Is Novak Djokovic the greatest tennis player of all time ?

 

Novak Djokovic continues to amaze the world of tennis and sport at the age of 36 . When he lost the Wimbledon 2023 final to 20 year old prodigy , the highly versatile Carlos Alcaraz in gruelling 5 sets , it was widely regarded as passing of the baton from the legend to the future superstar . Many Pundits almost started to write Djokovic's tennis obituary but the lion hearted Serb would have none of it . 

At the recent US Open , Daniiil Medvedev was asked after reaching the final about the prospect of facing Djokovic and he said after a defeat to a certain top player , Djokovic comes back and plays better next time and tends to avenge defeat . 

How right Medvedev was !!  In  the warm up event at Cincinnati before the USOpen 2023 Djokovic faced his growing nemesis Alcaraz in the final and it again proved to be an extreme gruelling match in intense heat so much so that Djokovic almost suffered heat stroke in the first set and looked spent . As the match was heavily tilting towards Alcaraz , the never say die attitude of the Serb came to the fore yet again and as only he can , Novak staged a remarkable fightback to take the second set and then win a gruelling 3rd set to complete an epic best of 3 sets match in 4 hours . Thus the revenge of Wimbledon final loss was duly taken .

And to prove Medvedev right again , Djokovic beat him in straight sets in the US Open final ( he lost to Medvedev in 2021 finals ) but not before a brutal second set epic contest which had Djokovic on his knees but again he recovered to win third set and the US Open title to make it 3 slam wins  a year yet again after 2011, 2015  & 2021 . So this was the 4th instance that Novak won 3 slams in a year and the 3rd such occasion in a year that Djokovic has reached the final of all the 4 slams.  What an astonishing feat in an era where for much of it he was pitted against two of the all time greats in Federer and Nadal. 

Probably Djokovic's best season was 2011 in which he won 10 tournaments including a 6-0 domination of Nadal .  It was the phase which had all the big three Federer , Nadal and Novak himself at the height of their powers .

Djokovic had a slump in 2016-17 with his elbow injury as he slipped down in the rankings and doubts about his getting back to the top was expressed but like an indomitable lion, Novak again proved that he can prevail over any sort of adversity .

Of course his early upbringing in a war ravaged country and having to pursue an expensive sport with the sound of bombs echoing the air in Serbia made it so tough for a young Novak to pursue the game he loved but his name is Novak Djokovic and no amount of adversity can soften his burning ambitions and desires .

And so it showed . It was no joke to break open the door against two of the greatest ever to play tennis in the circuit at their peak .  Djokovic by his sheer physical and mental ability on the tennis court  took his game to such astonishing heights that he has achieved head to head leads against both his adversaries Federer and Nadal .

Against Federer , Djokovic leads 27-23 ( 13-6 in finals ) and against Nadal it is even more closer 30-29 . However Nadal leads him 11-7 in slam matches . Against the new prodigy Alcaraz in the battle of generations, Djokovic is locked at 2-2 currently .

The crowd loved Federer and he had the bigger fanbase with Nadal no less . Federer with his dazzling tennis was always hugely popular wherever he played and Nadal with his physicality and indomitable attitude and his massive fanbase as well . Djokovic was admittedly behind in popularity compared to Federer and Nadal but he used this " disadvantage " to a great effect but igniting the fire within himself during his duels with Federer and Nadal. 

Djokovic now leads everyone in mens section and is on par with Margaret Court with 24 Grand Slams with Nadal on 22 and Federer on 20 slams 

Federer won 8 Wimbledons, 6 Australia Opens , 1 French Open and 5 US Opens .

Nadal in his 22 slams has won a high percentage of 63% in one event French Open. The king of clay has 14 French Open titles , 4 US Opens , 2 Australian open  and 2 Wimbledon titles with Djokovic has 10 Australian opens , 7 Wimbledons , 4 US Open and 3 French Opens which means he has won  1 grand slam at least 3 times , a record no one has achieved. 

Djokovic's game is based on tight defence , extremely solid on the baseline , with all the shots in the book and a highly top class serve with sharp net play whenever required but what sets him apart is his highly electric movements on the court , his elastic body and above all fierce mental strength . Being versatile with great ability to adapt on any surface and conditions, he has great ability to do long rallies and winning most of them and also has great ability to script sensational comebacks from impending  defeat . He had the ability like any great player to hit breathtaking shots and dazzling returns .  And as John McEnroe repeatedly said, Djokovic is the greatest returner of all time . 

Djokovic has shown how to tame two of the greatest ever tennis players that world has produced . How would he have tamed Pete Sampras who was invincible during his 7 year run at Wimbledon?  Of course an intriguing question . Surely that would have been a stern challenge but knowing Djokovic, he is ready for any sort of challenge and generally he has been very good against serve and volleyers . Hence anything was possible with Novak on the  court  . 

Novak has won 94 career  titles and has most weeks as number one  - 391.  Thrice he went close to emulating Rod Laver's calendar slam . Apart from a calendar slam , the only other feat that is missing for him is the Olympic gold . He will surely go for it at Paris 2024 .

So how the future looks for Djokovic . He will be 37 next year . He is still moving around the court like an Antelope and continues to show high level of mental fortitude.  However it is noticed that he has started to shorten his points by doing serve and volley and it did work well  in the US Open final  as at 36 -37 he is no longer as invincible in his rallies as he was in his absolute prime . A point surely noted down by his current  adversaries specially Alcaraz who will surely lure Djokovic to play longer points with the aim to tire him . Also Djokovic in recent times is having several drops in momentum during  his longer matches which he has so far handled well by raising his levels at he right time .

From the looks of it and his current form , Djokovic could play for another 1-2 seasons at the most  and still  possibly has  a couple of more slams in him  before Alcaraz who has already started winning big events  , takes over .

For the sake of tennis , one hopes that Djokovic continues to play as long as he can churn out big match wins .