"I’ve never felt comfortable talking about myself as the greatest" - Novak Djokovic modestly refuses to name greatest ever player

Novak Djokovic refused to state whether he was the greatest player of all time. He also declined to put someone else forward in the hot seat, noting how hard it is to compare the greats of the game due to the upgrade in technology and change of style over the years.

The Serbian has proved to be one of the icons of the sport. He has broken records for fun and won major titles on the side. 24-Grand Slam triumphs, seven ATP Finals successes, and in total 101 ATP titles secured in an illustrious career which is still being eked out by a now 38-year-old Djokovic.

Very few come close to even touching that record, but it still does not get Djokovic to put himself as the best. He was asked this subjective on Piers Morgan's Uncensored. "I’ve been asked this question quite a bit, particularly lately, in the last several years — because obviously there are a lot of stats that people use to compare Nadal, Federer, and myself, primarily because of our numbers: Grand Slams won, tournaments won, weeks spent as world number one, etc."

Instead of naming a player, he stuck to his guns. "But my answer is quite consistent when it comes to the overall discussion about the greatest of all time. And I’m going to say it again — I’m not going to say whether I’m the greatest or not, because it’s not my position to say that," he acknowledged.

A large reason for this was due to previous eras and the changes it has been through in that time. He highlighted that it was easier to improve due to the data now being offered, among other things which gives the current generation the edge. "I would say it would be very disrespectful toward the generations that have paved the way for me, Nadal, Federer, and all the others. It’s so hard to compare eras. Our sport has gone through quite a transformation in the last 50 years," he said.

"When you look at the records — in terms of technology, equipment, balls, surfaces, fitness, and the size of the player’s team — it’s become so much more professional. Not because it wasn’t before, but because times have changed, and sports science has improved. People have more access to data and information, and that’s why everyone is more cautious and more interested in understanding what it takes, in every single aspect of life, to gain an edge — even a slight percentage of improvement — to enhance performance, recovery, and so on. So, when I look at the likes of Borg, Rod Laver, John McEnroe — those players created the history of tennis that we enjoy today."

Djokovic continued to delve into the past of tennis, and how the sport changed. "The game has evolved a lot. You used to have maybe 90% of players — up until the 1990s, maybe even the early 2000s — who played serve-and-volley," he said. "They switched from wooden rackets to graphite rackets, and then into lighter and more refined materials."

This brought up a style of tennis pioneered by Bjorn Borg. In an era of serve and volley, he would usually stay put at the baseline. "With these newer materials, you can play from the baseline with more control, accuracy, and precision. That wasn’t the case with the more robust materials like wood or early graphite. Those allowed you to serve with good speed, but you didn’t have many players using a lot of spin. Bjorn Borg was the first one who stayed back more often. He would come in, but he’d also stay back quite a lot — and that confused a lot of players. Hence his incredible career and achievements."

The Serbian was in awe of Borg. He reminisced on what could have been with Borg if he did not abruptly halt his career at such a young age. "I think we’d probably be sitting here today talking about Borg being the greatest if he had kept going — he retired when he was 26, after winning 11 Grand Slams. I mean, Alcaraz is kind of on that same trajectory right now."

He concluded by circling back to the original question. "So again, I don’t feel really comfortable. I appreciate that you’re bringing this forward, but I’ve never felt comfortable talking about myself as the greatest. I consider myself a great student of the game, and I respect its history. I respect all of the greats — and some of them were even my coaches, like Boris Becker, who I consider part of my family. So I feel more comfortable leaving that discussion to others. Of course, it’s a great honour and privilege just to be part of that conversation."