The 33-year old champion from Serbia is all set to break Roger Federer’s record of being at the top of the ATP rankings for the longest time. Djokovic has spent 307 weeks on the top spot while Federer holds a record of 310 weeks. Djokovic won his first round match on Monday against the French Chardy without any trouble in straight sets (6-3, 6-1, 6-2). He was speaking after the game to the reporters.
The comparison between Nadal, Federer and Djokovic has been a point of heated discussions in tennis. But the players have stayed away from such a comparison at least in the public eye. Djokovic opened up about his thoughts on both legends. He said: “(Roger and Rafael) are legends of our sport, and I admire them a lot. They have positively affected my game and my growth, my development and all my success wouldn't be what it is if these two guys were not there.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🎙️ <a >@RafaelNadal</a> "I am not a big fan of finding excuses or reasons about why this other thing is happening."<br><br>The 20-time Grand Slam champion is doing everything in his powers to recover from back muscle issues ahead of his opening match on Tuesday. <a >#AusOpen</a> <br><br>READ MORE 👇</p>— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) <a >February 8, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
He said he was lucky to be in the position that he is currently, but he always strives to be at the top of the men’s game. Djokovic very slyly also hinted at the fact that he has more ATP titles than Nadal. The Serbian has won 36 titles against the Spanish’s 35. But all said and done, Djokovic is a humble person on court and he has always shown utmost respect for his opponents. A show of Djokovic’s humility was seen at the last year’s US Open when he hit a lineswoman by mistake.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Wow. Novak Djokovic has been defaulted from the <a >#USOpen</a> after striking a lineswoman with a ball.<br><br> <a >pic.twitter.com/t1zX6lEFxK</a></p>— Sacha Pisani (@Sachk0) <a >September 6, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This is what Novak said about being number one: “Obviously, that's kind of a lifetime achievement for me and Grand Slams, as well. Of course, I think I have managed to be very consistent at the [ATP] Masters 1000 events and win a lot of titles there. Those are the biggest events that we have on the Tour other than Grand Slams.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">All set for <a >@AustralianOpen</a> in my new <a >@ASICSTennis</a> <a >#COURTFFNovak</a> what do you guys think? <a >#ASICSTennis</a> <a >#ad</a> <a >pic.twitter.com/r0wWjow65v</a></p>— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) <a >February 7, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Djokovic concluded that he does not settle for anything less than a win. The Australian Open 2021 is going to be a great tournament to watch. After Djokovic, Nadal is set to play his Australian Open first round on Tuesday against L Dere.