Novak Djokovic is the greatest male tennis player of all time – without a doubt.
Earlier this week Christian Montegan wrote an article that called for Djokovic to be shown “more respect”, and that’s entirely appropriate, but the real question is: why are people questioning his greatness?
Here are some of the reasons and explanations
To start with, he’s a Serb in a sport traditionally dominated by western Europeans along with Americans, Australians and the odd Englishman, Spaniard or South American. Very few eastern European men have found major success on the tennis circuit – Czech Jan Kodes and Georgian Alex Metreveli come to mind, and they could be considered journeymen who would present as little more than early-round practice opponents for the likes of the elite John Newcombe, Ken Rosewall and Jimmy Connors.
The first eastern European interloper of any substance was Ilie Nastase from Romania. In his early days he was known by the press as ‘Nasty’ Nastase because of his on-court antics and protests. It must also be remembered that the open era began during the Cold War, so eastern Europeans tended to be seen in the West as the natural bad guys, so while Nastase’s talent was unquestioned, the template of the Iron Curtain baddie was set.
(Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Nastase was never truly accepted, and questions always remained about him because he wasn’t part of the ‘club’, a feeling Arthur Ashe no doubt experienced too. But neither Ashe nor Nastase was ever as good or as consistent as Djokovic. Ivan Lendl was a favourite target as a robotic eastern European player, the real Terminator.
We can accept a baddie having one good tournament, but ten Australian Open titles? That’s just unthinkable!
The second reason for Djokovic’s alignment is natural feelings of doubt that flow from being an outsider – having self-doubt, having few friends on the circuit and being suspicious of tournament organisers, referees and judges.
It’s so much easier to find a fault in an outlier, as the Williams sisters found out. Resultantly Djokovic gets angry on court, usually with his team, but it reflects the different personality traits. He was rightly disqualified for striking a US line judge with a stray ball – though it was clearly a pure accident – and sometimes these matters further reduce self-belief and self-confidence.
Deporting him from Australia will surely be reflected upon as a publicity stunt gone wrong by the then immigration minister.
Further, we shouldn’t forget that Novak grew up in a war zone. What effects that would have on a kid as he grows up are difficult to fathom – if we accept that children suffered adverse consequences from COVID lockdowns, imaging years of having bombs falling overhead.
The numbers are now leaning in Djokovic’s favour. With his Australian Open title he’s equalled Rafael Nadal for career grand slams, with 22. Roger Federer stopped at 20.
No one can question that Federer has the most elegance the others can’t match. He also is the most popular, largely due to his style of play and good-mannered nature.
Nadal is all power, but Djokovic comes a close second to Federer with his textbook functional style – and boy does it work. If we compare them to cricketers, Federer would be Mark Waugh, Djokovic would be Steve Waugh and Nadal would be Matthew Hayden.
Respect to Djokovic is long overdue.
Rik J
Roar Rookie
He has to take the lead in the slam race. That's it. The masses of casual fans clutch onto that like it's the only important criteria, and if he manages to take that, all debates are over. He has a substantial lead in every other metric by which wemeasure greatness.
Ad-O
Guest
Oh, won't somebody think of the children! Djokovic was deported from Australia because he was politically inconvenient in the lead up to an election. This story that he would inflame anti-vax sentiment is post-facto nonsense. It also makes Australians look like a bunch of hysterical children that can't make up their own mind. (Not far from the truth all things considered.) The fact of the matter is he was treated horribly by the leaders and most of the people in this country over an issue that he has been proven correct on over time. Not to mention being hung out to dry by the AO organisers. Some people should be embarrassed with themselves.
Ad-O
Guest
He wasn't wrong tho was he and the "vast majority" of Australians were. Plenty of scientists were against the mandate but Australians wouldn't know about it because the politicians and the media were too busy painting anyone with a different opinion as a nut case.
Ad-O
Guest
I can't believe people are still pushing this line that Djokovic lied to get into the country. A federal judge literally found no problem with his paperwork and let him in. Clearly he had an exemption. Not that our Govt should have been handing out exemptions when 10s of thousands of actual Australian citizens were trapped outside the country. But dont even get me started on our ridiculous over reaction to the pandemic.
Bell31
Roar Rookie
I’m just dumbfounded you saying that Novak is the greatest player without a doubt? He has the same number of slams as Nadal and their H2H record is almost even (as is their H2H record in slams). I could see an argument that some might want to push his time as no.1 or 2nd tier tournament wins as pushing him ahead (I think that’s flimsy, but it’s a perspective), but ‘without a doubt’?! I also find the unbalanced record for Nadal’s slam view a paper tiger – he has 8 non-French open slams, which is amazing (and their are other frequently considered top 10 players such as Agassi / McEnroe who only has 7 or 8 slams in total). Lastly, some people would push for Fed being the greatest b/c at his peak, no one has a record like him (I don’t really agree, but again, it’s a perspective). Bottom-line, Novak still has some work to do to be the undisputed GOAT, albeit he will very likely get there.
