“He is always questioned and that bothers him,” Novak Djokovic’s controversies compared to Federer and Nadal by Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon analyzes the perks of ‘The Big 3’
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Gilles Simon and the big 3
French former World No.6 Gilles Simon compares Novak Djokovic with his fellow players of the big 3 and analyzes that the Serbian is most questioned by others and that has bothered him. He also said that haters are part of the game and all of these idols had to deal with them.
In his words, “He is always questioned, and that bothers him. You shouldn’t try to justify yourself, because that only feeds the beast. Some will defend Novak no matter what. Others will slaughter him no matter what. Nadal and Federer too; are such idols that they generate this kind of thing.”
The French 38-year-old retired from tennis after the Paris-Bercy Masters 1000 last year and he has been attending some podcasts and tennis talks recently. His recent analysis on Novak Djokovic came up in a twitch discussion with compatriot Gael Monfils. (Source: We love Tennis, translated via google)
The Big-3 rivalry
The big 3 has been dominating the circuit for almost two decades, starting in 2004. Their iconic rivalry with each other has always taken center stage at the business end of all the most important tournaments. There was a time when Roger Federer was invincible and he was ruling the tennis courts all over the world. The peak he had between 2004 and 2007 still makes him relevant in the GOAT debate despite going below Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in most of the stats.
It seemed like Nadal was a secret project to take down Federer. He single-handedly stopped the dominance of the Swiss legend in the early years. The ‘Fedal’ rivalry took a new high when Federer finally defeated Nadal in a Grand slam match in the 2017 Australian Open final.
He had to wait for 10 years to finally beat Nadal in a slam match after the 2007 Wimbledon final and the first time he solved the Nadal puzzle outside a grass court on a slam match. Their head-to-head still favors Nadal 24-16 overall and 10-4 in slam matches but Federer coped up with Nadal during the final years and beat him in 2 out of their last 3 slam matches.
Though Novak Djokovic has breached most tennis records already, he was never able to top the Grand Slam race alone. By clinching Wimbledon 2021, he was able to reach the top then but shared the top spot with his biggest rivals – Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Against Federer, Djokovic has a winning head-to-head in overall matches as well as in Majors – 27-23 and 11-6 respectively.
The GOAT debate seems to be limited to Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal now (at least according to the numbers). Both have 22 Grand Slam titles each. Though Rafael Nadal leads in head-to-head at Majors 11-7, the overall head-to-head is almost in equilibrium with 30-29 to Djokovic now.
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