Former No.1 reflects on Novak Djokovic's saga

• Tennis News
• Novak Djokovic

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic recalled the first time he played in the ATP Finals 12 years ago. The former World No. 1 said: "I remember in 2007 I think I played for the first time at the ATP World Tour Finals in Shanghai, and I think I lost all three matches in the group.

I was with Nadal and Ferrer, I don't remember the fourth guy. But he was tense. I mean, he was happy to be there, of course. He was very proud to be part of this elite eight guys, but, you know, it's an environment that's kind of new to you.

Even though it's a tennis court, a tennis match, it's still different, knowing you're there for the first time and you're going to play a top 10 player in every pool match. It's a great mental pressure, you know, that you have to give your best, where we have a lot of experience for us, that we have been playing at the highest level for many years.

We know how to handle these types of situations emotionally, mentally. So at the beginning of the match, knowing that he's probably going to be a little more nervous, he wanted to try to use and break resistance very quickly, which happened in that first set midway through.

He missed a relatively easy forehand for him. That gave me a break. And after that I started to read it better, I took it out of him, positioning myself on the court. I started to move very well. Just yes, I am very pleased with the way I came back, knowing how good a server is and how strong and fast the service is.

I'm very happy with the way I got most of the serves back from him, especially from that moment towards the end."

John McEnroe on Novak Djokovic

John McEnroe vouched for Novak Djokovic to compete in the US Open and slammed the politicians for getting in the way.

"These politicians are getting in the way too much – they did it in Australia." McEnroe said. "Let the guy come in and play in the US. I mean come on. This is ridiculous. You can agree to be tested. There’s got to be a way around this." In light of McEnroe's comments, tennis fans on Twitter slammed the Serb for not getting vaccinated.

"Novak Djokovic should follow the rules set by the various countries pertaining to Covid. He may not like the rules, but they aren't irrational. And his refusal to get vaccinated isn't heroic, it's irresponsible," one fan wrote.