A couple of years back, The New Yorker magazine ran a lengthy feature on Novak Djokovic under the title “The Third Man”, the headline an allusion to his position on the popularity charts behind Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal despite his recent domination of the men’s game.
Not much has changed since. Nadal is struggling with his form and getting bounced out of majors early, while Federer has not added to the 17th major title he won at Wimbledon in 2012, but Djokovic is still the “Third Man”, unable to command the kind of devotion the first two receive.
The Federer and Nadal acolytes dominate the tennis scape – online (on Facebook, Federer and Nadal have close to 15 million followers each, while Djokovic has around five million) and inside the stadiums, and the Sunday’s Wimbledon final was a perfect illustration of that.
Federer played great tennis, but Djokovic played even better, yet very few among the 15,000 fans inside the packed All England Club were cheering for the Serbian; at the presentation, the champion received what could best be described as polite, if not grudging, applause. All the cheers were reserved for the Swiss.
Federer and Nadal, of course, have earned this adulation, but where is the love for Djokovic? The appreciation and respect?
He has won nine grand slam titles in the era of two of the greatest tennis players of all time, and a certain Andy Murray, and that is not a mean achievement.
With his Wimbledon triumph, Djokovic has moved clear of legends like Andre Agassi, Ivan Lendl, Jimmy Connors, Ken Rosewall and Fred Perry, who had won eight majors each, on the list of most grand slam singles titles.
There are some big names still ahead of him on that list – Bill Tilden (10), Bjorn Borg (11), Rod Laver (11), Roy Emerson (12), Pete Sampras (14), Nadal (14) and Federer (17) at the peak – but Tim Henman, the former British No 1, is confident Djokovic’s number “is going to climb to 11, 12, 13 and maybe more” in the “not too distant future”.
Few pundits would doubt that given the way Djokovic has dominated the sport since the start of 2011.
Nadal (268-51; winning percentage 84) has won five grand slam titles during this period and nine Masters 1000, and spent 39 weeks at the top of the rankings; Federer (293-60; winning percentage 80) has a lone major and six Masters 1000 titles, and has been No 1 for 17 weeks, while Murray (260-64; winning percentage 80.25) has won two grand slam trophies and four Masters 1000 titles.
Djokovic, on the other hand, has been at No 1 in the rankings for 155 of the last 211 weeks, has a 328-38 win-loss record (winning percentage 89.6) and has won 36 titles, which include eight major titles and 19 Masters 1000 tournaments.
If those stats are not enough to convince the sceptics, perhaps these will – the Serb has a 43-19 record (14-7 v Nadal, 14-7 v Federer and 15-5 v Murray) against his peers from the Big Four club since 2011.
Still, Djokovic is struggling to find acceptance and his coach Boris Becker was right in his protesting earlier this year at the Australian Open over the hype about Nadal’s injury and Federer’s form.
“Novak deserves more respect,” he said. “I totally understand the fans of Roger and Rafa. I am a fan of them myself. But you have to stick with the facts.”
And the facts are loaded heavily in favour of Djokovic.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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