What's the best approach against Novak Djokovic

Best strategy against Novak 'Nole' Djokovic

  • Net rushing (serve and volley, chip and charge)

    Votes: 1 1.8%

  • All out, all court attack (think Federer)

    Votes: 20 36.4%

  • Baseline bashing (think Wawrinka)

    Votes: 17 30.9%

  • Outgrind, counterpunch (think Murray)

    Votes: 2 3.6%

  • Outmaneuver from the back (think Nadal)

    Votes: 2 3.6%

  • Unorthodox gameplay (dropshots, bring him forward, Kyrgios)

    Votes: 13 23.6%
  • Total voters
    55
Underdog

Underdog

Professional
So, Novak Djokovic is one of the most dominant players the sport has ever seen. He's know for being an overall complete player with few if any weaknesses that the opponents can hardly exploit and usually end up on the losing side of the matchup. That's led him to conquering many records and he's managed to keep doing it in his 35+s.
Across the many years Djokovic's been on tour, he's faced all sorts of opponents, styles and gameplans. All-court, attacking tennis in Federer (including net rushes), aggressive, grinding baselining in Nadal, all out ball bashing in Stan and counterpunching brilliance in Murray are a few examples.
After all we've seen, what, if any, do you feel is the best strategy to face Novak Djokovic and have the best possible chance to win?
I'll add a poll and see what surfaces.

Side note: I've tried to be very complimentary of him (after all he deserves praise as he's a great player), so, if you can, avoid the constant trolling and keep the thread clean. If you are a troll, you know.
 
We'll see tomorrow when Novak's former coach goes against him with his new pupil. Becker's strategy will be interesting to watch, though Rune may not be deft enough to execute whatever tactics he comes up with.
 
Underdog said:
So, Novak Djokovic is one of the most dominant players the sport has ever seen. He's know for being an overall complete player with few if any weaknesses that the opponents can hardly exploit and usually end up on the losing side of the matchup. That's led him to conquering many records and he's managed to keep doing it in his 35+s.
Across the many years Djokovic's been on tour, he's faced all sorts of opponents, styles and gameplans. All-court, attacking tennis in Federer (including net rushes), aggressive, grinding baselining in Nadal, all out ball bashing in Stan and counterpunching brilliance in Murray are a few examples.
After all we've seen, what, if any, do you feel is the best strategy to face Novak Djokovic and have the best possible chance to win?
I'll add a poll and see what surfaces.

Side note: I've tried to be very complimentary of him (after all he deserves praise as he's a great player), so, if you can, avoid the constant trolling and keep the thread clean. If you are a troll, you know.
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Either Federer or Rafa way, but definitely not with the former's mental toughness.
 
Play to strengths when facing Djokovic. Do not try to beat him with tactics. If a baseliner decides to suddenly try making tactics specifically to counter Novak (drop shots, all court play), it won't work. It might stun him for a bit if you're lucky but then you've lost the element of surprise.

Djokovic has likely prepared or faced most styles you could throw at him, so a player's best chance is to play red hot, identify where Djokovic is weak on the day (and they're strong), and play to that out.

Wawrinka shouldn't try to finesse Djokovic, Kyrgios shouldn't be baselining against him.
 
Think you have to hit him off the court. Consistent serving, offensive firepower and being decent in a rally to execute on offense. Peak Fed, Rafa on clay and Stan the man did that.
 
Based on the current players on the tour I chose baseline bashing.

For guys with the right skill set, I'd choose different--no one has the attacking forward court thinking of fed on the tour right now. But if Fed were in form and around, I'd want him to attack forward vs. baseline bash.
If Nadal is healthy, it's a combo of baseline bashing and outlasting Djoker.

For everyone else, you just have to be on. Serve has to be on and groundies have to be painting the lines.
If Sinner can get more out of his serve, and play his baseline game, he can get Djoker.
Alcaraz might be able to employ baseline bashing and some attacking Fed style.

Everyone else needs to be redlining for 5 sets.
 
Variety.

Federer showed the way. Don't give Nole any rhythm. Add slices and moonballs along with quick 1/2 punch. Federer did this very well in USO11 final and reaped rewards. There were many rallies under 4 shots in first 2 sets.

