London: Former world No. 2 and winner of the Wimbledon title in 2001, Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia, said after Novak Djokovic’s triumph at the All England Club that the Serb is so resolute that “you have to kill the guy 27 times and still he gets up.”
Ivanisevic, who is one of Djokovic’s coaches, said, “He’s like in the movies. You have to kill the guy 27 times and still he gets up and you have to kill him again and he gets up, he gets up.
“This is great. I’m proud to be there and to witness that, to be part of that. [He] is going to make history, I strongly believe he will do it,” Ivanisevic told atptour.com Monday after Djokovic won his 20th Grand Slam title beating Italy’s Matteo Berrettini.
By winning the title, the Serb joined Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the other two members of the Big Three, as the players with the most number of Grand Slam singles titles in the Open Era.
Djokovic has won the first three major championships of the season, and now he will try to become just the second man in the Open Era after Rod Laver in 1969, to triumph at all four. The US Open is less than two months away.
“Everything is possible. I’m not going to say [he will reach] 30 [Grand Slams] because it’s a long way. But five, six, seven years ago, we were talking about [Roger] Federer, only about Federer. Now you have [Rafael] Nadal and him competing [for] who is going to be the best ever,” Ivanisevic said.
“For me, Novak is the best ever. He’s writing history. He’s going to do it [at the] US Open. I strongly believe he’s going to do it, he’s going to win all four in one year.
“Working with him is a privilege, is an honour, it’s everything, but it’s not easy. It’s a lot of pressure. [Making the] final is not good enough. We count only wins,” Ivanisevic said.
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