Novak Djokovic winning the Golden Slam ‘would be surprising’ claims former No.2
Novak Djokovic will be eyeing the Golden Slam next year, however former No.2 Alex Corretja believes that the competition will be too strong for him to achieve this historic feat.
Djokovic has never achieved the Golden Slam before, but has been vocal about how much of a priority Grand Slam tournaments and the Olympics are at this stage of his career.
The Calendar Slam is when a player wins all four majors in the same year, and this can become a Golden Slam in Olympic years if they were to also win that tournament.
Steffi Graf is the only player in history to achieve this, having won all four Grand Slam tournaments and a gold medal at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.
Djokovic’s best achievement at the Olympic Games is a bronze medal that he won in Beijing back in 2008, meaning that Paris 2024 could potentially be his final chance for gold at 36-years-old.
While Corretja didn’t specify whether he thought Djokovic would win gold in the French capital, the Spaniard did suggest that he thought the Golden Slam was unlikely.
âI think that would be a little bit surprising [to win a Golden Slam] because even if he improves his game so much, he’s getting older,â Corretja told Eurosport.
âIt’s normal that he is getting older and the recovery is not the same. But at the same time, he’s got the experience and he’s just focused on the important tournaments and the ones that he feels are going to make a difference in his life. I’m sure that he’s going to keep on winning Slams, but it’s going to be tougher and tougher and he knows that.”
The two-time Roland Garros finalist added, “And in a way, I feel the match that he lost against [Jannik] Sinner in the Davis Cup might be good for him. It’s a wake-up call to say, âokay, I’m doing unbelievably, but I can’t relax for one second because some of the guys behind me, are going to push me so much. They’re very dangerous and they know they can beat me now.â”
Corretja alluded to Djokovic’s recent defeats to world No.4 Jannik Sinner, who is the only player to have beaten the Serb on multiple occasions in 2023.
Sensazionale.
Jannik Sinner is the first player to beat Novak Djokovic twice in the same season since Medvedev in 2019. (singles) #DavisCupFinals | @federtennis pic.twitter.com/kH9ztBbEBl
— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) November 25, 2023
That being said, Corretja still backed the 10-time champion as ‘the main favourite’ heading into the Australian Open, âHe is the main favourite; I think it’s going to be one of the most [exciting] Australian Open’s we had in the last few years, because we have several players that can do very well and are playing their best, physically.
âThey’re growing, they’re getting stronger. And mentally, it is pretty much the first time you have players who believe they can do well in a best-of-five Slam, and sustain their level for a long time.”
Novak Djokovic will begin his 2024 season by representing Serbia at the United Cup, with his first match coming against Chinese No.1 Zhizhen Zhang on 31st December.
IDEMO ??#UnitedCup pic.twitter.com/dfGgSvWz8W
— United Cup (@UnitedCupTennis) December 2, 2023
He will then head to Melbourne for the first major tournament of the year, as he looks to make history by winning a 25th Grand Slam singles title.
Inside the baseline…
At this stage in the career of Novak Djokovic, records are what he is looking for and that is something that the Serb has made no secret of, so naturally the Golden Slam will definitely be something that he and his team will have in mind heading into 2024. Djokovic has been very close to achieving the Calendar Slam in his career, having won three out of four majors in five separate years. But, to achieve that alongside the Olympic Games will be a monumental task, especially with the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev and biggest rival Rafael Nadal around.
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