Trying to arrive at a major on next to no match play is “really hard” for Novak Djokovic now, and the Serb seems to agree.
That was the verdict Andy Roddick delivered on his Served podcast after Djokovic accepted a wildcard into the Swiss Indoors in Basel, his first appearance at the ATP 500 event in 15 years.
“I love the way that he’s going about this because if you don’t play from the US Open and then you try to play one match in, you know, Brisbane and then you go try to win a major, I just think that’s really hard generally and I think it’s just harder as you go, right? I think it’s much harder at 40 than it is at even 37 for Novak.”
“Like can you kind of wing a Slam run? I don’t know that the answer’s immediately yes for Novak now. I love that he’s getting match play because even if he takes a month off, he’s not going to be in a hurry to get those feels.”
Roddick wants volume, not a token outing.
“I would love to see him play three, four, five, six matches before the Aussie Open.”
‘I’m not adding Basel to retire’
For Roddick, the entry itself is the tell.
“I think this is him saying like you know a lot of a lot of people saying is he going to be in Australia and I think he’s going well yeah I’m not going to be in Basel if I’m not going to be in Australia, right? Like I’m not adding Basel to retire.”
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The last time Djokovic played Basel was 2011. He has a 12-2 tournament record in Switzerland, highlighted by the 2009 title he won against Roger Federer. The 2026 draw runs from 26 October to 1 November and includes Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Melbourne is where this started
The scheduling conversation really starts on 1 February this year. Djokovic reached the Australian Open final and lost it 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 to Carlos Alcaraz. The result ended his 10-0 record in finals at Melbourne Park. Alcaraz, at 22 years and 272 days old, became the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam.
11th in the Race to Turin
Basel also carries an immediate stake. Djokovic sits 11th in the Live Race to Turin and needs to finish inside the top 9 to earn a 17th appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals. He heads into the week on a title, having beaten Alex de Minaur in the Beijing final earlier this month for his 102nd tour-level trophy.
The main draw in Basel begins on 26 October.
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