Roddick: 'It's crazy to deny Djokovic'

Former world number one tennis player Andy Roddick believes that those who dismiss Novak Djokovic's statistics are deliberately denying the truth.

"You can rank Djokovic, Nadal and Federer in the GOAT debate. Not choosing Djokovic is crazy," Roddick said in his podcast on February 29. The former 2003 US Open champion said that making arguments against Djokovic is like deliberately denying the truth.

Roddick awarded the US Open title to Djokovic in September 2023. This is the 24th Grand Slam in Nole's career. Photo: ATP

According to Roddick, fans may love Federer or Nadal's playing style, but statistics are always the most important factor. Djokovic holds the record of 24 Grand Slam titles, while Nadal and Federer are second and third with 22 and 20 respectively.

Nole also holds records in a series of other important statistics, including number of weeks ranked number one in ATP, number of times ranked number one in ATP at the end of the year, number of Masters 1000 titles, ATP Finals, and he leads in head-to-head score. with two rivals.

Djokovic and Nadal faced off 59 times, an Open Era record, with Djokovic leading 30-29. The Serbian tennis player also won 27 out of 50 matches with Federer from 2006 to 2020.

"What makes it difficult for us to decide is that there was never a final for the GOAT title between them," Roddick joked. "This is like the Michael Jordan and LeBron James debate in the NBA. But, if James has this, Jordan has that. And Djokovic is standing alone in tennis history."

Roddick's statement came just two days after tennis expert Kevin Palmer said that the 2004-2007 version of Federer was the strongest in history . The British journalist said that Federer's dominance at that time was "cruel", more polished and had a stronger mark than Djokovic's later dominance cycle.

Roddick acknowledged that Federer possesses the playing style of a genius, while Nadal has the image of a warrior. "Djokovic is like a surgeon," Roddick said. "He will tear you apart. You have to hit super hard shots to hurt him. And you usually can't do that in three, four hours of competition with him."