Novak Djokovic is not an incredibly aggressive returner, but overall he's the best at it: Andy Murray
According to Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic is the best returner in the world given that he rarely misses on the shot. The Brit believes Djokovic is not the most aggressive with his return, but the fact that he doesn't give any free points is enough to tilt the scales in his favor.
Murray recently spoke on the topic at length with Gael Monfils on Twitch, discussing the various aspects of Novak Djokovic's return. The shot is widely considered to be the greatest of all time, and Murray pointed out how the Serb's depth on both the first and the second-serve return make him the best in the business.
"He's not an incredibly aggressive returner," Murray said. "It's not like he's been putting a lot of winning shots back. It just has great depth. There are not many missing. He returns well on the first and second serve, I think overall he's the best returner. And when he returns, he hardly gives any free points, which is huge."
The ATP had recently concluded that based on stats alone, Rafael Nadal has been the best returner of 2020. Nadal leads the charts with a score of 174, while Novak Djokovic comes in second with 166.6 points.
The Serb didn't make the top spot in either the first-serve return metric or the second-serve one, which is quite surprising given the season he has had. But Andy Murray, who has faced Novak Djokovic a whopping 36 times in his career, knows about the quality of the Serb’s return beyond the mere numbers.
The Brit himself is amongst the finest returners in the world when on song, and as such his praise of Djokovic certainly holds a lot of merit.
Novak Djokovic puts a lot of pressure on your serve: Gael Monfils
Gael Monfils also gave his two cents on Novak Djokovic’s return. The Frenchman stressed that Djokovic is so good at neutralizing the serve that he makes the opponent go out of his comfort zone and try something different.
“He puts a lot of pressure on your serve, to do something, to push a little bit sometimes or even to slow down a bit and mix gears,” Monfils said. "But when left (on his own), his return is incredible.”
Novak Djokovic’s ability to dig out the biggest of serves and send them back with interest makes him immensely tough to deal with - as his opponents have found out the hard way over the last decade and a half.