“He clearly wants to play next year” : John Isner sees a clear rationale in Novak Djokovic competing at the Shanghai Masters

Novak Djokovic returned to the court this week, as he defeated Marin Cilic in the second round of the Shanghai Masters. Much has been made about the Serb’s future, as he has hinted at retirement in the last couple of months. However, former American tennis star John Isner believes that the Serbian will at least compete in 2026.

Novak Djokovic has competed in only Grand Slam events in the last three months, with his last ATP appearance until Shanghai coming in Geneva in May. John Isner believes that the Serbian has taken too many breaks this season, and would probably end his season playing in Shanghai.

John Isner believes that taking too much time off the tour would be detrimental to Novak Djokovic, explaining his decision to compete in Shanghai. “I think he’s playing this because he’s obviously taking a lot of time off this year. He clearly wants to play next year. He wouldn’t play if he wasn’t planning on playing a similar type of schedule he played this year, then next year, he would not be playing Shanghai. I think too much time off for him would be a big detriment to him,” Isner said.

John Isner explains Novak Djokovic’s decision to play in Shanghai

John Isner believes that Novak Djokovic’s past success in Shanghai would have motivated him to compete at the event. Just like last season, the American expects the Serb to miss the remainder of the season. He also missed the year-end finals in Turin, owing to an injury, as he returned for the 2025 Australian Open swing at the start of the year.

“Novak has had a lot of success in Shanghai, of course. So, I think this is his way of sort of staying engaged with the tour. It will be interesting to see what he does after Shanghai. Last year, he decided not to play in Turin, Paris, or anything in the fall, I believe. If this is his last tournament of the year, then he wants to end on a somewhat high note with some good matches and prepare for the Aussie Open,” Isner added.

Novak Djokovic is chasing an elusive 25th Grand Slam title, with his last title coming at the 2023 US Open. He managed to reach the semifinals of all four majors this year, losing to Jannik Sinner at the French Open and at Wimbledon, and losing to Carlos Alcaraz at the 2025 US Open.