Both Burden and Blessing: Journalist on Novak Djokovic Winning against Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic are titled as The Big Three in the men’s tennis world. Everyone has their opinion on The Big Three debate, and recently, renowned New York Times tennis writer, Christopher Clarey, also gave his perspectives on the hot topic.

Christopher Clarey verdict on The Big Three

Christopher Clarey is a famous journalist and a tennis writer for the New York Times. In 2021, he published a book on Roger Federer named “The Master: Brilliant Career of Roger Federer.”

Clarey has always been very vocal about his perspectives and opinions. Recently, in an interview with tennis365, the Journalist spoke about the hot topic of The Big Three; the Big Three are currently tied at 20 grand slam titles.

“I’m not going to make a call on who is the best of all-time, but Novak looks like he is the best player in pure results on who is the best player in this era,” he said. According to Clarey, Novak Djokovic has much better statistical results than Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

He further added, “In my view, it has been both a burden and a blessing for Novak to have Roger and Rafa around. If he was the dominant player in tennis, he wouldn’t have become the player he is now. To have a chance to go after the great champions who were so popular and to beat them on their best surfaces was a great opportunity for him and he has seized that.” 

The tennis writer said if it comes to performance and accomplishments, Djokovic has achieved more in his life than the other two. Clarey also thanked Federer and Nadal, because without them Djokovic wouldn’t have pushed his limits. To play against such champions and beat them on their favorite surfaces must have required great courage. And Djokovic certainly excelled in all the challenges that stood in his way.

Novak Djokovic at US Open 2021

Novak Djokovic’s US Open ended in the last match he played. The Serbian who was looking for his calendar slam was crushed by the Russian Daniil Medvedev in the finals.

The world number two stunned everyone at Flushing Meadows and claimed his maiden grand slam title. The final scored recorded was 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the favor of Medvedev.

ALSO READ: “For the Whole Sport in General”: Nick Kyrgios Explains Why Roger Federer is Ahead of Novak Djokovic in the GOAT Debate