Novak Djokovic’s more radical fans are struggling to accept a glorious new GOAT reality
Novak Djokovic’s more radical fans are struggling to get used to a new sporting reality as they head into 2024.
For most of their time supporting the Serbian maestro, this passionate collection of Novak devotees has fought a battle to confront what they perceive to be a media agenda against the world No 1.
The conspiracy theory is based on the fanciful idea that the media and tennis pundits around the world have an agenda against Djokovic and are driven by a desire to undermine his historic achievements in tennis.
With this in mind, these hardcore Djokovic devotees look at every article written about the Serbian maestro with a negative eye and feel the need to defend Novak at all costs.
This passionate collection of devotees call themselves #Nolefam and they seek out any comment or published article that they perceive to have been a swipe on the world No 1, but their campaign needs to be rebranded as their battle has been won.
Everyone in tennis – including Federer and Nadal – is united in crowning Djokovic as the clear winner of the battle to be known as the greatest player of all time, but Novak’s biggest fans seem desperate to continue their fight.
At the heart of this story was the battle to be hailed as the greatest player of all time (GOAT), with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal competing with Djokovic for this title.
The recurring theme of the Novak loyalists is based on their belief that Federer and Nadal receive more favourable media coverage, yet this view stems from an era in the game when Federer and Nadal were in a league of their own and Djokovic merely portrayed as the ‘extra’ in their story.
That was very much the case for much of this story as heading into the 2016 season, Djokovic had 10 Grand Slam titles in his collection and was well behind Federer and Nadal in the race to win the most majors.
Despite his status as an all-time great, few believed Djokovic would match the numbers Federer and Nadal have pieced together in careers that were hailed as iconic long before they rose to the top of the Grand Slam winners’ list.
The battle lines in this debate were drawn long ago, with Federer viewed by many tennis lovers as the greatest player to have played the game as he raised the standards that needed to be matched by Nadal and then Djokovic with a brand of beautiful tennis that was impossible to dislike.
Nadal’s remarkable record at the French Open and his status as the greatest clay court player of them all will never be shaken, but the narrative in this story has taken a dramatic twist in recent years courtesy of the great Djokovic.
The 24-time Grand Slam king now has more major titles than any male player in history, he has been world No 1 for longer than anyone else and all the big statistics that will decide the GOAT debate are in his favour.
As Federer and Nadal have confirmed in numerous interviews, Djokovic is now in a league of his own as a champion in this or any other era of the sport.
Yet some defiant Djokovic fans seem to be struggling to come to terms with the reality that their hero has won the biggest battle of them all.
READ MORE: The eleven players with a winning record against Novak Djokovic – and one likes to shout about it
This should be a wonderful reality for Novak’s many admirers, but when you type Djokovic’s name into a search engine on Twitter (or X if you are a supporter of Elon Musk’s rebranding), you will find a host of Djokovic fans desperately trying to defend their man against mythical attacks that are from a bygone age when the GOAT debate in tennis was still raging.
We had an example of this backlash in recent days, as Tennis365’s Twitter page was awash with comments from angry Djokovic fans after we published an article looking at the handful of players who have a winning record in matches against the great champion.
The list featured just 11 names and highlighted Novak’s dominance over most players in his era, but it was still taken as an insult by the easy-to-offend branch of #Nolefam.
When we then did follow-up stories looking at players who had winning records over Federer and Nadal to offer the balance some might suggest Djokovic is not afforded, the same fans were still voicing their annoyance for reasons only they could dream up.
https://twitter.com/TennisTV/status/1725993142044762407
What these super-fans seem to have overlooked is their devoted fandom is seen by many in the tennis world as a negative sideshow in the Djokovic story, with their eagerness to attack journalists and tennis pundits making them look like radical superfans rather than tennis lovers ready to celebrate the glorious achievement of the game’s greatest player.
The trouble may be that a vocal faction of #Nolefam are finding it hard to give up their campaign of the last decade and more as the war they think they are fighting is over.
Tennis is a joyous sport if you remove the blinkers and look beyond a one-man, one-agenda narrative that is now out of date.
Novak Djokovic is the greatest male tennis player of all time and everyone in the sport is happy to raise a glass to his achievements and celebrate his incredible career.
So in a New Year message to the #Nolefam obsessives who still think they need to defend Djokovic on an hourly basis from attacks that only they believe are being offered up at this stage, you should try and join the rest of the #TennisFam on this side of the fence as it’s fun over here.
