'GOAT Debate Was Done 2 Years Ago' Says Tipsarevic After Djokovic's Win

| by Balasz Virag

Novak Djokovic is likely going to go down as the greatest tennis player of all time but is he the best athlete of all time?

The Serbian furthered his legacy on Sunday, June 11th in Paris by beating Casper Ruud in the final of the 2023 Roland Garros. He became the first male player with 23 Grand Slams, the first to ever win all Grand Slams three times, becoming world number one once again as well.

It just was a perfect day for the Serbian whom many consider the greatest tennis player of all time. He doesn't partake in that debate out of respect for his fellow players but his good friend Janko Tipsarevic has no problem talking about it. The former player was in the stands watching it all unfold and for him, the GOAT debate is over.

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I know I am biased, as he’s one of my closest friends, but for me, the goat discussion in tennis was done two years ago. He didn’t need to win one more slam than Rafa or whatever to be the tennis GOAT (greatest of all time). This was done two years ago. The question needs to start to be asked: “is he the greatest athlete of all time?

The question Tipsarevic wants people to consider is a tricky one because comparing athletes like that is incredibly difficult. It's hard enough to compare players from the same sport because it's not the same game.

Tennis today is different than tennis two decades ago and that's true with any other sport. Tipsarevic agrees with that but he'd like to choose Djokovic over all of them. He certainly does in tennis.

This is very difficult to measure because you cannot measure achievements – we saw Tom Brady today, whether Muhammad Ali, (Lionel) Messi or whatever, this part is unmeasurable, but this is a discussion that you could potentially have because the tennis GOAT discussion is, for me, simple. With all due respect to his competitors.

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