Jimmy Connors, the tennis legend of his era is no stranger to longevity and experience in pro tennis and thus has an opinion in his own right. With a career spanning an incredible 24 years, the former world no. 1 from 1974 to 1978, racked up a crazy record of 109 titles in singles, the most by any player in history. He bagged 8 Grand Slam singles titles and retired at the grand age of 43 in 1998.
Recently, on his ‘Advantage Connors‘ podcast, the tennis icon reignited the blazing GOAT debate. He was calling out the belief that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are the undisputed kings of all time, no doubt. But Connors raised his eyebrows, saying hold on, let’s not sleep over Novak Djokovic!
Known for keeping things crystal clear on or off the court, Connors sparked a fiery debate with his bold take on the modern greats. Amidst the epic rivalry among these three tennis demi-gods, the GOAT question remains enticingly intricate. However, Connors favored Djokovic as the strongest contender for the GOAT prize.
Much to the chagrin of the Swiss and Spanish supporters, Connors vindicated his stance as he felt that Djokovic had the supreme dominance during the era of Federer and Nadal. In his books, the Swiss and the Spanish champion, often celebrated as GOAT candidates, are not even guaranteed the title of being the best of their own time.
Why Jimmy Connors feel Novak Djokovic is better than Fedal?
In his podcast of the ‘Advantage Connors,’ the legendary Jimmy Connors, declared that two tennis icons with unparalleled charisma, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, enjoyed unwavering crowd support that worked against Novak Djokovic. He said that the Serbian star had been under a relentless spotlight throughout his playing career for daring to challenge both the Spanish and Swiss star.
In a no-holds-barred statement, Jimmy Connors said, “It comes to a point where a lot of people think he’s had enough. To me, that’s bulls**t. Look at all the people that were on the Federer bandwagon and the Nadal bandwagon as the greatest of all time. They’re not even the greatest of all time in their own era.”
According to Connors, what made Djokovic the undisputed GOAT, was his jaw-dropping head-to-head winning record over both Federer and Nadal. This he declared was more than enough evidence to proclaim Djokovic as the one true leader in the everlasting GOAT debate. He further said that the tennis fans might have grown tired of Djokovic’s dominance.
However, he didn’t mean to demean Federer or Nadal in any form as he said, “I was not saying that they are not great players and I’m not in the kiss-a*s business anyway. I’m not going to say they are or if they’re not.” For him, Djokovic sits at the peak as he has won the highest number of Grand Slams among the Big 3.
Taking a cue from his own illustrious career, Connors drove his message home and said that as long as Djokovic stays healthy and keeps winning, there’s absolutely no reason for him to even consider hanging up his racket anytime soon. The tennis titan knew this all too well, having earned the distinction of playing the most matches of any male player in singles, a mind-boggling 1,557 matches.