The 2024 tennis year is edging to a conclusion and 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 endured 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 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.
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Emma Raducanu’s big chance
Emma Raducanu came under fire in the second half of 2024 after failing to get on court as much as she should have done, but the 2021 US Open champion looks well placed to strike back against her curiously eager critics.
Raducanu opted out of playing at the Olympic Games and then decided against competing in qualifying for the W1000 event in Toronto, with injuries impacting her preparations ahead of the US Open, where she lost in the first round.
The final chapter of her season was also ruined by injuries, but her last three matches fuelled her hopes of 2025, as she secured three fine wins for Great Britain in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.
Raducanu is already in Australia with her new fitness coach Yutaka Nakamura and she will have a real chance of breaking back into the top 20 of the WTA Rankings and possibly even back into the top ten if she has a flying start to 2025.
“I want to play more than I did this year,” said Raducanu. “I think now, with my set-up, I’m in a place where I can continue work on the road. So I don’t necessarily need to come back to continue good physical work.
“I can do it pretty much every day, like microdoses. And I think that’s actually going to be a great addition for me next year, which I’m excited about.
“Also with my tennis, I’m in a pretty good spot. I feel like I just want to see how much I can do and fulfil my potential. I’m curious about what my level can get to. I really want to play more. And I think a big part of that is just staying healthy.”
Verdict: Raducanu will get back into the top 20 of the WTA Rankings… if she can avoid injuries.
Jannik Sinner suspension confirmed
Sinner twice tested positive for an anabolic steroid in March but an independent tribunal determined he was not to blame and imposed no punishment.
The tribunal accepted Sinner’s explanation that the banned substance entered his body as a result of a massage from his physio, who had used a spray containing the steroid to treat a cut on their finger.
That was before WADA appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), seeking to impose a ban of up to two years on the 23-year-old Italian.
Jannik Sinner in a press conference
The initial round of doping appeals at the Court of Arbitration for Sport comes up in early February and Sinner’s name is not on that list.
This suggests his case will be heard in the European spring and any suspension at that stage will have a massive impact on his year.
Even a three-month ban in April would take him out of contention for the French Open and Wimbledon, with a six-month ban at that stage effectively ending his season.
That would see Sinner plummeting down the world rankings as he had a sensational second half to 2024 that included big wins the US Open, ATP 1000 events and at the ATP Finals.
While WADA chiefs have admitted the levels of banned substances now being highlighted in the testing procedures due to improvements in detection is an issue they need to address, that may not be enough to save Sinner.
History tells us that WADA’s stance that an athlete needs to take responsibility for all substances in their system needs tends to be backed up by CAS and it is likely that Sinner will face a suspension.
He can be confident avoiding the one to two-year ban WADA are pressing for and it remains to be seen whether he would be allowed to continue playing while he appeals against any ban, as he was allowed to do by tennis chiefs earlier this year.
Verdict: Sinner is very likely to face a ban, but it will not be as long as WADA are pushing for – and he could have it overturned on an appeal.
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