Former eight-time Grand Slam champion Jimmy Connors has showered praise on Novak Djokovic. The Serbian recently won his 22nd Grand Slam title by beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final of the Australian Open.
In fact, Djokovic was struggling with his hamstring injury in the first week of the tournament but he defied all the odds to go all the way. Connors stated that Djokovic is not afraid to do all the hard work to get the results he wants. The Serbian is always hungry for success and he has been ticking the right boxes on the court.
Speaking on an episode of the Advantage Connors podcast, Connors said: “I want to say this, the guy’s one great tennis player, right? He is not afraid to go out there and play the game, his game. Win or lose. He’s not afraid to put it on the line. He knows he’s got a bullseye on his back. Even more now.”
He added: “And he’s not afraid against all these young guys, who had some pretty good tournaments. But he’s not afraid of that. He plays the game, he’s not afraid to mix it up. He is not afraid to take the ball early, he’s not afraid to get 20 balls to a point. He’s not afraid to figure out a way to win. And, and, you know, to me, I like seeing that.”
Connors added that rivalries among the Big 3 helped each player to scale new heights in their respective careers.
“Rivalries are so great,” Connors said. “That’s why people show up to watch the game, watch the match, and watch the excitement. Sometimes you got to find a reason, find a reason to dig deeper and come out on top and win. So what is that? Where do you find that? What do you dig into to go down into your guts? Sometimes you got to find something that just burns you to the ground to come out on top.”
Connors went on to add that great players always find the extra motivation to keep pushing themselves in their careers.
“Every great player, they’ll find something that pushes them to the limit,” he said.
“That’s what drives guys like Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky, Pete Rose and Muhammad Ali. They always find something to dig down deeper to push them over the top to where they can continue to give it their all.”
