CoCo Vandeweghe has big concern about Novak Djokovic heading into the Miami Open and has noticed what he has ‘definitely’ lost recently

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Novak Djokovic is preparing to make his first appearance at the Miami Open in six years.

Djokovic lost to Botic van de Zandschulp at Indian Wells, making it the second consecutive year that he has lost to a lucky loser.

This continues a poor run of form for Djokovic, who has not won a match since retiring from his semi-final match at the Australian Open.

Former top 10 WTA player CoCo Vandeweghe was unimpressed by Djokovic for what he did after his Indian Wells defeat, and she has now spoken about her concerns for the 24-time major winner going forward.

CoCo Vandeweghe has big concern about Novak Djokovic

Djokovic reached the Australian Open semi-finals in January, but has only won two of his five matches at tournaments away from the Grand Slams.

This is something that Vandeweghe commented on when discussing her concerns for Djokovic, and questioned his motivation in the opening stages of tournaments.

“Just overall match wins. Does he still have that fight in him?” questioned Vandeweghe said on Tennis Channel. “Does he still have as Prakash [Amritraj] would say, does he still have that dog in him to win these tough matches?

“Which are for him right now the first and second rounds, because that’s not something that he gets up for in the same way that he once did and that’s okay, because he’s been on tour for so many years. So, ‘How do I find that fire again?’ That’s my biggest concern.”

Former world number one Tracey Austin added her take on Djokovic’s recent drop in form, questioning whether the Serbian’s aura is fading slightly.

“It’s difficult, because he lost to Botic van de Zandschulp at Indian Wells, 6-1 in the third,” said Austin. “He lost to Reilly Opelka, he lost to [Matteo] Berrettini, so you wonder if he starts to lose a little bit of that aura.

“And also in order to play wonderful tennis and confident tennis you need match wins, and even though he is Novak and he has won 24 majors, I mean I just want to see him gear it up a bit pretty soon, come on Novak you’ve won it six times, let’s go for a seventh [Miami Open].”

Vandeweghe followed up on Austin’s comments about aura, comparing Djokovic to Serena Williams before she retired in 2022.

“I think he definitely has, I think there’s no question, that definitely happened to Serena when she started to take a couple of early losses at tournaments or even when she was losing in Grand Slam finals,” continued Vandeweghe.

“Everyone starts talking about, it’s possible, you can beat the great now and they’re not so just basically invincible out here.

“And that gets worrisome, especially in the age department. Novak’s not getting any younger, so there’s very little that he can improve on, but if someone’s going to turn over a leaf to find it, it’s Novak Djokovic.”

Novak Djokovic bids to make history at the Miami Open

Djokovic, who will be coached by Andy Murray again, is a joint record holder at the Miami Open having won six titles alongside Andre Agassi.

However, the 37-year-old has not appeared at the Floridian ATP Masters 1000 tournament since 2019 and last won the Miami Open title in 2016.

This includes winning three consecutive titles at the Miami Open, with Djokovic’s first title victory coming after beating Guillermo Canas in 2007.

Djokovic will look to end his losing streak at the Miami Open this year, where he is the fourth seed.

The six-time champion will begin his tournament against either Rinky Hijikata or his protege Hamad Medjedovic.