Novak Djokovic, the World No.1 Professional Tennis Player hat-trick victory at the Wimbledon 2021 has made him join the league of Roger Federer and Rafal. Djokovic won a record-equalling 20th Grand Slam title and sixth Wimbledon on Sunday with a four-set victory over battling Matteo Berrettini of Italy.
The world number one triumphed 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 to move level on 20 majors with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. His win also put him three-quarters of the way to the first calendar Grand Slam of all four majors since 1969.
Djokovic over powers Berrettini of Italy to win Wimbledon title 3 consecutive appearances
A 6th triumph at the All England Club for Djokovic, who was playing in his 30th final at the Slams, added to his nine Australian Opens, two Roland Garros titles as well as three at the US Open.
“It was more than a battle. He is a true Italian hammer I felt it on my skin,” said Djokovic of Berrettini after receiving his runner up award.
When asked about his mates Federer and Rafa he said “It means none of us three will stop. Roger and Rafa are legends they are the reason I am where I am today.”
Roger Federer in his congratulatory message to Djokovic said Congrats Novak on your 20th major. I’m proud to have the opportunity to play in a special era of tennis champions. Wonderful performance, well done!
Djokovic replied to the legend of tennis Roger, thank you.
The Serb tennis super star has bagged 85 career titles while he has become the first man to break the $150 million prize money barrier.
Now, a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics could give him the first ever Golden Grand Slam by a male player.
Djokovic overcame a nervy start to break for 3-1, which he stretched to 5-2.
He even had a set point in a marathon eighth game which the Italian saved after eight deuces.
The incredible story of Federer, Rafa, Djokovic
In an interesting conversation a fan wrote about Federer, Rafa and Djoker said these guys are amazing, they just keep re-writing the history books and break every possible record, but even they are not perfect and have their own disadvantages.
Nadal started his prime very early, he was number 2 before his 19th birthday, if you compare him to federer and djokovic he won more slams than them up until 22 years of age, but unlike them his dominant periods are separated by years and he had one 3 slam season unlike djokovic and federer, who had 2 and 3 three slam seasons respectively and longer periods of dominance:
Federer was unbelievably dominant in 2004-2007(roger won 11 out of 16 majors in that stretch! more than half his total major titles) but since than he never truly dominated even though he remained as one of the top players(and still had a career worthy of an all time great since 2007).
Nadal had 5 seasons he finished as no.1 and in 4 of them he won 2 slams and in one he won 3(he never finished a season as no.1 with slam, neither did federer but djokovic did it twice) but they were never successive years(2008, 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2019 with the last 3 were close calls) so you can say that his peak was 2008-2013 but he adapted well for his aging body and since 2017 he had plenty of success, and you can say that he is still in his prime(not physical though).
Djokovic was a late bloomer compared to Nadal and Federer, he reached his peak only at nearly 24 years old, and during the rest of his “expected prime” struggled mentally and against his biggest rivals, resulting in many tough losses(between RG12 and FO14 he lost 5 out of the 6 slam finals he played) but than had arguably the most dominant period of all time in 2015-mid 2016 with reaching all 6 slam finals and winning 5 of them and 4 in a row plus many other big titles as well) which was past his “expected prime” and won another 5 majors after turning 30(W18 – AO20, 5 out of 7).
All 3 have different playing styles and their career progressed differently, nadal won slams from 2005 to 2019(14 years or 15 seasons from his first to last), federer won slams from 2003 to 2018(15 years or 16 seasons) and djokovic won slams from 2008 till 2020(12 years or 13 seasons), they are all different and their careers projectors are different and unique.
Back in 2014-2015 everyone was praising federer for his incredible level of play at that age(32-34), and rightfully so, but djokovic and nadal do the same right now too, they deserve as much praise as federer did back than(of course roger won less because of a really good djokovic was still around and stopped him while djokodal are not facing any already accomplished all time great at his peak) for their accomplishments and level of play, what roger did since turning 35 is astonishing but we do will see if the other 2 follow suit, they can do that for sure.
These guys are special, and with modern technology its not fair to compare them with previous generations and your regular great players. As it stands right now it seems unfair to call just 1 the greatest, maybe it will change in the future but for now I think the 3 are all tied together as the great
