11-time Grand Slam champion Rod Laver is putting his money on Novak Djokovic to be at the top of the tennis world for the next few years.
After winning both the U.S. Open and Wimbledon this year, Novak Djokovic has been playing his best tennis since 2015, and tennis legend Rod Laver expects that to continue going forward.
“I think Novak [Djokovic] is on top at this moment,” Laver told FanSided. “Five years ago it was Roger [Federer], three years ago it was [Rafael] Nadal. I see Novak really being the main one winning a lot of the Grand Slams in the next 2-3 years.”
This should come as no surprise, Djokovic is the younger of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. At 31 years old, Djokovic still has some of his best tennis ahead of him, despite already winning 14 Grand Slam titles.
Since 2008, Djokovic, Nadal and Federer have been the ironclad trio at the top of men’s tennis. Throughout the years a fourth player will have a run — Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka to name a couple — but there has not been a crop of new talent ready to take over the giants at the top, something Laver doesn’t think will happen any time soon.
“It’s hard to pinpoint how they’ve stayed on top because they’re just so much better than the next crop that have come through,” Laver said. “Federer has so much natural talent that if he sees someone playing that he’s competing against , he just knows how to play that person. We haven’t come across those players, they don’t have the same natural ability of playing.”
Laver used the example of American tennis player John Isner who, at 6-foot-10, should have an obvious advantage over opponents. But, despite being ranked No. 10 in the world and a very skilled tennis player, he doesn’t have the magic to change his game like Federer, Nadal and Djokovic do.
Laver, as well as Djokovic and Federer, are in Chicago for the second annual Laver Cup, a tournament started by Federer to honor the tennis great. The tournament pits two teams, Team Europe and Team World, against each other where four matches will be played each day over three days from Sept. 21-23. The tournament is available to watch on the Tennis Channel and to stream with an Amazon Prime account.
“What we saw last year was the competition was highly successful,” Laver said. “Any match you go to on the three days, you’ll be seeing some of the best tennis.”