Goran Ivanisevic names Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal records that are ‘impossible to beat’
Goran Ivanisevic has declared that Rafael Nadal’s number of Roland Garros titles and Novak Djokovic’s tally of weeks as world No 1 are the two tennis records that are “practically impossible to beat.”
The 2001 Wimbledon champion also claimed Djokovic does not receive the recognition he deserves because of where he is from as he labelled the Serbian the greatest “in terms of numbers and in terms of everything.”
Nadal has won the French Open on a staggering 14 occasions, which is the all-time record for the most titles at any single Grand Slam tournament. The Spaniard holds an astonishing 112-3 record at Roland Garros, where he claimed his first major title in 2005 and most recent in 2022.
Djokovic is the only other male player to have reached double figures at a Grand Slam event with his 10 Australian Open titles.
The Serbian holds the record for the most weeks spent as the world No 1, having topped the ATP Rankings for an incredible 419 weeks as of the current week. Roger Federer sits second on this list in men’s tennis with 310 weeks.
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In an interview with Sport Klub, Ivanisevic spoke about the strength of the era featuring Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka.
“Novak and Rafa are rivals and marked an era, along with Roger. Of course, there was also Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka, plus a few others. But Roger left early and Rafa got hurt badly. It is stupid to blame Rafa for anything, because Rafa is Rafa,” said the Croatian.
“I think there are two records in tennis that, in my opinion, are practically impossible to beat. The first are Rafa’s 14 titles at Roland Garros and the second are Novak’s weeks at the top of the ranking.”
The former world No 2 also argued Djokovic is not rated fairly by some, while declaring he thought the 24-time Grand Slam champion was the GOAT before he coached him.
“It all has to do with where you come from, no one will convince me otherwise. If he were English they would have already built another palace for him next to Buckingham,” Ivanisevic asserted.
“It doesn’t matter where you’re from, but here the feeling is that you have to hit three times better than others to finally be recognised. It’s nonsense, but they will always find something absurd, something they didn’t do that day or another.
“Before numbers were important, now they are no longer important. For me, he is the greatest, in terms of numbers and in terms of everything, of course also in tennis.
“If we look at the Big Three, each one has their own energy, but for me Novak has been the greatest, I thought so even before becoming his coach.”
Djokovic and Ivanisevic brought an end to their highly successful player-coach partnership last month, with the 36-year-old saying the pair had “exhausted” their collaboration.
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