Over the last few years, tennis was highly dominated by the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer. Be it the award sections or personal milestones on the tennis courts, these three were up for almost everything. But, with Federer retiring last year and Nadal almost out for a year due to injury, the supremacy of the Serbian legend reigned.
After what could be one of the best years of his career, Novak Djokovic managed to bag another crucial award this year. But as it seems, the Serbian is still very far behind when it comes to his peer rivals despite collecting the award for the second time in a row.
Novak Djokovic wins a crucial award again but trails Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal
In a recent revelation, Novak Djokovic went ahead to claim yet another award. However, he still fell behind his peer rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The Serbian recently grabbed the ‘Champion of Champions’ title for the second time in 2023. The first time that he won was in 2021.
It’s certainly a big deal, but when you look at the history, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have owned this award more often. Federer and Nadal have won it several times each, showing their incredible dominance in tennis. Throughout their years as professional tennis athletes, they managed to win the title 4 times which is an insane number.
Thus, Djokovic’s two wins are impressive, no doubt. But when compared to Federer and Nadal, he’s still playing catch-up. Even so, Djokovic’s consistent excellence in tennis proves he’s a top-notch player, even if he’s not at the same level of winning this specific award as his two legendary rivals.
Djokovic is @lequipe's 2023 Men’s ‘Champion of Champions’ 🏆
Men’s tennis players to win the award:
1999 – Agassi
2005 – Federer
2006 – Federer
2007 – Federer
2010 – Nadal
2013 – Nadal
2017 – Federer & Nadal, jointly
2019 – Nadal
2021 – Djokovic
2023 – Djokovic pic.twitter.com/wudXu4yg2L— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan) December 27, 2023
While Novak Djokovic is far behind his peer rivals when it comes to this award, there is another award as well that the Serbian has never managed to lay his hands on, lying far way behind the two.
Djokovic repeatedly snubbed off the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship award
This award is given to the athlete who has shown moments of high sportsmanship throughout the year. Over the last few years, the list was completely dominated by the incredible duo of ‘Fedal’. However, after Federer retired last year and with Nadal out of the court for a year, many thought that this could finally see the rise of Novak Djokovic in the awards tally.
But the same happened this year as well as he was snubbed off the award as it was given to rising tennis sensation Carlos Alcaraz. So, Novak Djokovic, having dominated the tennis courts for almost a decade now has fallen short when it comes to awards tally. That particular section is highly dominated by his fierce rivals.
