William Surya Hartanto

ROD LAVER’S CHOICE As told to Tennis Time Machine a few months back at the age of 87, Rod Laver’s Top 5 Picks of All Time Greats are – :#5 Lew Hoad, #4 Ken Rosewall, #3 Richard Pancho Gonzales, #2 Roger Federer, #1 Novak Djokovic. First, he talked about the Greats of his own era naming Lew, Rosewall and Pancho Then he touched up on Federer and Djokovic from the Modern Era. His excerpt from it; I remember the first time I watched Roger play and thinking this is what tennis looks like when it is done perfectly. What separated Roger from everyone else was not any single shot or any particular surface, it was what he did in the moments that mattered most. I should be honest with you. For a long time, I thought Roger was in a category of his own, and then Novak kept winning, winning and winning. He forces you to reconsider the things you thought was settled. What strikes me most about Novak is the consistency over such a long period against such deep and relentless competition. Roger had Rafa pushing him, Rafa had Roger pushing him. Novak had both of them at their absolute best pushing him simultaneously for the better part of two decades. And he still came out on top more often than not. There was a period when the press wrote that Novak was declining. I found myself genuinely irritated. What I was watching was not decline. I said it then and say it now. Novak is an incredible Champion. You do not accumulate what he has accumulated by accident or by talent alone. Novak had not always had the crowd with him. There have been BIG tournaments where the atmosphere was not in his favour. He played through it, he won through it. It is easy to be brilliant when the crowd is behind you. It’s something else to be brilliant when they are not. People ask me - Roger or Novak, who is greater.? My honest answer is that I do not think you put one above the other. Not fairly. But when you look at everything what Novak has done - the longevity, the volume, the mental endurance, how can you look past him.? You cannot. Someone asked me recently where I place myself among the greats. And I gave them the same answer I always give. As a tennis player, you have a record. And that is what counts. I feel like I enjoyed myself and I’m proud what I accomplished. That’s enough for me. This is a BIG blow to all those who say not just numbers, there are many other factors that enter into the fray in a GOAT debate. Now, none other than Rod Laver, the 1969 Calendar Slam Champion says “as a tennis player, you have a record and that is what counts”. And, most of the significant tennis records are in the name of the legendary Serbian Djokovic👍