'Fans have chosen Roger Federer', says Grand Slam champion

The 2021 Australian Open will take place in less than a month. There is great expectation to know how the first Grand Slam of the year will be, a tournament where everyone will have to make small sacrifices due to the situation linked to the Pandemic and where everyone, including fans and professionals, are curious to know who will take home the final victory. Before this event, the ATP Cup will be held at Melbourne Park from 1 to 5 February 2021, a competition that will feature twelve nations that will have some of the best tennis players in the world at their disposal. Novak Djokovic's Serbia will defend the title won in the 2020 edition and will have to deal first with Rafael Nadal's Spain and then also with difficult and insidious teams such as Canada and Russia. After this competition Nole will also try to defend the Australian Open, a tournament that he won giving his best in the 2020 edition. Novak Djokovic donated a state-of-the-art scanner to a well-known Serbian hospital and the number one in the world has received great praise from the hospital director and the Serbian Minister of Health. Dr. Loncar explained how Novak Djokovic's gesture is of great importance for the Balkan country. Here are the words of Dr. Dukic: "On behalf of Dragisa Misovic Clinical Hospital Ventre, I thank Novak Djokovic and his family for this wonderful machine that will give future patients, especially when Covid disappears permanently, the possibility of receiving top quality cancer treatments." For years now, Novak Djokovic has reigned supreme at the top of men's tennis. After playing second fiddle to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for some part of his career, Novak Djokovic managed to turn the tide mid-way through the last decade and is now chasing the duo with 17 Grand Slams in the bag. However, some tennis fans and critics still believe that Novak Djokovic's claim to be the greatest player of all time in tennis history is dubious. And 1976 Roland Garros champion Adriano Panatta is one of those skeptics.

Panatta on the GOAT debate

It is no secret that the former Roland Garros champion considers Roger Federer to be the greatest men's player of all time. For Adriano Panatta, statistics alone aren't the only decisive factor; even if Novak Djokovic goes on to win more Slams than Federer or Rafael Nadal, he will still be third best in the Italian's mind. "Fans have chosen Roger, and then Nadal at his side. Novak Djokovic is a great player, but in the end, as always, the count of the titles won will not be decisive. The ones who intend to be the best, they go on the field to win. But the show must be worth the ticket price," Panatta said. Novak Djokovic's actions during the coronavirus-enforced suspension of the tour have seriously harmed his image on the world stage, making many question his role model status. But knowing what we do of the Serb, he would be itching to get back on the court and prove his critics wrong.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/38P0nbk