“Roger Federer no longer a part of GOAT race, race is reduced to two names,” says Nikola Pilic

Former Croatian tennis player Nikola Pilic has stated that Roger Federer is no longer a part of the GOAT race and stated that Novak Djokovic’s achievement of going more than 300 weeks as World No. 1 has not been given the attention it deserves. The said achievement of Djokovic is currently ongoing with the Serb set to go past Roger Federer’s all-time record of 310 weeks in March of 2021.

Federer’s record of 20 Grand Slams was recently equaled by Rafael Nadal as well and the 81-year-old Pilic stated that Swiss tennis ace would find it very difficult to win more Slams and that Nadal would easily surpass his figures because of how tough the competition has become as well as Federer’s age.

‘The race for GOAT is reduced to two names’ – Pilic

Nikola Pilic spoke to Objectiv News about the GOAT debate in tennis and said, “It’s hard for me to imagine Roger Federer winning one or two more Grand Slams. I’m not saying he can’t, but it will be very difficult. You see, he now has, in addition to two greats Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, a constellation of younger players: Zverev, Medvedev, Thiem, and he is also 39 years old. In my opinion, the race for GOAT is reduced to two names.”

The former World No. 6 then acknowledged that Novak Djokovic doesn’t yet have the record of most Grand Slam wins or the most week as No. 1 but that the same could change very soon. “That’s right (Novak Djokovic doesn’t have either record). However, it is not clear to me why the number of weeks is underrated in the first place, especially in the western media. You know, if you have a player who is 300 or more weeks first, then that means he’s been dominant and constant for a full 10 years. Isn’t that a great achievement?” he asked.

Speaking finally about how the Big 3 have started to slow down a bit and decline from how dominant they were at their peak, “It is a natural process that the Big 3 slowed down significantly,” Pilic continued. “However, that will surely happen. The difference between them used to be measured in miles, and now it’s about centimeters. The old guard still has something to show,” Pilic signed off.

Also Read: 2020 Australian Open was Roger Federer’s ‘last time’ in Melbourne; believes Todd Woodbridge