John McEnroe believes Novak Djokovic will lose at the Olympics, but claims the defeat will "wake him up" for the US Open
John McEnroe believes Novak Djokovic will be beaten at the Tokyo Olympics and thus will not be able to complete the Calendar Golden Slam. But McEnroe feels Djokovic will bounce back strongly to win the US Open and complete the Calendar Slam.
A Calendar Golden Slam in tennis refers to winning all four Majors in a single year in addition to the gold medal in singles at the Olympics. It is widely considered to be the finest achievement in tennis.
To date, only Steffi Graf has managed to complete the Calendar Golden Slam, but many believe Djokovic will follow in her footsteps, considering he has already won the Australian Open and Roland Garros this year. He is also the favorite to win Wimbledon, where he has reached the quarterfinals.
But seven-time Slam champion McEnroe reckons Djokovic could fall just short in his bid to make history. The American explained that since most of the rounds at the Olympics will be played in the best-of-three format, players will have a better shot at taking down the Serb.
However, the 62-year-old believes Djokovic is capable of bouncing back strongly from a potential Olympic disappointment and will go on to complete the Calendar Slam.
"This is my personal opinion, he's going to lose at the Olympics," John McEnroe said on BBC.
"It's all best-of-three and it's tough to get back up that fast," explained McEnroe. "Maybe someone can surprise him and then it will wake him up for the US Open and he'll win it all which will be monumental."
McEnroe pointed out how Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, Djokovic's two biggest rivals, have not managed to win the Calendar Slam. According to the former World No. 1, the fact that the Serb held all four Majors in 2015-16 is an astounding achievement in itself.
"Federer or Nadal haven't done it either. It's been 50-odd years since Rod Laver did it in 1969," McEnroe added. "Novak did hold all four in a row at one stage and I'll take that any day of the week along with any other player. This is crazy that he's been this consistently good and arguably better than ever at this age."
Roland Garros win took a lot out of me, but at the same time, it gave me wings: Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic defeated Cristian Garin on Monday to progress to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the 12th time in his career.
Djokovic, who is the firm favorite to lift the title come Sunday, admitted his confidence levels are "high" following his historic Roland Garros triumph last month.
Djokovic came through colossal battles against Lorenzo Musetti, Matteo Berrettini, Rafael Nadal, and Stefanos Tsitsipas to claim his 19th Major title in Paris. The Serb came from two sets down against Musetti in the fourth round and Tsitsipas in the final.
“My confidence levels are high. After winning the French Open... that was probably one of my biggest wins under those circumstances” Djokovic said. "Two five-setters, two four-setters. It took a lot out of me but at the same time it gave me wings."
"It gave me the confidence boost that I needed for Wimbledon," added Djokovic. "The energy levels are really good, I'm really pleased."