Andrea
Petkovic endorsed
Novak Djokovic as the greatest tennis player in history.
In an
interview with Telegraf, former tennis player
Andrea Petkovic praised the
23-time Grand Slam champion, Novak Djokovic. Djokovic secured his place in the
Wimbledon final with a convincing victory over Italian Jannik Sinner, winning
6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4).
In the
final, Djokovic will face world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, where he could equal
Roger Federer's record of eight Wimbledon titles. Furthermore, a victory in the
final would extend his lead in the race for the most Grand Slam titles,
reaching 24, compared to
Rafael Nadal's 22 and Federer's 20.
German tennis player Petkovic, stated that she is not surprised by Djokovic's
current dominance in the sport.
"When
he was playing in Australia, I already saw tennis from another world even then.
I know he had an injury there, but when he played, I had the feeling that he
was the best Novak I had ever seen. It doesn't surprise me at all that he wins
so much and is so dominant," she said.
"All
those things that we thought were weird when we were 19, 20 years old,
meditation, yoga, nutrition, it's paying off now. He is 36 years old, his
colleagues can't do it anymore, but he still can. Psychological power is
natural, hard to imitate, so I see very high chances for him... Very low
chances for others!," Petkovic added.
Andrea
Petkovic, the former world No. 9, expressed her opinion that there is not much
debate about the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) status, as Djokovic's achievements
back it up. However, she believes there could be a discussion about who has had
a greater influence on the sport of tennis:
"If
you look at them, not only has he won the most Grand Slams and Masters, not
only has he spent the most weeks ranked as No. 1... I don't understand the
discussion. If you ask the question, who has influenced tennis the most in
2,000 years, then it's OK. But that's not the question. The question is who is
the greatest of all time, who is the GOAT, and that is Nole," Petkovic
concluded.