Another example was Federer 2016 AO. Federer was beaten when he tried to match Djokovic stroke to stroke so he added junkballs and Djokovic rhythm broke and he lost the set.

Alcaraz used the same vs Djokovic in 2023 Wimbledon. Giving him middle loopy backhands and Nole started missing a lot.

Rafa does this so well when he uses the slice DTL vs Nole and Nole has to generate attack.

This is the most effective way.

Only other way we can say is RBA way. But only someone like RBA and Medvedev of their supreme athleticism have some chance to win and even then it very low. Junkballing meanwhile make wonders vs Djokovic.
 
There's no best approach. The only way to beat him is to execute. You can beat him in any number of ways; you just have to play at a level that almost nobody in the history of the sport can maintain over 5 sets. But every player who's been #1 in the world (or very close to it) has had at least some success against Novak, yet they all play different styles. It's not the style; it's the overall level they bring.
 
Underdog said:
So, Novak Djokovic is one of the most dominant players the sport has ever seen. He's know for being an overall complete player with few if any weaknesses that the opponents can hardly exploit and usually end up on the losing side of the matchup. That's led him to conquering many records and he's managed to keep doing it in his 35+s.
Across the many years Djokovic's been on tour, he's faced all sorts of opponents, styles and gameplans. All-court, attacking tennis in Federer (including net rushes), aggressive, grinding baselining in Nadal, all out ball bashing in Stan and counterpunching brilliance in Murray are a few examples.
After all we've seen, what, if any, do you feel is the best strategy to face Novak Djokovic and have the best possible chance to win?
I'll add a poll and see what surfaces.

Side note: I've tried to be very complimentary of him (after all he deserves praise as he's a great player), so, if you can, avoid the constant trolling and keep the thread clean. If you are a troll, you know.
Click to expand...
I think play it down the middle of the court. He does get frustrated in long rallies, I would bring him forward too especially on the forhand side
 
play down the middle some to avoid giving angles, play with some slice and topspin to avoid giving pace in his strike zone that can get redirected, and be capable of consistently manufacturing some sort of offensive shotmaking to abruptly open the court. don't think it has to be purely baseline power in the Wawrinka mold, but the Medvedev/RBA/Simon grinding style cedes too much initiative without a great serve+return day. can either bait him into hyper-aggression that he's not comfortable with pulling off consistently, or hyper-passivity that lets someone with a strong enough offense break through his defensive wall.

i think the necessary mindset is kind of like playing Nadal on clay, or Panatta beating Borg at RG for a concrete example. you have to be willing and able to survive the comfort zone at the baseline, and then you have to do something special to escape that zone by surprise.

part of why i really like Rune as a particularly tricky matchup for Djokovic outside of level considerations is that he is uniquely capable of mixing these strategies. he is willing to sit down in the middle of the court and grind and then defend whatever Djokovic throws at him, and then he'll also happily start blasting winners and net rushing. very clear picture from their Paris final last year, where Rune earned Djokovic's biggest career "choke" measured by dominance ratio (1.25; https://www.tennisabstract.com/cgi-...akDjokovic&f=ACareerqqF1TcxDom_Ratio-ge-1.0qq), and also (even with Djokovic's mediocre level) their Rome match this year.

i've also been thinking of Djokovic as an inversion of Sampras for a bit and one idea about relieving pressure came to mind - against Sampras, having a strong and reliable 2nd serve (Krajicek, Stich) made it harder for him to get looks on return and in turn could put more pressure on him to hold; against Djokovic, having a strong and reliable return of serve makes it harder for him to get routine holds and in turn could disrupt his rhythm on return.

daggerman said:
There's no best approach. The only way to beat him is to execute. You can beat him in any number of ways; you just have to play at a level that almost nobody in the history of the sport can maintain over 5 sets. But every player who's been #1 in the world (or very close to it) has had at least some success against Novak, yet they all play different styles. It's not the style; it's the overall level they bring.
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in general i think the point about level over approach is pretty much true for beating any GOAT-level player, but certain approaches are easier than others

i think this effect is just exaggerated for Djokovic because he's best on hard courts, the most neutral/least disproportionately rewarding surface, and perhaps because his technical completeness is taken out of the context of his longevity. i.e. the discourse is often muddled by a lack of clarity between athletic prime Djokovic who was less complete and post-prime Djokovic who is more complete to make up for some physical decline
 
