Novak Djokovic won his 22nd Grand Slam title at the
Australian Open, and former world No. 1 Jimmy Connors added to the praise for
the Serb.
Nole arrived at the first major of the year with the
task of equaling
Rafael Nadal as the male tennis player with most Grand Slam's
championships. And despite an injury, he displayed dominant play to reach his
10th Aussie Open title, against the Greek
Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Connors commented about Djokovic on the Advantage
Connors podcast: "I want
to say this, the guy's one f**king great tennis player, right? He is not afraid
to go out there and play the game, his game. Win or lose. He's not afraid to
put it on the line. He knows he's got a bullseye on his back. Even more now."
In this sense, the 8-time
Grand Slam champion, (including Australian Open 1974) compared the Serb with
various icons of other sports:
"Every great
player, they'll find something that pushes them to the limit. That's what
drives guys like Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky, Pete Rose and Muhammad Ali. They
always find something to dig down deeper to push them over the top to where
they can continue to give it their all.
He also highlighted his
ability to play against opponents much younger than him:
"He's not afraid
against all these young guys, who had some pretty good tournaments. But he's
not afraid of that. He plays the game, he's not afraid to mix it up. He is not
afraid to take the ball early, he's not afraid to get 20 balls to a point. He's
not afraid to figure out a way to win. And, and, you know, to me, I like seeing
that.”
The American also gave
his opinion on the Big-3 rivalry and the discussion about who is the GOAT:
"Rivalries are so
great. That's why people show up to watch the game, watch the match, and watch
the excitement. Sometimes you got to find a reason, find a reason to dig deeper
and come out on top and win. So what is that? Where do you find that? What do
you dig into to go down into your guts? Sometimes you got to find something
that just burns you to the ground to come out on top.” Opine Connors.