"That story is not over yet" - Ivan Lendl on GOAT Debate

Ivan Lendl is not ready to proclaim anybody the GOAT as that story is clearly not finished yet and for him, it's something fascinating to watch.

Lendl sat down with Croatian TV channel NOVA TV to talk about many subjects related to tennis and he touched upon the GOAT debate. The legendary player is not ready to proclaim anything despite thinking that Federer seems out of it:

"That story is not over yet. It will be finished when all three say goodbye. At the moment, Roger seems to be out of it, because he hasn't played for a long time and he is the oldest. It is fascinating to watch and follow, not only for people from the tennis world, but for everyone else, spectators, fans."

He continued:

"The only thing I regret a little bit is that the fight is somehow affected by politics at the moment because of the vaccination issue. I only hope that in 20 years we won't look at it through that prism, that we won't be sure who is the greatest because of politics."

Lendl concluded:

"If Novak wins the most Grand Slams despite that, I think we will have an answer. If Rafa wins one more title, I think he will have to answer the question about the vaccination and the fact that Novak could not play. And I don't think that's fair. I'd actually like to see someone have a two, three, four title advantage at the top," the Czech, who won eight major singles titles, explained. I don't care who it is, I don't have a favourite. Just for the sake of answering that question, to be clear, and not to say 'if this man could play, maybe it would be different, your record is not that good'. That is not fair".