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Angrybirdstar said:
play down the middle some to avoid giving angles, play with some slice and topspin to avoid giving pace in his strike zone that can get redirected, and be capable of consistently manufacturing some sort of offensive shotmaking to abruptly open the court. don't think it has to be purely baseline power in the Wawrinka mold, but the Medvedev/RBA/Simon grinding style cedes too much initiative without a great serve+return day. can either bait him into hyper-aggression that he's not comfortable with pulling off consistently, or hyper-passivity that lets someone with a strong enough offense break through his defensive wall.

i think the necessary mindset is kind of like playing Nadal on clay, or Panatta beating Borg at RG for a concrete example. you have to be willing and able to survive the comfort zone at the baseline, and then you have to do something special to escape that zone by surprise.

part of why i really like Rune as a particularly tricky matchup for Djokovic outside of level considerations is that he is uniquely capable of mixing these strategies. he is willing to sit down in the middle of the court and grind and then defend whatever Djokovic throws at him, and then he'll also happily start blasting winners and net rushing. very clear picture from their Paris final last year, where Rune earned Djokovic's biggest career "choke" measured by dominance ratio (1.25; https://www.tennisabstract.com/cgi-...akDjokovic&f=ACareerqqF1TcxDom_Ratio-ge-1.0qq), and also (even with Djokovic's mediocre level) their Rome match this year.

i've also been thinking of Djokovic as an inversion of Sampras for a bit and one idea about relieving pressure came to mind - against Sampras, having a strong and reliable 2nd serve (Krajicek, Stich) made it harder for him to get looks on return and in turn could put more pressure on him to hold; against Djokovic, having a strong and reliable return of serve makes it harder for him to get routine holds and in turn could disrupt his rhythm on return.


in general i think the point about level over approach is pretty much true for beating any GOAT-level player, but certain approaches are easier than others

i think this effect is just exaggerated for Djokovic because he's best on hard courts, the most neutral/least disproportionately rewarding surface, and perhaps because his technical completeness is taken out of the context of his longevity. i.e. the discourse is often muddled by a lack of clarity between athletic prime Djokovic who was less complete and post-prime Djokovic who is more complete to make up for some physical decline
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That's why Djokovic is 0-2 vs Murray on grass. The ROS. It put a lot of pressure on Nole after his best weapon was neutralized.
 
The Carreño Busta/Murray/Rune/Medvedev “push for your life” strategy isn’t getting enough love.

It won 3 Slam finals, huge Olympics matches, many Masters matches, and more against him.

And all of these players are much less talented shotmakers than Federer/Nadal or even Wawrinka.
 
Kralingen said:
The Carreño Busta/Murray/Rune/Medvedev “push for your life” strategy isn’t getting enough love.

It won 3 Slam finals, huge Olympics matches, many Masters matches, and more against him.

And all of these players are much less talented shotmakers than Federer/Nadal or even Wawrinka.
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Murray is a level of his own. You can't try to copy Murray. At his best he was a beast physically. Nole was legit scared of Murray and Tsonga physicality. He wrote it in the book serve to win.

Medvedev again is very much a beast physically. And his serve is amazing. He is always in top 5-10 ace leaders. Medvedev ace % is higher than Federer. That's unique combination.

But your point is fair that it is one way to beat him. I think it is not possible for majority of players as Nole is physical fitter than almost anyone.
 
I think the worst way is to net rush vs Nole. It's been proven.

Federer is one of the most competent net rusher. But Nole was able to keep the distance between Federer and the net regularly. No one in Federer's career was better opponent than Nole to deter him from the net.

If Federer could do no harm then the mortals would have very low chance.
 
