak Djokovic claims 25th major title, and Emma Raducanu achieves significant rankings milestone – 2025 predictions”
The 2024 tennis year is coming to an end what comes next looks certain to be explosive.
This has been the season that saw the end of Andy Murray’s great career, with tennis icon Rafael Nadal not far behind him in announcing his retirement from tennis.
We also saw incredible highs and lows for world No 1 Jannik Sinner, who claimed over $20m in prize money, if you include his earnings from the Six Kings Slam exhibition event in Saudi Arabia.
Sinner’s story has also been dominated by two failed drug tests, with the initial decision to clear him of wrongdoing currently being appealed against by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). A decision on that appeal is expected in the first half of 2025.
Novak Djokovic’s future in tennis has also been in doubt, as the Serbian legend admitted his motivation to fight for more success is waning, but can he bounce back in what may be his final year as a professional?
Here is our Tennis365 guide to a few of the stories that will dominate the agenda in 2025, with Britain’s Emma Raducanu also getting a mention in our predictions for the new tennis season that gets underway at the end of this month.
Novak Djokovic’s last push
Novak Djokovic has ensured a curious year by his ridiculous standards, with his big target achieved and little else ticked off on his wanted list.
Djokovic confirmed he is still an incredible tennis player when he is fit and fully motivated when he beat Carlos Alcaraz in a sensational Olympic singles final in Paris, but the motivation issues he spoke about need to be addressed if he is to enjoy success in 2025.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion has won the race to be hailed as the greatest player of all-time ahead of his great rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, but he does have a few more targets to tick off.
Djokovic needs one more Grand Slam to move ahead of Margaret Court as the player with the most major titles in tennis history and he is six wins behind Federer for the most hard court wins in majors. He will beat that record if he wins an 11th Australian Open title next month.
His intriguing decision to hire former rival Andy Murray as his coach for the Australian Open was a sign that Djokovic is making one last push to win another Grand Slam and with the expectation that world No 1 Sinner could miss part of 2025 due to a doping ban, the door could be open for Djokovic to roar back to the top.
Djokovic is clearly past his very best at the age of 37, but his run to last July’s Wimbledon final when he was struggling with a knee injury was evidence that he is still one of the best in the men’s game and boasts an aura that will always be with him.
Verdict: Djokovic to win one final Grand Slam title in 2025.
