2023 was one of the best in Novak Djokovic’s career, up there with the level of the Serb’s record-breaking 2015 season, says Patrick Mouratoglou.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion won three of the four majors this year, reaching all four finals, and finished the year as the No 1 for a record-extending eighth time in his career.
And in the latest episode of The Eye of the Coach, Mouratoglou takes a look at Djokovic’s incredible season and assesses whether the late-season renaissance Roger Federer enjoyed in 2017 is on par with what Djokovic has achieved this season.
KEY MOMENTS OF EYE OF THE COACH
0.00 – The only debate people can have now is “who is my favourite player”. Who is the best? No more debate.
0.10 – 2023 is one of the best seasons of Djokovic’s career.
0.40 – Playing in the same era as Roger and Rafa says how great Djokovic’s achievements have been
1.13 – Is Novak of 2023 better than the Novak of 2015?
1.47 – How do Roger’s achievements of 2017 compare with Novak’s 2023?
02.00 – Federer’s improved backhand made him a better player in 2017 than before
02.14 – At 36/37, Federer did not dominate as Djokovic currently is doing
The 24-time Grand Slam champion won three of the four majors this year, reaching all four finals, and finished the year as the No 1 for a record-extending eighth time in his career.
And in the latest episode of The Eye of the Coach, Mouratoglou takes a look at Djokovic’s incredible season and assesses whether the late-season renaissance Roger Federer enjoyed in 2017 is on par with what Djokovic has achieved this season.
KEY MOMENTS OF EYE OF THE COACH
0.00 – The only debate people can have now is “who is my favourite player”. Who is the best? No more debate.
0.10 – 2023 is one of the best seasons of Djokovic’s career.
0.40 – Playing in the same era as Roger and Rafa says how great Djokovic’s achievements have been
1.13 – Is Novak of 2023 better than the Novak of 2015?
1.47 – How do Roger’s achievements of 2017 compare with Novak’s 2023?
02.00 – Federer’s improved backhand made him a better player in 2017 than before
02.14 – At 36/37, Federer did not dominate as Djokovic currently is doing
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SportsTranscript
00:00 I think the only debate people can have now is,
00:02 who's my favorite player?
00:03 This makes sense.
00:04 Who's the best?
00:05 No more debate.
00:06 I think the 2023 season of Novak
00:12 is one of the best of his career.
00:14 As good as the best ones he had in the past,
00:16 2015 for example,
00:17 which is crazy when you think about it
00:19 because there is almost 10 years between those two seasons
00:22 and he's still at the top of his game at 36 years old.
00:25 It's something unheard of.
00:27 I've never seen in the history of tennis
00:29 someone who's at the top of the game at 36
00:32 as much as he was at 26, 28.
00:34 It's a whole career of being at the top.
00:37 He had one or two difficult years,
00:39 but most of his career he's been at the top of the game.
00:42 Even though he played in the same era as Roger and Rafa,
00:46 which says even more about how an incredible
00:50 dominant player he is.
00:51 And I think the famous debate about who's the goat,
00:55 I guess it's completely dead now
00:57 after this incredible year, three more Grand Slams,
01:00 plus one final.
01:01 He has the record almost everywhere of all.
01:05 Number of Masters 1000, number of weeks number one,
01:08 number of Grand Slams,
01:10 and he's still playing and he's still at the top.
01:12 It's interesting to think,
01:14 is the Novak of 2023 a better player than the Novak of 2015?
01:18 And I think the Novak of today is better.
01:21 His game evolved, his confidence evolved,
01:23 he's played so many more matches,
01:25 he has even more height when looking at his game,
01:28 looking at his opponents, and he didn't drop physically.
01:30 If he would have dropped physically,
01:32 then probably the Novak of 2015 would have been
01:34 a better player than the Novak of 2023,
01:36 but his fitness level, I think it's the same.
01:39 He's as fast, he's as flexible,
01:41 he's as balanced when he hits his shots,
01:43 he's as resistant, so he's a better player today, yes.
01:47 I often hear that what Roger did between 2017 and 2019
01:50 is as good as what Novak is doing now,
01:52 and that Roger was a better player in 2017, 2018 than before,
01:57 but I think there is a major difference.
01:58 I think that Roger was a better player, in a way,
02:01 in 2018 than he was 10 years before,
02:03 actually for one main reason, his backhand.
02:05 He took a major decision and he started to take the ball
02:08 much earlier on the backhand side and to return flat
02:10 rather than return slice systematically.
02:13 That made a big difference.
02:14 But now, at 36, 37, Roger was not able to win
02:19 three out of four Grand Slams and be consistent
02:21 all year long and be really one step above
02:24 all the other players.
02:25 This didn't happen.
02:26 The difference is Novak is physically as good today
02:29 as he was when he was 26, and that's a huge difference
02:32 because when you are at that level physically,
02:34 you can be consistent all year long
02:36 and beat all the best players in the world
02:38 on a consistent basis.
02:40 That's a big difference.
02:41 (gentle music)
02:43 (gentle music)
02:46 (upbeat music)