Roger Federer He moves around the world like the icon of tennis and the sport that he is. He also carries passions after his retirement, although he has ended up being the least successful of the ‘Big 3’. His twenty Grand Slam titles fell short of his 22. Rafael Nadal and the 24 of Novak Djokovic.
The Spaniard, 37 years old, closed his stage in Kuwait to continue preparing for his comeback at his academy in Manacor. He is approaching a trip to Brisbane, where he will return to play after having been out since the 2022 Australian Open.
“I’m not going to surpass Djokovic’s Grand Slams, for sure. My reality is different,” he assured. Rafael Nadal when he announced that the hip operation had borne fruit and he could compete again.
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Meanwhile, ‘Nole’, 36 years old, is finishing his preseason in Marbella. Finalist of the four Grand Slams of 2023, champion in three and world number one, he threatens to break all records. Capturing more ‘big ones’ continues on his agenda, which contains the novelty of the Paris 2024 Olympic Gamespossibly the last opportunity to win the Olympic gold that he lacks and that he longs for.
The numbers support Djokovic in the race to be the best, not so much the biggest, since the charisma of Roger Federer or the greater general impact caused by Rafa Nadal mean that there are scales that lean towards the Swiss or the Spanish, according to personal preferences each.
‘Nole’ is not as popular, as its own defenders acknowledge. Among them, the French coach Patrick Mouratoglou, on the front line of tennis these days due to the doping case of his former pupil, the Romanian Simona Halepwhom he admitted to having supplied a contaminated collagen product.
The Frenchman is also a promoter of Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS), a groundbreaking exhibition tournament by its standards and that has a new chapter these days in London. In this scenario he spoke of Djokovic, Federer y Nadal.
“Rafa and Roger were the greatest tennis superstars, but Novak arrived and beat them both. That’s why the public hates him,” he says. Mouratoglou, as reported in The Tennis Letter.
Although he clarifies that “he is booed for other reasons. He himself says that he does not like this negativity, but many times he pushes the public to do it, since it helps him during the games as a way to motivate himself or react.”
He warns the Serbian’s detractors that “we must not forget that he has 14 million followers on Instagram, that he is a popular hero in Serbia. He is the biggest name in the world of tennis, we will miss him when he stops playing.”
December 17, 2023 “>
2023-12-17 13:08:54
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