Tennis legend Rafael Nadal feels the World no.1 Novak Djokovic can definitely win the Calendar slam. Djokovic is in red-hot form and he is going all guns blazing in the ongoing season. However, Serbian’s quest for the Golden slam ended when his 22-match winning streak was broken in the semifinal of the Tokyo Olympics in three sets by Germany’s Alexander Zverev, who eventually went on to win the Gold medal.
Furthermore, Djokovic lost in the Bronze medal match against Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta in three sets. However, Djokovic has been playing at a top level and it seemed almost impossible to beat him before Zverev caused an upset.
Meanwhile, Djokovic has already won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon in 2021 and if he keeps his form going, he could also bag the US Open. Djokovic has been brilliant on all the surfaces and it is not going to be easy to put the brakes on him in the US Open. If Djokovic goes on to win the final slam of the year, he will become the first Tennis player to win the Calendar slam after Rod Laver achieved the illustrious feat back in 1969.
“Well, he (Djokovic) already won three [US Open titles]. So when you win three, you can win four, without a doubt, no? He did 75 percent of the way,” the Spaniard said in a press conference.
“He [is] going to be playing on hard court, probably his best surface. So why not? Of course [it] is something difficult. Going to be [other] guys that want to achieve the last Slam of the season.
“But, yeah, of course he’s one of the clear favourites, probably the most favourite player to achieve that. Yeah, what he achieved this year is something, well, amazing. Let’s see. I don’t know. I definitely believe that he can do it, without a doubt.”
Meanwhile, Djokovic will look to continue the good show but Zverev as well as Busta have shown that the Serbian is beatable. However, it should be noted that Djokovic just amplifies his game in Grand slam events and it is not easy to get the better of him in five-set matches. Djokovic was defaulted in the US Open in 2020 in his Round three match against Matteo Berrettini.
