On Eurosport Germany’s tennis podcast ‘ Das Gelbe vom Ball’ , German Boris Becker said he believes Serb Novak Djokovic is determined to be the greatest of all time and that so far his entire career has been focused on reaching this goal closer and closer, now with the record for weeks at number 1 and equaling Rafael Nadal in the number of Grand Slams.
“Success is his lifelong dream, he wants to become the most successful player in history. As a kid he said he was going to be the best and he was right. And now he’s on the edge of achieving it”, said the German, who also highlighted the importance of achieving such a feat as soon as possible. “Novak is 35 years old and knows that at 40 he will not be able to maintain the same performance”, analyzed Becker.
“I think it’s going to be quite a race after the Australian Open. Djokovic will definitely come through this season. He has a good chance of reaching 23 (Grand Slams), but he will turn 36 this year, so it’s a matter of time. The generational change is happening now”, added the German, projecting growth of the younger ones in the coming seasons.
Becker also spoke about the importance of the figure of Roger Federer for tennis and placed him in a prominent position. Despite not finishing with the most Grand Slams, he believes the Swiss’ legacy will remain untouched and that his reach extends beyond the sport.
“Maybe it’s the ambassador of sport, not just the ambassador of tennis. The world has yet to see anything like it, be it football players, basketball players and track and field athletes. With Roger everything is so perfect, almost too good to be true. That will never happen again in tennis. It’s also why tennis has become such a global sport.”
