Djokovic sidesteps the tricky GOAT debate in Kyrgios' podcast

The 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic recently commented in his interview with Nick Kyrgios that he will not give his opinion in the GOAT debate. Nole participated in the podcast of his Australian colleague where he mentioned several important athletes, including Serena Williams and LeBron James.

The Serbian is looking to return to his best form this week at the Geneva Open before defending his title at the French Open. Djokovic was eliminated a week ago in the third round of the Rome Open against Alejandro Tabilo and entered Geneva with a wildcard granted by the organization at the last moment.

Djokovic avoids taking a position in the GOAT debate

In the days leading up to his debut, Djokovic responded to an interview from his colleague Nick Kyrgios for his podcast Good Trouble. The 29-year-old Australian asked Djokovic directly if he considers himself the greatest of all time, or if he believes someone else deserves that accolade: "For me it’s so hard to have this discussion but I think when it comes to tennis, I enjoy people talking about it," the world No. 1 said.

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"And the reason why – the more people talk about it, the more discussion there is towards tennis, so the more tennis benefits from that and as a tennis player, I want that for my sport, I want more children involved in the sport.

"But I will never say who I think the GOAT is in tennis, I will never say that, I’ll leave it to others. Mostly out of respect to all the greats and all the champions in all the generations before us."

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"Something I really admire with LeBron [James], and something I identify with, and Tom Brady as well and Serena [Williams] is first of all incredible mind of a champion, hunger for success, for improvement, Cristiano Ronaldo is also like that.

"But just willingness on a daily basis to take your body, your mind, your character, your emotions to a different level, to be better version every single day, to crush the borders and limits of everything everyone imposes on you, that’s something LeBron has been doing for so long and that’s why he’s still one of the best in the world, and something I respect and admire about him."

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The Serbian also spoke about his own attitudes on the court and his flaws during his career. Djokovic mentioned that he has tried to improve his own temperament: "For the first part of my career I was not okay with myself, breaking racquets and screaming and making a fool of myself on the court," he said to Kyrgios.

"It doesn’t mean that I’m okay with that today, when I do it I’m ashamed of myself, I’m embarrassed and I really hate myself for doing that but at the same time, what I think the difference in the last seven, eight years is I accept my flaws and I accept that I do mistakes and I do errors, and I try to be a better version of myself the next day. And I’m not embarrassed to say I’m wrong, I’m flawed.

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