‘Don’t Consider Him the Goat’- Novak Djokovic Denied Tennis’ Greatest Tag as Surreal Feat Makes Him Villain Over Federer and Nadal

Given his recent dearth of accolades, Novak Djokovic is on a worrisome trajectory. The Serb is struggling with his form and as a result, he has not been able to secure even a single title. Furthermore, injuries forced him to relinquish the no.1 crown to Jannik Sinner. However, things were not always the same. The Serb was almost always the favorite to win titles, even after he entered his 30s, supposedly past the prime age for athletes. 

A post from Olly Tennis reminded fans of a historic achievement from Novak Djokovic. Out of the 24 grand slam titles he has, the Serb won exactly half of them before touching 31 back in 2018. Along with that, he also attained nearly half of the Year-End #1 finishes before that time. This was out of the total 12 years in which he managed to end up with the top spot.

Comparing Djokovic’s achievements to that of his rivals, Rafael Nadal remains slightly behind him as he managed to secure eight Grand Slam titles when he turned 30. Roger Federer, on the other hand, secured four of his 20 Grand Slam titles before touching the mark of 30. Although he continued to compete at a high level, he often faced defeats against Nadal and Djokovic.

Federer’s last massive run came back in 2017 when he started the year with a massive Australian Open win and secured the eighth Wimbledon title, which helped him create history. While the debate between the big three was triggered by the smallest of sparks, fans became furious after coming across this post.

Fans deny Novak Djokovic’s claim for the GOAT title

The post highlighting the Djoker’s feat also reached Fedal fans. The comments were in flames as soon as they came to attention. They were quick enough to step forward and deny the Serb’s claim of being the best by stating different reasons.

A fan shared two points of view, “1. ND got better in his 30s. 2. ND got lucky in his 30s.” According to him, it wasn’t the Serb’s talent and hustle that made him achieve this feat but his luck. “Given how he did vs older Fed, Nadal, Wonka & younger Thiem in his 30s, I’m going with the 2nd option. It’s also why I don’t consider him the ‘GOAT’. We’ve got to have SOME standards!”

Since he turned 31, most of his slam titles did not come against Rafa or Federer. He won majors against the generation that came after him, who also struggled heavily against the Serb. Angered, a fan commented, “Grand Slams won against the weak era of Med, Tsit, Kyrgios, Berretini n Ruud. Only 1 of them has a Grand Slam when Med beat Djok in US O 2021,” stating that he robbed these titles from lesser competent rivals.

Both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal struggled with their physical fitness and experienced a considerable dip in overall form by the time Novak Djokovic turned 30. “When Federer and Nadal were never at their best,” another fan wrote, using it as a shield to deny the Serb’s competency.

Since 2018, Federer only accomplished 1 slam, and Nadal won 5. The numbers might seem impressive until one realizes Djokovic has won 12 slams since 2018 and played in 15 finals. “Yep in the weakest era of tennis when Fed and Rafa have been pretty much gone!” a fan wrote, talking about how the two had almost vanished. 

With these and several other comments on a similar note, the fans made it clear that they do not agree with Novak Djokovic being the GOAT. Although some comments tried to draw facts to oppose the Serb, many of them were just to be against him and put his rivals forward.