The American tennis legend Jimmy Connors made a very bold claim on the “Big Three” debate on Monday.
Connors, 70, believes that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal aren’t even the best in their own era due to Novak Djokovic’s dominance.
Djokovic, despite losing the Wimbledon final on July 16, still has the most Grand Slams with 23 titles in Open Era history and has no intention to stop as the Serb is all set to participate in US Open in August to extend his tally.
The 70-year-old stated that he doesn’t think that Djokovic has had enough, he believes that the Serb is hungry for more titles.
"It comes to a point where a lot of people think he’s had enough. To me that’s bulls**t. Look at all the people that were on the Federer bandwagon and the Nadal bandwagon as the greatest of all time. They’re not even the greatest of all time in their own era," he said.
Connors did not forget to mention that Djokovic is not liked as much as Federer and Nadal in the tennis world but the American wants him to keep going.
"They think that maybe he’s had enough and it’s time for somebody else to come up. I look at it the other way, I say 'Kill it.' Stay out there and play until somebody just comes up and beats your brains out because you always got a chance to win," he added.
Djokovic’s 34-match winning streak — which included four successive titles — at Wimbledon was ended by the rising star Carlos Alcaraz after losing the final in a tense five-set battle.
In June, Djokovic claimed his record 23rd Grand Slam title after defeating Casper Ruud in the final of the French Open 2023.
With his 23rd title, the Serb overtook Nadal who has 22 Grand Slam titles.
Djokovic’s 23 Grand Slam titles consist of 10x Australian Open, 7x Wimbledon, 3x US Open and 3x Roland Garros.