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Rennae Stubbs made her feelings known about the criticism she received after issuing a controversial statement about Novak Djokovic's retirement. Revealing how her narrative was changed, she opened up about the real intent of her statement.
Djokovic is one of the most successful players of all time, nabbing 24 Grand Slam titles and staying on top for 428 consecutive weeks. Along with his multiple ATP 1000 tournament titles and ATP Tour Finals titles, he has also won an Olympic gold medal.
Reflecting on these achievements, Stubbs made a statement about his retirement in one of the episodes of the "Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast," saying that the Serb now has no reason to continue playing. (via tennis365)
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“He’s not trying to win another Masters 1000 or a 500," Stubbs said. "He has got all the records, there is no reason for him to play anymore.”
This controversial comment led to Stubbs receiving a lot of backlash from Djokovic's fans. On Monday's episode of her podcast, she opened up about what she meant by her statement and how it was perceived by the world.
"These people that take out like little snippets from our podcast, and then they put it up as a headline," Stubbs said (5:39 onwards). "Like, this is what she said. And it was kind of along the lines of me saying that Novak Djokovic should just stop and there's no reason for him to keep playing, because he's not winning anymore, right?
"Sort of paraphrasing. It was not at all what I said. It never is. And I'll say it again, he doesn't need to keep playing in tennis anymore, because he's achieved everything," Stubbs added.
She added:
"When you're the greatest player of all time, who's won the most Grand Slams of all time. And I think, and so my words, of course, they take that one line, and then they put it up as a headline, and then of course, 65,000 Serbians decide to go after me for saying something like that, taken out of context.
"So it drives me crazy. Then, and then you say, well, just ignore them. And that is all true. I could ignore them. But the point is those comments are taken out of context. If you kept going on my comments, my next comment was, I hope he keeps playing. We love him in the draw."
Rennae Stubbs opened up about Novak Djokovic's retirement after his US Open loss
In another episode of her podcast in September, Rennae Stubbs made her feelings known about Novak Djokovic's future in tennis after his loss against Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open semi-finals. Voicing her opinion about his retirement, she said that the 2026 Australian Open would be the perfect way for the Serb to end his career.
"I feel like the Australian Open is going to be his last major tournament to play," Stubbs said. "I don’t think he wants to keep playing after that and have to go through the French Open. He is so good on every surface but I can’t see him beating these guys over five sets on clay and then to go to Wimbledon again."
Stubbs further explained why the 2026 Australian Open would be an ideal retirement, saying that it was where his Grand Slam titles started.
