"He made me feel stupid": Tommy Paul names most difficult player to face on the tour

America’s Tommy Paul has named the former world number one Serbia’s Novak Djokovic as the toughest player he played on the tour. The 37-year-old is already regarded as the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles.

Paul recently spoke in the 'Nothing Major' podcast, where he was asked who the toughest player he faced on the tour was. In response, the American tennis star Djokovic was mentioned. Paul also talked about the only incident in which he faced the Serbian legendary tennis star, where, according to him, he made him ‘feel’ stupid.

“Djokovic has got to be number one most difficult,” he said. “He made me feel stupid at the Australian Open the time I played him. I was playing my best tennis and he made me feel that. I haven’t played Zverev in a very long time but this year he obviously played some awesome tennis. Fritz probably wouldn’t think so, as Fritz was his Daddy this year. Alcaraz at Wimbledon was playing at a level which was pretty wild when I played him. I would put him at two.”

The only time these two players met was in the semifinal of the Australian Open in 2023 where Djokovic came out on top in straight sets with a score of 7-5, 6-1, 6-2. The Belgrade-born star has recently participated in the Qatar Open, where his journey came to an end after losing to Italy’s Matteo Berrettini in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-2. It was a disappointing result for the former world number one, who was making his way to the court after he was forced to retire from the semifinal of the Australian Open against the reigning world number two Germany’s Alexander Zverev because of a fitness concern. He suffered an injury during the quarterfinals after still having managed to defeat Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz.