Grand slam winner Dominic Thiem gave his thoughts on the GOAT debate after Djokovic equalled Nadal's 22 grand slams recently.
Both Rafel Nadal and Novak Djokovic currently sit at 22 grand slams and both still have a chance to go down as the greatest of all time. Largely a subjective issue there are ways to help people determine which player might have an edge in that regard.
In my opinion, the Grand Slam titles should be the defining criteria when determining the best of all time, they are the four most important tournaments in tennis. Everything else is fine, but it's not the same. The Slams are what counts, so the GOAT will probably be the one with the most Grand Slams.
Winning grand slams is something that both Nadal and Djokovic have done plenty of. 22 a piece is an incredible achievement but Djokovic is far more likely to end up with more grand slams in the future which could give him an edge.
Thiem played in a grand slam final against both and it was a similar experience. Both were losses and he knows just how strong they are.
At the time, in the final of the [2020] Australian Open, I reached my highest level of abilities, both physically and tennis-wise. Even so, I lost in five sets to Novak. I practically couldn't play better and still lost. That says everything. With Rafa in Paris in 2019, I played well too, not as much as in Australia, but my level was high.
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