After single-handedly dominating tennis for years, Novak Djokovic has made tennis ‘too predictable’ according to Mats Wilander with the 24-time Grand Slam champion heading towards number 25 and his 11th Australian Open crown.
His dominance was on full show during his win over Taylor Fritz advancing to the semi-finals with a 7-6,(3), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 triumph over the American and next up will be a certain Jannik Sinner in what is bound to be a bumper clash. Wilander said that while Carlos Alcaraz has stepped it up, Djokovic is still very much the king and that he is still ahead of everyone even heading into the twilight years and in the view of Wilander, he wants to see new names come to the fore.
“He is not up against the same kind of the same kind of calibre of players as Nadal and Federer and Murray as he used to be. Also, I think he’s much better – much better on grass and better on clay,” he told Eurosport.
“Is it too predictable? I would love to see new faces, I prefer to see new faces. But at the same time, now that Novak has taken it to the level of being the best of all time on the men’s side, I think that we have to appreciate that he’s most probably taking the game to another level, which is good for everybody,” he continued.
“It’s tough for the other players because he’s the first guy to take that step out but he’s ahead of the other guys a little bit. And then you see Carlos Alcaraz, he has stepped it up. He can challenge Novak in the best and biggest matches. But is it predictable?” he continued. “At the moment, it’s pretty predictable. The greatest of all time, I will never say about a tennis player. He’s the best of all time and he’s taking the game to another level, not just what goes on on the court.”
