"I don't care who ends up with most Slams, we are going to define this as best three tennis players of the sport" - Mats Wilander on the GOAT race between Federer, Djokovic and Nadal
Tennis superstar Novak Djokovic beat Nick Kyrgios on Sunday to claim his seventh Wimbledon and 21st Grand Slam title. That helped Djokovic break his tie with Roger Federer in the Grand Slam title race; the Serb now trails Rafael Nadal by one.
Speaking on Eurosport, former World No. 1 Mats Wilander gave his thoughts on the battle for most Majors between the Big 3.
"Well, I mean, on paper it means Federer at 20, Novak on 21 and Rafa at 22 and I would have said a couple of years ago numbers were very important," Wilander said. "But it seems like the last couple of years, we have to start talking about momentum in their careers."
The Swedish tennis star went on to reflect about how Nadal gained momentum this year by beating Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final. Wilander believes that win kick-started his year, as the Spaniard went on to win the French Open as well.
"After Novak won three of the four Slams last year and had a chance to win the Calendar Grand Slam and go to 21 Grand Slam victories, didn't, lost to Medvedev, then Rafa against all odds wins the Australian Open goes to 21. After that, of course, he's going to win the French Open, goes to 22. So I think here is momentum," Wilander said.
Novak Djokovic widens the gap in ATP's Big Titles leaderboard 👀 https://t.co/eYiBFNxENF
The 57-year-old also stated that we should be privileged to watch the three greatest players of all time play and compete, and not worry about the "GOAT race."
"The question here is for Novak, is he allowed to go and play the US Open because of the vaccination status that's very important. Should this really matter in the end, who wins the GOAT race? Who is the greatest of all time? All three have had their three or four years when they have dominated. Now they're going back and forth with Rafa and Novak so we we're just so privileged to be a part of it. To me personally, I don't care who end up with the most Slams. We are going to define this as best three tennis players on the men's side of the sport," Wilander concluded.
"I think that was like the turning point for him" - Alex Corretja on Novak Djokovic's win against Jannik Sinner
Former World No. 2 Alex Corretja also spoke to Eurosport about Novak Djokovic's triumph at Wimbledon. Corretja hailed the abilities of the Big 3 but in particular highlighted the pressure on Djokovic to win the title at SW19 this year.
"Those players are in from another world because you usually see someone wins a Slam but they cannot make it again," Corretja said. "But Djokovic, he had so much pressure coming into the tournament, and Rafa was two Grand Slams ahead, and we felt like 'okay, maybe Novak is the favorite, yes', but then you need to do it."
STAT: Novak Djokovic is the first man in history to win two different Grand Slam tournaments at least seven times each.
Australian Open: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Roland Garros: 🏆🏆
Wimbledon: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
US Open: 🏆🏆🏆 https://t.co/UO1HHoatsQ
Corretja also spoke about the quarterfinal match against Jannik Sinner being the turning point for Djokovic at Wimbledon this year. The Serb produced a miraculous comeback in the match after losing the first two sets.
"And he's been playing very well. He suffered so much against Sinner. I think that was like the turning point for him. It was so important to get back the confidence and then in the final, I think he played very well, very pumped and very focused. Chasing Rafa now is very interesting because they put the bar so high," Corretja concluded.