Andy Roddick says whether he’s worried about Novak Djokovic after his loss to Reilly Opelka in Brisbane

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Novak Djokovic made his return to tennis at the Brisbane International, as he prepares for the Australian Open later this month.

The Serbian star made his 2025 ATP Tour debut at the Brisbane International, reaching the quarter-finals.

Djokovic lost to Reilly Opelka, 7-6, 6-3, as he came unstuck against the big-serving American.

The 37-year-old also made a rare appearance in doubles at Brisbane, as Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios wowed fans with their blockbuster partnership.

The dynamic duo lost in the last 16, as Djokovic failed to pick up either title in Brisbane, and the Serb’s wait for an ATP trophy extended to 415 days.

A surprise defeat would worry anyone, especially someone who is looking to bring home a record-extending 11th Australian Open title, but one former Grand Slam winner has explained why things may not be all that bad for the world number seven.

Andy Roddick says he isn’t ‘concerned’ about Novak Djokovic after his loss at the Brisbane International

Speaking on his Served with Andy Roddick podcast, former world number one Andy Roddick gave his thoughts on Djokovic’s defeat to Opelka.

“With Novak [Djokovic] this is less alarming based on match-up and the fact that someone can serve well,” he said.

“Obviously Reilly [Opelka] did more than just serve well but when you are one of the few people who are probably guaranteed a few holds against Novak, I am not that concerned.”

The 2003 US Open champion went on to explain what he thinks may have happened if the match had been best of five sets rather than best of three.

“I am not super alarmed for Novak, it’s not like he doesn’t know how to play tennis,” said Roddick.

“The best of five format favours Novak over everyone except maybe a couple of players on earth at this point in his career.

“There is a long road still, let’s say this is three out of five and Opelka wins the first two, he still has to be physically there, mentally there.

“It’s still a long way to beat Novak.”

Roddick is of the belief that losing to a big-server like Opelka is more of an outlier, and not something that should worry the Serbian star.

“I would be more stressed out if I was part of Novak’s team if he had lost to someone who isn’t a huge server,” he said.

“If he lost to someone who couldn’t take the racket out of your hand and makes balls and Novak has a weird loss.

“I’m not too concerned about it, I think it’s a way better result for Opelka than it is negative for Novak going into Australia.”

Have warm-up tournament results affected Novak Djokovic’s Australian Open performances in his career so far?

Djokovic suffered a disappointing result at the Brisbane International, but will that really make much of a difference when he heads to Melbourne?

The Serb has won ten Australian Open titles during his career to date, but only three of those came off the back of a warm-up tournament victory.

Djokovic won the Qatar Open in 2016, the ATP Cup in 2020, and the Adelaide International in 2023, before bringing home the first Slam of the season.

The start to his 2016 season was one of his best, as he beat Rafael Nadal in Qatar, before coming out on top against Djokovic’s new coach Andy Murray at the Australian Open.

However, that does of course also mean that the 37-year-old managed to win seven Australian Open titles, having either not competed in a warm-up tournament, or failing to pick up the win.

Perhaps a comforting statistic for any fans worried about Djokovic’s pre-tournament form.

Djokovic will return to the court in search of an 11th title at the Australian Open which begins on January 12.