Picking Novak Djokovic‘s greatest achievement is tough because he has so many.
Djokovic had a rough year at the Grand Slams, not winning any major titles for the first time since 2017, his worst year.
However, winning the gold medal at the Olympics in 2024 made it a much better year than 2017.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇷🇸 Novak Djokovic | 37 | 8,360 | 18 - 6 |
Djokovic’s New Focus:
Djokovic isn’t as focused on every tournament now. He even said he might only play in Grand Slams and for Serbia from now on. Playing an exhibition match with Grigor Dimitrov showed his more relaxed side. Djokovic used to skip many exhibitions to stay fit for ATP tournaments.
There was a funny moment during the match where Djokovic and Dimitrov did a strip tease, showing how light-hearted the event was in Sofia.
This laid-back attitude contrasts sharply with Djokovic’s intense focus during major finals. McEnroe highlighted some of Djokovic’s greatest moments before choosing one as his best.
“You look back at the final where he beat Nadal in almost six hours to win the Australian Open. Then you look at how he became such a great grass court player and his record of winning seven Wimbledon titles.”
“Saving match points against Roger Federer in the 2019 Wimbledon final was pretty amazing, and he’s done it before at the US Open too.”
Despite these incredible feats, McEnroe picked Djokovic’s recent Olympic gold as his top moment due to its significance and unexpected nature.
“Yet it seems like because he hadn’t won the Olympics and that was missing from his record, his gold medal in Paris might mean the most to him. He really wanted it.”
“It was pretty unexpected because of his knee issue; we weren’t sure if he’d play at Wimbledon. Then he gets to Paris and beats Carlos Alcaraz in an incredible final.”
Fans might feel this choice makes sense given how much Djokovic valued this win.
McEnroe also believes Djokovic hasn’t been fully appreciated compared to Federer and Nadal but thinks that will change over time.
“He has been under-appreciated. It has been hard being compared to Rafa and Roger, but he’s done an amazing job putting himself ahead of them. In ten or twenty years, people will love him more.”
What do you think? Will people appreciate Djokovic more after he stops playing?
