Ivan Lendl came back to talk about GOAT Questiona topic that tennis players, insiders, media and fans have debated for years, and which involves Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal And Novak Djokovic. The tennis player of Czech origin, leader of the ATP circuit in the late 80s with 8 Grand Slam titles won and 270 weeks at the top of the ATP ranking, said that today it is not easy to indicate the GOAT, notably because of the political context. decisions made regarding vaccination.
Andy Murray’s former coach has made statements, admitting that the vaccine affair involving Novak Djokovic could strongly affect the final judgment. He said: “The fight for the Goat title is somewhat influenced by political decisions on vaccination.”
Ivan Lendl: “The GOAT question influenced by vaccine decisions”
Lendl, a naturalized American since 1992, therefore seems to have sided with the Serb in the fight for the title of greatest player in the history of tennis.
Roger Federer and Pete Sampras? not even named. Despite this, Roger wrote pages of tennis history. Currently, Rafael Nadal is the tennis player to have won the most Grand Slams thanks also to the super performances of 2022: he has reached 22 Grand Slam trophies, compared to 21 for Nole and 20 for Roger Federer, absent since more than a year.
Djokovic holds the record for number of Masters 1000s, 38 to Nadal’s 36, and also holds the record for weeks at the top of the ATP rankings, with the Swiss second and Rafa far behind. If the Spaniard, unlike the native of Belgrade, can also boast of Olympic gold in singles, the ATP finals are still missing, while Djokovic can boast of having 5, with Federer 6.
The former star of the 80s then specified: “If Novak Djokovic will have won more Grand Slam titles at the end of his career despite the problem linked to the lack of vaccination, we will have the answer. On the other hand, if Rafa Nadal wins a another title, will have to answer the question of the vaccine and its impact on Nole’s career.”