Angrybirdstar said:
play down the middle some to avoid giving angles, play with some slice and topspin to avoid giving pace in his strike zone that can get redirected, and be capable of consistently manufacturing some sort of offensive shotmaking to abruptly open the court. don't think it has to be purely baseline power in the Wawrinka mold, but the Medvedev/RBA/Simon grinding style cedes too much initiative without a great serve+return day. can either bait him into hyper-aggression that he's not comfortable with pulling off consistently, or hyper-passivity that lets someone with a strong enough offense break through his defensive wall.

i think the necessary mindset is kind of like playing Nadal on clay, or Panatta beating Borg at RG for a concrete example. you have to be willing and able to survive the comfort zone at the baseline, and then you have to do something special to escape that zone by surprise.

part of why i really like Rune as a particularly tricky matchup for Djokovic outside of level considerations is that he is uniquely capable of mixing these strategies. he is willing to sit down in the middle of the court and grind and then defend whatever Djokovic throws at him, and then he'll also happily start blasting winners and net rushing. very clear picture from their Paris final last year, where Rune earned Djokovic's biggest career "choke" measured by dominance ratio (1.25; https://www.tennisabstract.com/cgi-...akDjokovic&f=ACareerqqF1TcxDom_Ratio-ge-1.0qq), and also (even with Djokovic's mediocre level) their Rome match this year.

i've also been thinking of Djokovic as an inversion of Sampras for a bit and one idea about relieving pressure came to mind - against Sampras, having a strong and reliable 2nd serve (Krajicek, Stich) made it harder for him to get looks on return and in turn could put more pressure on him to hold; against Djokovic, having a strong and reliable return of serve makes it harder for him to get routine holds and in turn could disrupt his rhythm on return.


in general i think the point about level over approach is pretty much true for beating any GOAT-level player, but certain approaches are easier than others

i think this effect is just exaggerated for Djokovic because he's best on hard courts, the most neutral/least disproportionately rewarding surface, and perhaps because his technical completeness is taken out of the context of his longevity. i.e. the discourse is often muddled by a lack of clarity between athletic prime Djokovic who was less complete and post-prime Djokovic who is more complete to make up for some physical decline
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Great post, phenomenal even. Just start with saying that people had their minds fried by watching too many highlights instead of full matches. Putting Wawrinka as a basher is a good example of that. He didn't get those wins by mindless hard hitting, he was hanging in the rallies with Djokovic at just the right pace and placement and pulled the trigger when he managed to get some extra time to set up the shot. I think that Stan used the angles the most out of all the players I would put on Djokovic-struggle list, but still depended much more on debth and not giving anything to counter. Nadal's biggest win against Djokovic (USO13) didn't happen because he started changing hitting cleanly and changing directions, that's what people who only watch the highlights think because of the set point (like Federer's neo backhand in 2006 YEC because he hit a winner in the last game).

There's this conviction among tennis commentators and fans that the more agressive you play the better, especially against the top players, which which is dumb statement for those who actually analyze matches, ESPECIALLY against Djokovic. Take a look at Alcaraz against Novak at RG and Wimbledon. In France he played his usual full tempo game and wasn't able to keep up with Djokovic due to his far inferior shot direction chaning skills. The constant need to anticipate those may have put more pressure which lead to those cramps. He was far more passive in Wimbledon, by keeping the ball closer to the middle of the court more often. Djokovic offence being not great (and Carlos defence being brilliant) meant he wasn't able to finish the point, so when the non precise attack arrived he got a better chance to counter than in a full pace rally.

Rune is a great case to look at. I've never seen a top 10 player hit so many balls so close to the middle of the court (and not even middle of the baseline, the actual middle of the court). I haven't followed his career before 2022, so I don't know how much of it was his intuition and how much was Mouratoglou's idea. I'm not the fan of that gameplan though. I think it gives too much room for the in form opponent to take initiative in the point, you have to hope that they're not at their best to take a win if you do that too much. I think in Rune case he's overdoing it, or at least he did (haven't seen that issue in Basel or Bercy this year), but Bercy 2022 was where it ended up working for him. The important thing about him is that he can change direction very well (especially from the fh) with much less time needed than for example Carlitos and with a bigger stroke. I think that's absolutely crucial at this level, as you're not getting out of long rallies with today's courts and guys like Medvedev, Djokovic, Alcaraz covering the court as much as they do.

Another great case, but for a completely different reason is Ben Shelton and with a very small sample size (Rune's not big either tbh). He came completely unprepared to his USO semi (and I'm not taking his word for it, but his tennis) and it was showing. Tried coming forward and playing his usual game getting destroyed time after time after time. At the end he realized that he should play more to the middle, slow down the game with his slice and then go for it after he gets Djokovic in an awkward position. Could have made a much better match had he did his homework.

