By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday November 29 2023
Forget about GOAT. According to Boris Becker, Novak Djokovic is tennis’ “Lion King.”
“For me, he is the lion king,” Becker said. “We do our best to teach tennis fans what is impossible to teach: What this player has won in his 16-or-17-year career and that he is perhaps playing his best tennis at the age of 36 – he has won three Grand Slam tournaments this year and reached the final at Wimbledon, he was close to the calendar Grand Slam at the age of 36, this is out of this world.”
The man who served as Djokovic’s coach from 2014 to 2016, and helped him win six of his 24 major titles, says that when it comes to the World No.1 we shouldn’t even bother comparing him to other tennis players. Djokovic is in a class of his own and deserves mention among the best athletes of all-time, says Becker.
“Maybe you have to look at it more generally and [say] he’s not just the best tennis player at the moment, but the best sportsman,” Becker said in a recent podcast interview with Eurosport. “I want to compare him to a Lionel Messi, a LeBron James and a Tom Brady – for me, that’s the category Novak Djokovic is in, because all these athletes are dominating or have dominated their sport even in their mid or late thirties.
Becker, who is now the coach of rising Dane Holger Rune, says he hopes Djokovic continues his career for several years, so that more young players can brush up against his greatness.
“I hope he continues to do so for a long time, because nothing better can happen to young players than to compete on the same level as the most successful player of all time,” Becker said. “That’s the best lesson in tennis.”
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