Barring French Open where Rafael Nadal is the "man to beat", Novak Djokovic "favourite" for every Grand Slam in 2023: Dominic Thiem
Dominic Thiem recently commented on World No. 1 Novak Djokovic's chances of accomplishing the Calendar Slam in 2023, bringing up Rafael Nadal in his remarks.
A Calendar Slam is achieved when a player wins all four Majors in the same calendar year. Djokovic came very close to accomplishing this in 2021, when he won the first three Grand Slam titles of the year -- the Australian Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon.
However, a straight-sets loss to arch-rival Daniil Medvedev in the US Open final demolished the Serb's chances of becoming the first man to do so since Rod Laver in 1969. It also prevented him from completing the Golden Slam, a record which is currently held only by Steffi Graf. In the Tokyo Olympics, he lost to eventual winner Alexander Zverev in the semifinals.
In an interview with Eurosport, Dominic Thiem stated that there are other "great players" out there who pose a threat to Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in terms of winning Grand Slam titles in 2023. However, he maintained that the duo are still "one level above" them all.
"There are great guys there, but obviously, also those two, three when Roger [Federer] was there, they were still one level above all the others, especially in the Slams, especially when it came to the best-of-five," Thiem said.
While it would be "nice" to see a final showdown between the two messiahs of tennis at the 2023 French Open, Thiem opined that the Serb is the "man to beat" in the ongoing season.
"For the whole tennis world it would be nice to see one last showdown in Roland-Garros, obviously, but Novak will still be the man to beat in the Grand Slams in 2023," Thiem said.
The Austrian then stated that, with the exception of the French Open, where Rafael Nadal is the overwhelming favorite if he is physically fit, Novak Djokovic is the "favorite" to win the other Slams left in the year -- Wimbledon and the US Open, especially considering his performance at the Australian Open.
"The only tournament is Roland-Garros: if Rafael is fit there, it's exactly the opposite. He's the man to beat, obviously, when he won the tournament 14 times, it's crazy," Thiem said.
"But if you see the performance of Novak at the Australian Open, which was incredible, he's going to be probably the favourite at Wimbledon and the US Open as well," he added.
What is next for Novak Djokovic?
While applying for a special waiver to play in the United States, Novak Djokovic was hopeful about returning to the Indian Wells Masters (March 6–19) and Miami Open (March 20–27), both of which required foreign competitors to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
However, he withdrew from the Indian Wells Open and will almost certainly miss the Miami Open, as his application was unsuccessful. He also missed these two Masters tournaments in 2022, as well as other important tournaments, as he was not allowed to enter North America due to his vaccination status at the time.
The 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters, which begins on April 8, may therefore be the Serb's next stop given the current situation. He has previously won the Masters 1000 tournament twice, in 2013 and 2015.