Bell31
Roar Rookie
I feel like we've had this debate before? I've oscillated on this for a while, but on reflection, I don't feel you can count Rod's professional career when evaluating his greatness (or the other pro players of that era) - it is what it is - he decided to play professional and didn't play Slams for 8 years. The professional events, whilst they had the best players of the time, were such circumscribed events that they just can't be counted in the same breadth as a Slams with 7 best of 5 set matches. The best you can do is look at modern era GOAT, but I don't mind not making that distinction.
danwain
Roar Rookie
Is that your Novak?
astro
Roar Rookie
You've missed the point. Your article claimed one of the reasons Novak is disrespected, is his background of coming from Eastern Europe. My point was, there are plenty of top players who are disliked and/or disrespected, who are not from that part of the world. I'm also not sure how you think you know the levels of focus and determination of Novak vs Hewitt or Roddick, or what you even mean by saying their not in the 'same league'. Both have won majors and were no.1 in the world. And again, who is disrespecting Novak's talent? He's unlikeable. That's it. Doesn't mean he's not one of the greats. Can you find any articles or references which argues that he isnt one of the most talented players in tennis history?
josh
Roar Rookie
You're conflating excellence and respect with likability again. Seems to be a common theme for Djokovic fans. "YoU hAvE tO LiKe HiM cAuSe He'S tHe BeSt" or insert the crying man meme, "please like him bro, he’s minimum wins in a major is 3 US titles while Rafa has 2 each at Australia and Wimbeldon. Rafa is far too reliant on French titles 14 out of 22 shows he’s very much a clay expert whereas Novak has a much more even spread of major titles. Roger’s one French makes it look very odd that he’s not that good on clay. PLease like him" I don't like the bloke, but I can acknowledge he's great tennis player. But that's about all he has going for him.
astro
Roar Rookie
Roger was vaccinated, so no
Insight Edge
Roar Rookie
The Australian open organisers were the culprits here not Novak. This is exactly the point that he is blamed for others errors. The AO sought to exploit the matter to their advantage by issuing him a visa/exemption. They could have refused. instead the Australian government humiliated him by "detaining him" like he was going to run away! How stupid. Would they have treated Roger in the same way?
Insight Edge
Roar Rookie
Don't think Roddick and Hewitt are even in the same league! What exactly has Nick won? Maybe he's disliked (not sure he is) for wasting his ability, unlike Novak who is simply too good and too focused. Nick and John were/are players crowds "love to hate" but don't think anyone disrespects their talent. I think Novak's talent and committment is too much for some. Therefore his flaws are exploited more. Your picking his "time out" is exactly a case in point where you overlook his determination and stamina to come back
Insight Edge
Roar Rookie
So why don't you like him? or like Roger more? While he is equal with rafa on majors he's minimum wins in a major is 3 US titles while Rafa has 2 each at Australia and Wimbeldon. Rafa is far too reliant on French titles 14 out of 22 shows he's very much a clay expert whereas Novak has a much more even spread of major titles. Roger's one French makes it look very odd that he's not that good on clay.
Eureka
Guest
Penalise one man over the foolishness and naivety of the masses is not a good reason. It would have all been over in day if Aussies simply said no, never forgot that they allowed themselves to be abused so no sympathy for them I’m afraid but plenty for Novak as he’s the innocent victim in this case.
astro
Roar Rookie
I'd love to see the IQ test that you and Novak passed, but the vast majority of the population and scientific community failed.
astro
Roar Rookie
You missed a fact on point 1. As part of entering Aus at that time, Djokovic had to declare that he had not travelled to any other countries in the 14 days before arriving in Australia. He apparently, made a mistake in saying he hadn't, when he had. So, Novak had done something wrong...he admitted as much. As for Alex Hawke's decision, I'd say Djokovic had made his anti-vax stance very clear at the time, and by making an allowance for him, it was sending a very negative message to the Australian public, who had spent plenty of time in lockdown already.
Brando
Guest
Hi There, I must answer to you as you included many incorrect assumptions re:Djokovic’s visa saga in 2021. The facts are as following: 1. You couldn’t enter Australia if you were unvaccinated, unless you could prove that you’ve had COVID within 4 weeks prior to your arrival 2. Unvaccinated athletes had to provide medical certificate about COVID infection within four weeks, and panel of doctors assessed, if they would be eligible to enter Australia. All applicants presented to doctors didn’t have names of applicants. 3. Panels of doctors recommended four visas to be awarded, amongst them was Novak. 4. Upon arrival immigration officer cancelled Novak’s visa after phone call by than Immigration Minister Mr Alex Hawke. 5. He ends up in immigration centre 6. Judge overturned visa cancellation and let Novak free 7. Immigration Minister Alex Hawke using his discreet power that Novak may cause unvaccinated people unrest in Australia deported Djokovic adding 3 year travel ban to Australia. Note that at this time 93% of Australian population was vaccinated. Based on above you may conclude that Novak did nothing wrong, he was just part of politically motivated decisions. Regards
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I think just for the fact that Laver's the only person to have won 2 Grand Slams when only 5 in total have been done ... and he couldn't compete for arguably the 5 prime years of his career. -------- And of these passing greats Fed should get the nod as his is a more even smattering of the 4 events.
matth
Roar Guru
If you add Rod Laver’s professional career to his amateur career (when the best were arguably in the professional ranks) and I still have him number 1. Djoker is 2 for me now.
Eureka
Guest
Novak is a man with integrity and character while Fed and Nadal are plastic PR puppets than anyone with an iota of discernment can see right through.