Novak Djokovic struggles without Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

The only constant thing in this world is change. And change has come to Novak Djokovic in his tennis career. Djokovic has been considered as one of the best tennis players in the world, but as of now, things are not anymore that eventful for Serbian tennis player.

Djokovic was considered as the number 2 best player in the world. He garnered a lot of major awards and victories in 2015, and this year he won a lot of trophies at the Australian Open as well as in Roland Garros.

Now, Djokovic is said to be on a losing streak. He was seen not performing as he used to, and many have observed that he was not himself in some of the tournaments. And just recently, he lost to Andy Murray during the ATP Finals.

Many have been asking why this has happened to Novak. This question has slowly been cleared up by Djokovic’s coach Boris Becker during his interview with "CNN World’s Sports Show." “He didn’t have any opponents anymore. His time was with Nadal, with Federer. Andy Murray was always the fourth guy. So he lost a little bit of his opponents. Murray is showing something he hasn't shown before,” Becker explained.

Becker further expounded that Djokovic now lacks the competitive drive and will to play well due to the absence of his usual opponents who are Nadal and Federer. Djokovic considered the two as his main competitors, and now that they are not anymore competing against him, he felt that somethings missing during tournaments. He is already used to playing against Nadal and Federer, so it is indeed a very big change in his tennis court.

Both Federer and Nadal had health issues this year which also made a big change in their lives. Federer suffered a major injury in his knee during the Wimbledon season, while Nadal also suffered hard times when his wrist was badly hurt during the Roland Garros tournament.

Despite all these, Coach Becker still has faith in Djokovic that he will regain his drive to compete greatly in the incoming tournaments. He believes that he is a competitor at heart and that he just needs to accept a lot of things so that it won’t further affect his performance.

"This could potentially be a turnaround for Novak Djokovic’s 2017. As much as this loss (against Murray at the ATP World Tour Finals) is going to hurt him, it’s probably going to inspire him to be re-motivated, re-energised for next year. Maybe it was a good thing in the end,” Becker said.