Former World No. 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov praised Novak Djokovic as the greatest tennis player in history following his Olympics triumph but opined that he does not hold the mantle of the greatest athlete.
Kafelnikov is a two-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 1996 French Open and the 1999 Australian Open. He was also a successful doubles player, having won four Grand Slams in that discipline.
At the peak of his game, Kafelnikov outlasted Tommy Haas in five sets to win an Olympic gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He played his last match in 2003 but officially retired from professional tennis in 2010.
Overall, he won 26 career titles and tallied over 500 match wins at all levels. Kafelnikov also earned over $20 million in career prize money, ranking in the Top 30 of the highest earners in ATP history. In 2019, the Russian was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
The 50-year-old remains an ardent fan of the sport in his post-retirement life and recently watched World No. 2 Novak Djokovic become the oldest Olympic tennis champion at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Last Sunday, Djokovic beat the current star men's tennis Carlos Alcaraz 7-6, 7-6 at Roland Garros to win his and Serbia's first tennis gold medal on his fifth attempt. The 37-year-old charted his way into tennis folklore as the fifth player to complete the Golden Slam.
In the wake of his 99th and most priceless triumph in Paris, which ended Djokovic's longest title drought since 2005, Kafelnikov is doubtless that the Serbian is the greatest tennis player of all time.
He opined that he has conquered many records and lifted many titles, but he reckons that he falls behind basketball legend Michael Jordan as the greatest sportsperson. Nevertheless, Kafelnikov still ranked Djokovic in the top three list.
"There’s no doubt that Novak is the greatest tennis player of all time, that’s for sure. You can’t put him on the same level as Michael Jordan…I don’t think so, because I grew up idolising the greatest athlete of all time, which was Michael Jordan."
"All I wanted to do was watch him play live. To me, he’s still number one, but Novak is definitely in the top three greatest athletes of all time, without a doubt – all the accomplishments, the records he’s broken, the titles he’s won."
Djokovic did not drop a set en route to the Olympic title, and by his own admission, he feels that he has completed his tennis puzzle, considering that he won every other significant trophy in tennis.
Kafelnikov, who spoke to Tennis Majors, is unsure of what will happen in Djokovic's next chapter of his career. He explains that the 24-time Grand Slam champion may struggle to find the motivation to carry on.
"Novak stayed motivated because he wanted to win the gold medal. Right now, it’s going to be hard to find the motivation. He doesn’t need to prove to anybody that he is better than Federer and Nadal, that’s for sure. What next? I have no idea."
"If he wants to continue playing for the pure joy of playing, fair enough, nobody will criticise him for that. Again, he has accomplished everything, I don’t know how he can find the motivation to go further than he already has. That’s how I see it."