Casper Ruud Gives ‘Hot Take’ on Novak Djokovic, LeBron James, and Tom Brady GOAT Debate

Both Novak Djokovic and Casper Ruud will be participating in the US Open mixed doubles event, scheduled to start on August 19th.

Casper Ruud Gives ‘Hot Take’ on Novak Djokovic, LeBron James, and Tom Brady GOAT Debate

Tom Brady, Casper Ruud, LeBron James, Novak Djokovic (Image via The New York Times, BBC, X/Jose Morgado, Novak Djokovic)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

For Casper Ruud, Novak Djokovic is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time). Ruud is in New York for the US Open, where in 2022, he suffered a four-set defeat in the final to five-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz.

Djokovic will continue his hunt for his 25th Grand Slam title, and it’s at Flushing Meadows back in 2023, where he won his 24th title. Ahead of the last Major of the season, Ruud, during an interview with Overtime was asked to share his ‘hot take’ when it comes to the GOAT debate, and he brought up basketball’s LeBron James and NFL’s Tom Brady while explaining why, for him, the Serb is the best.

Novak is the greatest athlete of any sport in history, yeah, in the history of sports. I don’t want to compare because it’s stupid, but if you take Novak’s athleticism next to Brady, Brady’s the GOAT, don’t get me wrong, but I think Novak would crush him in most of the physical tests that you can do.

The 38-year-old has met the Norwegian ace six times, winning five of those matches. The lone defeat came in the semifinals of last year’s Monte Carlo Masters.

And then again, LeBron would maybe crush Novak in certain physicals, so I don’t know, but for me, Novak is the greatest athlete that ever lived.

Casper Ruud added

Ruud has not yet won a title in Majors, but thrice has played the finals, including one against Djokovic, in the 2023 French Open final. This season, both Djokovic and Ruud have played two finals and won one title.

Ruud lost the Dallas Open final to Denis Shapovalov and beat Jack Draper in the Madrid Open final. Djokovic suffered a straight-set defeat to Jakub Mensik in the Miami Open final and became the third man after Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer to reach the 100-title tally after a three-set win over Hubert Hurkacz at the Geneva Open.

Djokovic will be playing the US Open singles without much match practice as he skipped both the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Masters- the two Masters 1000 events on the North American hard-court swing held before the US Open.

Casper Ruud and Novak Djokovic will play US Open mixed doubles next

Before starting their singles campaigns, both Casper Ruud and Novak Djokovic will be playing mixed doubles at the US Open. The Serb has joined forces with compatriot Olga Danilovic, while Ruud will play alongside Iga Swiatek.

Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic (Image via X/TNT Sports)

The Serbian pair will lock horns with Russia’s Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev. If Djokovic and Danilovic reach the quarterfinals, they will face the winner of the first-round match between Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper, or the pair of Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz.

Ruud and Swiatek will face Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe. But Swiatek’s participation is uncertain. Their first-round mixed doubles match is scheduled to start on Tuesday, a day after Swiatek’s clash with Jasmine Paolini in the Cincinnati Masters final.

Both Swiatek and Paolini will be bidding to win their second title of the season. Paolini lifted the Italian Open by beating Coco Gauff, while the six-time Grand Slam champion ended her trophy drought with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Amanda Anisimova in the Wimbledon final. Swiatek has won all five previous matches against the Italian ace.

The upcoming match will be their second encounter this season, following their clash in the semifinal of the Bad Homburg Open, which Swiatek won to advance to her career’s first grass-court final (lost the match to Pegula). Paolini, after the Cincinnati final, will not be playing the US Open mixed doubles.

Also read: (Video) Iga Swiatek Gets Into an Awkward Confrontation With Interviewer After Reaching Cincinnati Open Final