Novak Djokovic ‘wins at least another three or four Grand Slams’ claims Nick Kyrgios
Novak Djokovic has been backed to add ‘at least’ three or four Grand Slam titles to his already record-breaking tally, with Nick Kyrgios suggesting that the Serb currently has his eye on Margaret Court’s record.
Djokovic has made his way into the second week of the Australian Open once again, as he bids for a historic 25th Grand Slam title.
This would enable the 36-year-old to move ahead of Margaret Court, as the player with the most singles Grand Slam titles in history, and Kyrgios has heaped praise on Djokovic labelling him ‘the greatest of all time’.
“But I mean the greatest of all time is definitely Novak, but that doesn’t mean – if I said who would I want to go out there and want to watch, Roger Federer is the nicest to watch, he’s the most talented, makes the game look effortless, like the Michael Jordan of tennis,” Kyrgios told Eurosport.
“Without Roger would there have been a Novak, a Nadal, someone to chase but statistics you know, it’s hard to have a conversation anymore.”
The Australian added, “He’s the most complete player, on all surfaces as well, because [Rafael] Nadal is dominant on one surface whereas Novak has had that pretty much everywhere. Just the ability to redirect, I think is so underrated. That’s one thing I felt playing him, he could just change direction on anything I hit and when you put it to him it’s high percentage, it’s crazy.”
31 – Novak Djokovic is the second player to win more than 30 consecutive Singles match at the Australian Open in the Open Era after Monica Seles (33 consecutive wins between 1991 and 1999). Wave.#ausopen | @AustralianOpen @atptour pic.twitter.com/vmCS7DkFwQ
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 19, 2024
Djokovic has openly admitted that he will keep playing as long as he can still compete with the top players, and Kyrgios has predicted what the rest of the Serb’s career could look like.
“I think he wins at least another three or four Grand Slams, at least. I’m guessing a couple more 500s, Masters events. He’ll get there,” said Kyrgios.
He continued, “I mean until I start seeing a player beating him consistently at the Slams. I mean [Jannik] Sinner beat him a couple of times in Davis Cup and then at the ATP finals but until he starts losing consecutive Slams, there are a couple of bad beat downs then he goes into every event in my eyes as favourite.
“I think [Margaret Court’s record] is in the back of his mind, I think he outright wants to have the most of all time, the gold medal is a big one for him as well. I think he wants to have absolutely every accolade when he finishes. But I think he enjoys just becoming a better version of himself as well.”
Novak Djokovic will look to move towards the first of those three or four predicted Grand Slams, when he plays Adrian Mannarino tomorrow in Melbourne.
Inside the baseline…
Novak Djokovic is very open about how much records mean to him at this stage of his career, with Grand Slams and the Olympics probably the two biggest targets for the Serb in 2024. As crazy as 27/28 Grand Slam singles titles sounds, it does not seem like an outrageous prediction from Nick Kyrgios, who knows just what it’s like to play Djokovic in a recent Grand Slam final.
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