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Following a poll conducted by Eurosport in recent days, Novak Djokovic has been elected as the greatest player of the Open Era. The World number 1, which pocketed the beauty of 17 Slam and which boasts a favorable record against both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, was unbeaten in 2020 before the ATP tour was suspended due to the pandemic.
The Serbian champion could have overtaken the Swiss as a number of weeks at the top of the ranking this year, but the freezing of the rankings forced him to postpone this goal until at least 2021. Recently, Nole has expressed all her perplexity regarding the protocols advanced by the USTA to allow the US Open to take place at the end of August.
Djokovic: 'I want to overtake Sampras and Federer'
“I am grateful and honored that almost a million people participated in the survey and that people look at me that way. On the other hand, I could not say anything more than that, it is a debate that has been going on for some time, especially between Federer, Nadal, and me,” Novak Djokovic told Sport Klub.
“That will probably continue in the coming decades until an even better tennis player comes along. It’s a natural flow in sports and it’s good for tennis. The three of us who have won the biggest number of Grand Slams of all tennis players ever and have spent the most weeks as World No 1 on the ranking list – these are historical things and facts that satisfy and motivate me,” he added.
“I want to overtake both Sampras and Federer. I said that before, that is one of my biggest goals on that historical ranking list, to try to win as many Grand Slams as possible,” Djokovic concluded. The Serbian player is the youngest of the Big 3, as well as having managed to win Wimbledon 2019 and the Australian Open 2020 when he seemed one step away from defeat.
Unforgettable the two match points canceled at Federer in the Championships final, an event that could become a watershed to decree the GOAT at the end of their careers. Last month, in an interview for the programme 'In Depth with Graham Bensinger', Djokovic was asked how confident he was that he would have both records.
And the 33-year-old said his self-belief meant he would always back himself. "I'm always very confident in myself. I think confidence is derived from self-belief and self-belief is derived from clarity," Djokovic replied.