Novak Djokovic continues to play professional tennis, and why shouldn't he? Maybe he doesn't care about rankings so much anymore, and he obviously doesn't want to waste his time on smaller tournaments, but he said last year he would turn his focus to majors and helping Serbia in international competitions.
True to his word, that is mostly what he has done. Oddly, he did play Indian Wells, Monte Carlo, and Madrid (all Masters 1000 events) earlier in 2025, but didn't make it out of the second round. Perhaps he just wanted to get a bit of work in.
He is still very capable of great tennis, as shown by the fact that he has made the semifinals at every Grand Slam this year. He might not be able to beat Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner anymore, but he can still defeat nearly everyone else.
Novak Djokovic defeats Zachary Svajda in the second round of the 2025 US Open
The Serb's second-round match at the 2025 US Open did not start overly easily, though. Facing 22-year-old American Zachary Svajda, who is only 5'9," served as if he was 6'6" and a seasoned pro. Against arguably the greatest returner in the history of tennis, Svajda held while Djokovic looked fairly listless.
There is no doubt that Novak Djokovic wanted to be playing at the US Open, but his body language was not saying that in set one. After reaching the tie-break, something Djokovic has historically dominated, Svajda, who was gaining confidence quickly, outhit the Serb to take the tie-break 7-5 and the first set.
Things then changed. Djokovic was able to raise his game over the next three sets to make the match look a lot easier than it was. The American was broken by the Serb once in the second set, three times in the third set, and twice in the fourth set.
Svajda also suffered an injury in the second set which limited his ability to serve as well. The match was beginning to change when that occurred, though.
While the Serb's serve was much more back to normal, it was Svajda's sudden lack of efficiency on his serve to made the out 6-7 6-3 6-3 6-1 in favor of Novak Djokovic. He will next face the winner of the Cameron Norrie and Francisco Comesaña match in the third round.