Against Djokovic you just have to be able to clash against him in the neutral rallies. There is no way around it. Be patient and try to slow it down where he won't be able to counter, only then go for it. Easier said than done.
 
BO3 Jiri Vesely beast mode worked. But not possible in slams. Novak has many gears
 
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MichaelNadal said:
The book of the living
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tumblr_ol4g2rjmZ71tebpzgo8_r1_250.gif
 
nachiket nolefam said:
Variety.

Federer showed the way. Don't give Nole any rhythm. Add slices and moonballs along with quick 1/2 punch. Federer did this very well in USO11 final and reaped rewards. There were many rallies under 4 shots in first 2 sets.

Another example was Federer 2016 AO. Federer was beaten when he tried to match Djokovic stroke to stroke so he added junkballs and Djokovic rhythm broke and he lost the set.

Alcaraz used the same vs Djokovic in 2023 Wimbledon. Giving him middle loopy backhands and Nole started missing a lot.

Rafa does this so well when he uses the slice DTL vs Nole and Nole has to generate attack.

This is the most effective way.

Only other way we can say is RBA way. But only someone like RBA and Medvedev of their supreme athleticism have some chance to win and even then it very low. Junkballing meanwhile make wonders vs Djokovic.
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Even i can junkball a lot? Can i defeat Novak then?
 
Ask the following players:
Alcaraz, Rune, Lajovic, Musetti, Medvedev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Nadal, Rublev, Davidovich Fokina, Vesely, Zverev, Busta, Karatsev, Evans, Thiem, Sonego, 38 year old Federer, Tstisipas, Wawrinka, Bautista-Agut, Kohlschreiber, Khachanov, Anderson, Cilic, Cecchinato, Edmund, Klizan, PAIRE, DANIEL, CHUNG, Berdych, Goffin, Kyrgios, ISTOMIN AT AO IN PRIME, del Potro, Querrey, Lopez, Karlovic, Nishikori, ROBREDO, Tsonga, Isner, Dimitrov, Haas, TISPSAREVIC, LLODRA, Roddick, Malisse, MELZER, Krajinovic, Verdasco, Rochus, LJUBICIC, Youzhny, Davydenko, Niemenin, Gulbis, Old Safin on grass, Simon, Gasquet, Ferrer, Santoro, Nalbandian, Moya, Troicki, Clement, Matthieu, Gonzales, Hewitt, SERRA???, Ancic, Hernych, Gimeno-Traver, Coria, Benneateau, Stepanek, Goldstein, Gonzales, Ferrero, Grosjean, Vliegen, Mahut, Norman....
I could go on.
A total of 211 losses.

So, plenty of people can tell you how to beat him.

Of course, Nolefam will say: But he doesn't lose at slams.
And yet, before he had the slam record, it wasn't all about the slams.
A quandary, for sure.
 
Many different ways, including how alcaraz beat him, but mainly play the big points well and with more belief. Players often get into winning positions against Novak (hurkacz, musetti, sinner, lajovic etc) and then they throw it away. Some of it is lack of experience which is a big disadvantage compared to novak who's been there many times. But there's also a weaker tour that's allowing a 37 year old to dominate with a 3 slam year.
 
Underdog said:
So, Novak Djokovic is one of the most dominant players the sport has ever seen. He's know for being an overall complete player with few if any weaknesses that the opponents can hardly exploit and usually end up on the losing side of the matchup. That's led him to conquering many records and he's managed to keep doing it in his 35+s.
Across the many years Djokovic's been on tour, he's faced all sorts of opponents, styles and gameplans. All-court, attacking tennis in Federer (including net rushes), aggressive, grinding baselining in Nadal, all out ball bashing in Stan and counterpunching brilliance in Murray are a few examples.
After all we've seen, what, if any, do you feel is the best strategy to face Novak Djokovic and have the best possible chance to win?
I'll add a poll and see what surfaces.

Side note: I've tried to be very complimentary of him (after all he deserves praise as he's a great player), so, if you can, avoid the constant trolling and keep the thread clean. If you are a troll, you know.
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Be peak Federer or peak Nadal or redline mode Stan or Andy.

