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A week has passed since the final which prevented Novak Djokovic from crowning the Grand Slam dream. In the last act of the US Open, the Serbian champion succumbed to the pressure and blows of a demon-possessed Daniil Medvedev, who won his first major by losing just one set in the quarter-finals.
There has been a lot of talk about Djokovic's unconvincing performance. The Belgrade failed to record as usual and appeared contracted from the first exchange. The last to express his opinion on the Serbian test was Nicola Pietrangeli.
The former Italian tennis player gave an interesting interview to the Italian newspaper Libero. Pietrangeli said: "I liked playing tennis. I got good. Between the late 1950s and early 1960s I won 44 tournaments, four times at the Roland Garros, two in singles and two in doubles.
All the other great players of the time respected me, we were friends.
Pietrangeli: "Federer is the GOAT, he is from another planet"
We played but we had a lot of fun. That was polite tennis. Is alive. We entered the field to entertain the crowd.
Today each ball is worth tens of thousands of euros and the players don't care about the crowd. They only think about money. When I won the Roland Garros they gave me a cash prize with which I could not even buy a small apartment.
Today whoever wins a Grand Slam takes home two and a half million dollars." Then Pietrangeli explained before dwelling on Djokovic and the GOAT issue. He added: "And here I get angry. Djokovic will have, say, 500 million dollars in the bank and play a stressed final? Are we kidding? And the current reality of tennis that rubs the nerves of these multi-billionaires.
They are war machines, credit institutions. Maybe they get stressed out about counting money. When I read that they are depressed, my nerves are blown. The best of the Big 3? Roger Federe: he is from another planet. And one tells you that he beat a certain Rod Laver who has eaten two of the Grand Slam," concluded Pietrangeli.