Djokovic's 10 Australian Opens Could Be 'As Impressive' As Nadal's 14 French Opens

Friday, 27 December 2024 at 22:32

byJordan Reynolds

Serena Williams' former coach, Rennae Stubbs, outlined why Novak Djokovic's winning ten Australian Open titles might be as impressive as Rafael Nadal's 14 French Open crowns.

Djokovic has won every significant honor in tennis, confirming that feat after claiming Olympic gold in Paris this year. He is the most statistically successful player in the men's or women's game.

However, Djokovic has enjoyed more success at the Australian Open than any other venue. The first of his 24 Grand Slams came in Melbourne in 2008 when he beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after an entertaining final.

Djokovic has never lost a final at the Australian Open. The 37-year-old's ten titles at the opening Grand Slam of the year include four victories against his recently appointed coach, Andy Murray, and an incredible 2012 final with Nadal.

Although Djokovic's ten titles in Melbourne are incredible, Nadal's 14 French Opens remain unprecedented in the sport's history. He dominated in Paris, winning his first title in the French capital in 2005 until a final victory in 2022.

Nadal and Djokovic had several battles at the clay court Grand Slam. The Spaniard defeated his great rival in the 2012, 2014, and 2020 finals at Roland Garros and also triumphed in one of the best matches ever seen at the tournament in the 2013 semifinal.

However, Djokovic is the only man to beat Nadal multiple times at the French Open, achieving that in 2015 and 2021. The Serbian also beat the tennis legend during his run at the Olympics, which was held at Roland Garros.

Nadal's retirement at this year's Davis Cup Finals means he will not have another opportunity to add to that tally. Djokovic will start his 2025 season at the Brisbane International before competing for an 11th Australian Open title.

Many view Nadal's 14 French Open titles as the most extraordinary achievement in tennis history. Interestingly, Stubbs thinks an argument could be made that Djokovic's Australian Open titles are more impressive because of the level of hard-court competition he faced.

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"I'm looking forward to actually seeing how this Novak Djokovic-Andy Murray situation is going to pan out. Think about the fact that Novak, the greatest player of all time, the amount of Grand Slams he’s won, tournaments he’s won, did not win one tournament last [this] year but the Olympics."

"Obviously, we know that’s the tournament [Australian Open] that he plays his best tennis, he plays great everywhere, but he’s won that 10 times which is outrageous. The only person you can talk about in the same category is Rafa winning 14 French Opens."

"But the fact that he’s won 10 Australian Opens, which I would argue it might even be as impressive if not… I probably can’t say more impressive because 14 in French Open is outrageous but everybody plays pretty well on hardcourts."

"I mean no American can play on clay, they can’t even slide. So you’re ruling out like 30 percent of the people or even Australians, the people who grow up playing on hardcourts, barely don’t even know what they’re doing on clay whereas everyone really can play on hardcourt. Even the Europeans go indoors on hardcourt."

It is an interesting argument from Stubbs, although Nadal played and overcame many great clay court players in his French Open victories outside of Djokovic, including Roger Federer, Dominic Thiem, David Ferrer, and Tsonga.