"It was after the Australian Open": Novak Djokovic COVID deportation saga makes him the GOAT says chess grandmaster

Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen has called Serbia’s Novak Djokovic as the ‘greatest tennis player of all time’.

The 36-year-old is often regarded as the best to have played the sport in the men’s singles category in the Open era, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles.

Carlsen highlighted the exact moment where Djokovic became the greatest tennis player of all time for him. "It was after the Australian Open thing that he became the greatest for me," he said.

Djokovic had to face a lot of trouble while playing at the Australian Open, especially after the COVID-19 era. The current world number one was deported from the country in 2022 after failing to provide evidence of his vaccination against the pathogen.

Djokovic then made a big statement in 2023 when he was finally allowed to play the sport and he lifted the Australian Open title for the record 10th time after beating Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final with a score of 6–3, 7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–5).

Other than that, Djokovic also ended up winning two more Grand Slams in 2023. His only defeat in a major tournament in the recently concluded season came in the final at Wimbledon where he lost to Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz with a score of 1–6, 7–6(8–6), 6–1, 3–6, 6–4.