Otherwise… good luck!
 
First of all - you gotta believe in yourself. Yeah, sounds silly but i can guarantee that 99,99999% players are losing before even playing the first point. Listen to some pre match interviews of Rafa, Roger and particularly Stan. They did not fear him. In fact Stan actually liked playing against him which he said in couple of interviews, he said that Novak's playstyle suits his game. If you believe in your game, you are confident enough to not fold like a cheap tent in key moments is actually 50% of the success.

Now to be more technical about beating Novak, well a lot people already add key aspects how to beat him or how to at least give yourself better chance to beat him, so i would like to add something new.

If you have a great kick serve out wide USE IT! We all know that Novak is absolute incredible returner, but one thing i noticed for the last 10 years or so is that Novak is struggling with kick serve and it pulls him off the court. That is exactly one of the aspects that helped Carlitos to prevail against him during Wimbledon 2023. In the past it was certain guy called Roger Federer who used this type of serving a lot at the Roland Garros 2011 and guess who won that match :)

Slice a lot to disrupt his rhythm. Roger, Thiem and Stan are the players who had great slice backhand and that gave them opportunity to stop Novak from finding steady rally rhythm which he absolutely loves. Why those particular 3 players had success with this tactic? Because they have incredible firepower and they could launch a rocket out of nowhere right after giving you a slice backhand or junk ball to the middle.

The rest key aspects were already covered.

Basically as other people already mentioned - it looks easy on paper, but in reality almost no one could do it for 5 sets, for 3-5 hours. And that is the time required to beat Novak, especially at slams.

BONUS point: You might try to wear one of these. Who knows, maybe it is the best tactic to beat him:
epa_france_tennis_french_open_2015_grand_slam_73443940.jpg
 
Being Federer or Nadal isn’t a very good tactic so aside from those guys there seems to be two ways:
Servebot-junkball (Medvedev, Kyrgios)
Redline, blow off the court with consistent power (Stan, Delpo Olympics, Z Olympics, Thiem at times)

Murray won against him a couple different ways during different stages of their careers, probably worthy of its own thread/analysis. Overall though he’s like a more complete version of the former group, when he’s playing well he can make Djokovic take the initiative and generate pace and he has a lot of variety available to him.

In general, I think forcing Djokovic to take the initiative and generate pace is more replicable than redlining, but the best players (Federer, Nadal, Alcaraz) typically have typically done a bit of both when they’ve beaten him. The rest of the field doesn’t typically have the repertoire to use both approaches depending on the context
 
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N01E said:
Great post, phenomenal even. Just start with saying that people had their minds fried by watching too many highlights instead of full matches. Putting Wawrinka as a basher is a good example of that. He didn't get those wins by mindless hard hitting, he was hanging in the rallies with Djokovic at just the right pace and placement and pulled the trigger when he managed to get some extra time to set up the shot. I think that Stan used the angles the most out of all the players I would put on Djokovic-struggle list, but still depended much more on debth and not giving anything to counter. Nadal's biggest win against Djokovic (USO13) didn't happen because he started changing hitting cleanly and changing directions, that's what people who only watch the highlights think because of the set point (like Federer's neo backhand in 2006 YEC because he hit a winner in the last game).
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Probably each of the players that have had multiple successes against Djokovic merit their own analyses. I think the naturally not-particularly-aggressive counterpunching of a healthy Murray makes about as challenging of a match-up for Djokovic as anyone

But Stan is possibly the most particular case. Someone who can hit backhand winners from the baseline (or even behind it in some cases) changes the point tactics much more drastically than is always recognized. Even if they're not always trying to rip them (agree Stan waited patiently and played point construction at a good level).
 
Wawrinka's best is what is required. You have to put hit Djokovic on both wings and keep him 3 - 4 feet behind baseline while you are at the edge of baseline.

Though also depends which Djokovic is there. If it's 2011 Djokovic - you might not find many answers to the problem. Just hit hard, close your eyes and pray.

If it's 2023 Djokovic - make him run and make it a lengthy match for any chance.
 
Depends on when we're talking about here. Power baselining used to bother him much less than it does now and variety all court games give him less trouble now than they used to.
 
I'm not sure how to answer this.
I'll make the assumption that this is mostly about slams, as Novak can be vulnerable at other events (where he's not always as amped up) or at The Olympics (where he's too amped up).

Tennis is a simple game. Just hold your serve, find a way to break once per set (or get a mini-break or two in a tiebreaker) and you win.
But seriously, I think this is a question of mindset, tactics and level of play. And even though Novak is 36, he almost always brings close to his A game at slams, especially in the second week. And if he's having an off-day, don't question it -- take full advantage.

All of this is easier said than done, of course.

Mindset: Although Ben Shelton may need to reign in some of his antics a bit, I liked his US Open post-match presser. There was no reason for hum to say that it was a dream just to share the court with Novak, and he's never seen such great shots from the other side of the net. Did he cross over into disrespect? Perhaps, during the match itself. But you have to be aware of who you're playing tactically, but not overly deferential to them. Of course, all this is easier said than done.

Tactics: There were a lot of good answers in the replies, whether it was giving him a lot of neutral balls or mixing up his rhythm, or just firing away with impunity. I tend to think that game-planning is important, but you should do it around your own strengths, not to play to your opponent's weaknesses.
Djokovic, even if he's had minor decline physically, has almost nothing to exploit. He's a top three baseliner of all-time, with still great movement, who is almost perfectly balanced from backhand to forehand. His overhead is a relative weakness, but his volley is certainly better than average, and what are you going to do, hit him lobs where he may win 75% rather than 84% of the time? You get the idea. And of course, his movement is still remarkably good, his serve is top-notch and his ROS (if not quite peak) is top- 3 of all-time and still among the best.
No one style beats him. Now, there are days (whether Novak wins or loses) where he does get outdueled from the baseline, and he's not the younger Novak who wants to be out there for 4-6 hours.

Level: So yes, don't be psyched out, and play to your own strengths, because usually, there are no exploitable weaknesses on the other end.
Well, it helps to be another "goat candidate". Roger had the game to take the racquet out of Novak's hand, and while he didn't relish wars of attrition, still had good shot tolerance, and could create instant offense out of almost any position. Stan could fire winners from almost anywhere, even though he couldn't move, serve or return like Fed. Of course, Rafa, if they both brought (bring?) their A-level, is superior on clay, and could both outlast him and produce instant offense on all surfaces.
But yeah, much as many saw Med's defeat of Novak as more Novak's off-day and Djo's feeling the pressure of going for the GS, Med brought his A serve and almost impregnable defense that evening. And he brought self-belief with him.
It will be interesting to see if by next year at RG (if not AO), if Alcaraz's A game will be better than Novak's.
Obviously, he was too keyed up for last year's de facto final.
 
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There are definitely areas you can hit to and hurt Djokovic, but you can’t go short in the court against him any more. That won’t work unless you have hands at net like Alcaraz or Big 4 in which case, yes you can.

Hitting high to his backhand with spin and shape forcing him to generate his own pace from a high bouncing ball is one approach, as he doesn’t generate as much pace or as dangerous a shot from a high dead ball as he used to. But to get around that Djokovic has a very good backhand drop shot. So a player has to look for that reply, even if Djokovic is very deep in the court.

The very wide serve on the ad court to get Djokovic stretching on the first ball of a rally is very effective. Nadal does this all the time and we have obviously seen some other lefties have some luck with this.

Djokovic has a very high precision game. Laser-like. So big servers who specialise in short non-protracted points with no rhythm generation always have a chance against Djokovic. The trouble with this is that many of these players will inevitably get to a crucial point in a match with Djokovic where they are still required to press hard in a few baseline exchanges, and will need to execute. See Hurkacz for a recent example of that.

All the guys who play Djokovic know what they have to do, and so many of them do it effectively for half a match. It’s just the fact that they know going into the match that even if their play patterns and execution are perfect they are still going to lose a lot of elongated points, and I think that’s the biggest thing that wears people down mentally.

Djokovic can no longer go all out from defensive positions like he used to, except from the forehand out wide where he is deadly, but he is still a master at resetting points to neutrality from a very defensive position, particularly with lobs. Djokovic has the best defensive lob in tennis now imo. Maybe one of the best ever behind Hewitt.
 
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