Novak Djokovic has been compared to many players in the way he approaches tennis, but Rennae Stubbs actually threw out Serena Williams as a comparison.
While they are somewhat different players, there are certainly many parallels between them. Both Djokovic and Serena are widely considered the greatest tennis players ever to live, which makes them an obvious comparison.
On another note, the way they approach tennis is what really Stubbs is talking about. The former player coached Serena Williams at her last ever event, which was the US Open and knows her pretty well.
She’s obviously quite familiar with Djokovic, having watched him for most of his career, and the goal-oriented mind of both is what sticks out.
As Williams got older, she started to focus more on those events that really matter in terms of legacy (Grand Slams), which is what most legendary players do.
Djokovic has been doing the same for a few years now, skipping the smaller events to be fully ready for the Grand Slams, and that’s where Stubbs sees the similarity as she discussed it during the latest episode of her Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast.
A lot of players still obviously continue to play after the US Open because they wanted to make the championships, the WTA finals and they want the money and it helps their ranking. And Serena’s like ‘My priority is to win Grand Slams so for me to go into the Australian Open being rested and then winning Wimbledon and everything else is my priority’ and that’s what Novak’s doing right now.
It’s a pretty natural decision because nobody can escape time. Everything becomes tougher, including recovery, so it makes it necessary to prioritize some events over others. We’ve actually been seeing very young players organize their schedules nowadays to avoid too much wear and tear on their bodies.
Djokovic started early, and it’s paid off, so more and more tennis players are following suit. It also allows him to pursue some incredible milestones.
I mean he [Novak Djokovic] didn’t play anything after the US Open, he went and played what Shanghai or Beijing. Shanghai yeah that’s it, oh no he didn’t play anything, he played Paris and then the ATP Finals and Davis Cup. Brilliant that’s what I would have done.
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