Novak Djokovic spent Sunday the most difficult obstacle of his season: by winning Roland Garros, he is now able to achieve the grand slam and become the indisputable GOAT (best player of all time).
Since the end of last season, Djokovic has equaled Pete Sampras’ record for years completed as world No.1 (six years). And since March, he has become the player who has spent the most weeks in this position (he started his 324th week yesterday in the ATP rankings published every Monday). He then announced that this goal having been achieved, he would now devote himself entirely to the record of 20 Grand Slam titles held by his two great rivals, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. He has won 19 since his first coronation in 2008 at the Australian Open. Over the same period (from 2008), Nadal won 17 titles and Federer 8 crowns.
Sacred for the 9th time in February at the Australian Open, his favorite Major in terms of results (Federer has 8 coronations at Wimbledon, Nadal 13 at Roland Garros), the world No.1 won his 2nd Roland- Garros, after that of 2016. “Novak showed what a great champion he was and I hope that one day I will have achieved half of what he has achieved,” commented Stefanos Tsitsipas, who led two sets to zero Sunday in the final in Paris before losing. Winner of the last Wimbledon (in 2019) by beating Federer in the final after an epic match at the end of which he saved two match points before winning, Djokovic has already won 5 and has all the qualities to win more. Ditto at the US Open where he was crowned 3 times and where the last two editions, of which he was favorite, escaped him on withdrawal in 2019 and disqualification in 2020.
Golden Slam
So, theoretically, Djokovic is on his way to setting a new record for major titles this year: he could have 21 on the night of the US Open, one better than Federer and Nadal. And above all, he could become the first player since Rod Laver in 1969 to succeed in the legendary grand slam, ie to win the four Majors in the same year. His might even be a Golden Slam if he wins gold at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, which no player has done. “I put myself in a good position to aim for the Golden Slam. But I was in that same position in 2016 and it ended with a defeat in the 3rd round at Wimbledon, ”commented Djokovic. In any case, “I have no problem saying that I will go for the title at Wimbledon. Of course I’m going for that! He said.
His coaches Marjan Vajda and Goran Ivanisevic are also thinking about it, but from a different perspective: “With Goran, we said to ourselves that if he succeeded in the grand slam this year, we would retire as coach,” Vajda said with a laugh. . But by becoming serious again, he confirmed that Djokovic’s goal was “to win the Olympics and then to achieve the grand slam”. For the former world n ° 1 Mats Wilander, consultant for the television channel Eurosport, there is no doubt, “we must start talking about GOAT”. “I had never seen a more beautiful tennis match on clay, commented Mats Wilander, three-time winner of Roland Garros, after the half Djokovic-Nadal. It was clay tennis taken to a much higher level than mine, because it was so fast, and Novak was putting so much rhythm into his shots. The movements, the touchdown at the net, the athleticism, everything was incredible. ”
Best of three
Already, Djokovic was the only player of the Open era (since 1968) to have held the four major titles straddling two years (2015-2016). He is now the only one of the Open era to have won at least twice each of these tournaments (Federer has only one Roland Garros and Nadal has only one Australian Open). Another statistic pleads in his favor: to date, he has a positive win / loss record against Federer (27 wins for 23 losses) and Nadal (30 for 28). “Djokovic is the best of the three. I always said it. If the three are at the top of their game, he wins. History has told us that. For me, it’s the strongest, ”said in the daily L’Équipe Patrick Mouratoglou, coach of Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Igor GEDILAGHINE/AFP
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Novak Djokovic passed the most difficult obstacle of his season on Sunday: by winning Roland Garros, he is now in a position to achieve the grand slam and become the indisputable GOAT (best player of all time). last season, Djokovic tied Pete Sampras’ record for years completed as world No.1 (six years). And since…
