ANALYSIS: What would 25 Grand Slams mean for Novak Djokovic as US Open title defence begins

Novak Djokovic has a chance to win the 25th Grand Slam of his career at the upcoming US Open, so let’s consider what that would mean for his legacy.

When you mention the name Novak Djokovic and add legacy into the mix, you’re kind of speaking of a multiple-volume book series. That’s the type of legacy Djokovic will leave in tennis, and it’s not yet fulfilled. There is more room, and he’s certainly motivated to add more things to it. One of the major things is becoming the player with the most Grand Slams ever, and that might happen at the upcoming US Open. We’ll take a closer look at his legacy and what a potential US Open win might mean for him.

So Djokovic emerged as a youngster from Serbia, a country that had some nice players in the past but never really produced a major talent before. He was coming up quickly through the rankings, surprising many, but the top seemed impossible to reach with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

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Slowly but surely, Djokovic injected himself into their rivalry and started to beat them. Soon enough, he would win a Grand Slam, and while it took him two years to add another one, winning that second one proved it wasn’t a fluke. Over the next decade, the Serbian would establish himself as one of the big three, who were by far the best among their peers. Andy Murray, at times, was on their level, but for the most part, it was them who dominated.

He didn’t really become the dominant force until Federer started to pile up in age, and Rafael Nadal started to experience major injury problems. Djokovic’s main peak came after 2010 when he started to pile up more and more Grand Slams. It was particularly impressive because nobody could really challenge him. Federer wasn’t as good as he used to be, and Nadal wasn’t playing as well. Until 2015, Djokovic had only 7 Grand Slams. From 2015 onwards, he won 17 of them.

Straight from Olympic gold medal form, Djokovic returns.

So, after turning 28, Djokovic was able to dominate the Tour largely because there was no opposition. The players he was battling back then were solid players, but none of them was a Grand Slam winning talent. They certainly didn't strike fear into anybody, let alone him who was a teenager battling Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal weekly. You can make a case that if it wasn’t for Stan Wawrinka finding a magic potion out of nowhere, Djokovic would have had 27 or 28 Grand Slams by now. While you can’t really say that anything in his career comes down to luck, he was quite a bit lucky to find his best tennis at a time when there was a shortage of players that could really challenge him. Some of the players he beat in the Grand Slam finals weren’t on the same level as the players Nadal and Federer had to face just a decade earlier.

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Even with that it takes a huge amount of skill and greatness to do what he did. Winning 24 Grand Slams is not easy because you still have to win 7 matches over 14 days to do so. All those matches are best of three, so it takes three sets at the minimum. That's a lot of tennis player and you have to be really consistent. Djokovic being able to do that shows just what makes him as great as he is and it's that incredible amount of consistency. Very few players have historically been able to do that, and almost none at the level he's been doing it and for how long he's been doing it. What’s even more impressive is that he seemed better and better as he aged. He didn’t slow down; physically, he looked as good as ever and regularly outlasted players much younger than him.

It had nothing to do with talent and everything to do with work. Djokovic has often spoken about his dedication to a strict nutrition regimen and workouts to keep himself in the best of shapes. Roger Federer was never that rigorous with it. Rafael Nadal probably didn’t take it that far, although he was a huge worker himself. Every little detail matters, and it’s what contributed to Djokovic essentially becoming the greatest tennis player of all time. It's all in the small margins and he emphasized that often.

The GOAT thing is still a debate because some people won’t back him to be the GOAT. After all, it’s an opinion, and there isn’t an official trophy to be won. When you have things that are opinions, then you will have people disagreeing with that. It’s a pretty widespread belief that Djokovic, indeed, is the greatest of all time. There are a couple of reasons why. You can take all the numerous records he has achieved over the years, such as being the man with the most weeks as number one. He’s by far ahead of everybody else on that list.

You can also take the number of Grand Slams won, which are the most important tennis events you can win. He’s got 24 of them right now, which is the most of any tennis player. The 2nd best is Rafael Nadal with 22 and then Roger Federer with 20. He’s cleared both easily, and that’s just another reason. Then there is the eye test. Djokovic keeps doing things that neither Federer nor Nadal were able to do. Both have fallen off as they aged but not Djokovic. He’s been a monster even deep into his thirties.

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So, what exactly would winning a 25th Grand Slam do for Djokovic? Much like the recent Paris Olympics trophy, it would weaken the argument against him being the greatest. It’s already pretty weak because you have to grasp at straws to make it make any sense.

Djokovic’s Olympics win already cemented him as the greatest of all time. It was the only big thing he had yet to win. He’d won everything else before that one but never had the gold medal. Winning it finally basically ensured that he didn’t have anything in tennis that he didn’t win. That’s absurd in itself, but how he won it is even more important than winning it.

He was facing the best player in the world who had dominated Tour for the previous two months. They played a few weeks earlier at Wimbledon and Alcaraz bested him comfortably. Now, on a surface that works better for Alcaraz, the Serbian was able to do the opposite. Nobody saw it coming, not even Alcaraz. He basically announced after the semi-final that he would win gold. That’s how confident he was, but there was Djokovic once more against all odds, delivering something nobody saw coming.

That’s how his career kind of shaped out. It’s something that nobody ever expected to happen, but here we are possibly one Grand Slam trophy away from him decidedly taking the crown of the greatest tennis player of all time. It's through sheer determination and willpower that he was able to do so. The event in New York will be an interesting test for him. There is merit to the thought that it will be hard for him to find motivation after that huge emotional release.

Novak Djokovic aims for number 25 starting tonight.

Still, we’re talking about an event that is huge for him. He could win the 25th grand slam, which nobody ever did. Margaret Court sits at 24 right now, and he has a chance to make it 25. To be fair, even if he doesn’t do it this time around, he’ll have chances next year. It’s pretty clear that he’s nowhere near retiring, as the Olympics showed that he can still battle it out with the best in the world.

What makes his chances of winning US Open quite big is just the fact that he won it last year. The Serbian was largely unbothered last year and easily won the trophy against Daniil Medvedev in the final. In fairness, the Russians did him a solid job by eliminating Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-final. Things will be more complicated this time because the Spaniard will be very motivated because of the Olympics and last year’s US Open. Jannik Sinner is playing well right now, and Daniil Medvedev has been good here in the past. Overall, it promises to be a really interesting event, but one thing is certain.

If Djokovic goes to the final and wins the trophy, he’ll be officially the greatest tennis player of all time. There is no argument that makes sense that you can make against him after that point. He won the most Grand Slams ever in tennis, a gold medal, over 90 trophies in his career, and the most weeks as number one in the world. It’s absurd but well deserved because he worked for every single of those achievements.