Novak Djokovic Is the Greatest Winner Since Michael Jordan

• Novak Djokovic won the French Open, breaking the record for most Grand Slam titles in men’s tennis.
• Djokovic has now won all four Grand Slams at least three times, a feat matched by only three women.
• There are eight other athletes in the conversation but all fall short of Djokovic’s achievements.

Like him or not, Novak Djokovic is a winner.

He might not be the greatest athlete ever. He might not even be the greatest of all time — the GOAT — in tennis.

But if you look at his entire career and what he has accomplished already, nobody else has proven to be a better winner since Michael Jordan dominated the sports world in the 1990s.

Jordan was not only a great basketball player, but he was remarkably competitive and built an aura of invincibility around himself. He had an uncanny ability to will his teams to new heights.

Since Jordan’s reign at the top of the sports world, several other athletes have achieved incredible levels of dominance in their respective sports. While there are some athletes who may have been more talented, nobody has won more often, more consistently, and against better competition than Djokovic, making him the greatest winner since Jordan.

We can start with Djokovic’s record

Djokovic’s recent win at the recent French Open was his 23rd Grand Slam victory, breaking a tie with Rafael Nadal for the most ever. He has won each Grand Slam at least three times. That feat is matched by just three other women’s players. He’s also won at least one Grand Slam in 13 different seasons and 12 of the last 13 years.

Djokovic’s accomplishments are more impressive considering the extraordinary players he competed against.

 

 

Getty/David Gray

 

Arguably, the three greatest players in men’s tennis history are Djokovic, Nadal, and Roger Federer, and they all played at the same time. Despite constantly competing against two of the best, Djokovic won 23 Grand Slams and did it more often and more consistently than the other two.

Federer will always be more loved and revered than Djokovic, but he’s now retired with 20 Grand Slam titles, while Djokovic is still going strong. While Federer did win all four Slams, he won just a single French Open on the more challenging clay surface.

Nadal has also won all four Slams, but injuries caught up to him later in his career, hurting his chances of keeping pace with Djokovic.

Djokovic’s competition outside men’s tennis

Proclaiming Djokovic the greatest winner of the past 25 years is not done lightly. There are other worthy candidates, but they all fall behind him for different reasons.

Serena Williams: If Djokovic is 1a, Serena is 1b. She is arguably the GOAT of tennis and has 23 Grand Slam titles, second only to Margaret Court. But unlike Djokovic, we never got to see her compete against and consistently defeat another all-time great. The argument for Serena would be stronger if we had seen her compete against a player like Steffi Graf.

 

 

Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers

 

Tiger Woods: To put it bluntly, Djokovic is what Woods should have been. Injuries, a major car accident, and other off-the-course drama derailed Woods’ career when he should have been challenging Jack Nicklaus’ record for the most major championships in men’s golf history. Instead, we are left wondering how many more trophies he could have won, as he’s now semiretired.

Lionel Messi: Messi is in the mix for soccer GOAT and is still going strong, with an upcoming move to Inter Miami in the works. His collection of trophies is unmatched, including seven Ballon d’Ors, an award given to the world’s top footballer, and four Champions League titles. He also led Barcelona to 10 La Liga championships and seven Copa del Rey trophies, often against another all-time great, Cristiano Ronaldo. So why isn’t he ahead of Djokovic? His lone World Cup title didn’t come until age 35, as Argentina often disappointed in his earlier attempts. He could have performed better in the biggest tournament more often, especially in his prime — something Djokovic never had trouble doing.

 

 

Getty/Catherine Ivill

 

Tom Brady: The competition for greatest winner gets a bit more complicated when we start looking at team sports, as it’s more challenging to ascertain how much of the New England Patriots’ success was due to Brady. It was certainly a lot, but he also had one of the greatest coaches of all time in Bill Belichick, and a defense considered among the sport’s best. It helps that Brady left the Patriots and won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but you can’t say Brady never had help.

LeBron James: The NBA great is one of the greatest athletes of all time and potentially the GOAT of basketball (although probably behind Jordan at this point). His consistency deserves to be celebrated. Still, he hasn’t won often enough to be crowned the greatest winner. James has reached the NBA Finals an incredible 10 times in 20 seasons, but he’s only 4-6 in those series. While three of the wins came against teams with all-time or border-all-time greats, James’ teams also have some disappointing playoff losses to lesser teams — most notably in 2011 against the Mavericks.

 

 

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

 

Michael Phelps/Simone Biles/Usain Bolt — All three are at or near the top of the list of greatest Olympians of all time, but it’s tough to weigh their overall success when these athletes are only in the collective consciousness of average sports fans for two weeks every four years. Phelps won a record 28 medals, including 23 gold, but he also did it in a sport where there are far more individual events and chances to win medals. Biles won seven medals, but all four of her gold came in 2016. Bolt won eight gold medals across three different Olympics, but he did it in a small subset of running events, albeit the events with the highest profiles.

All are great winners, but they trail Djokovic, the greatest winner since Jordan.