This French Open Could Reshape Tennis History

With Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on a collision course, and Roger Federer returning to red clay, this year’s French Open could reshape men’s tennis history

- Stephen Tignor

When Djokovic himself was asked about his place in tennis history, though, he seemed a little taken aback by the way the question was phrased.

“Regarding your form right now, you are maybe [at] the best of your career,” a reporter said to Djokovic during his post-match press conference. “Many players are saying that it’s possible for you to reach the record of Roger, even to beat that. How do you live with that?”

“How do I live with that?” Djokovic asked back, laughing at the gravity of the words. “Just fine!”

In the past, Federer, who has won 20 Grand Slam titles, and Nadal, who has won 17, have been careful to downplay the significance of their competition in public. According to them, winning one major at a time is hard enough, without worrying about how many more they’re going to win down the road.

“The last problem is the Slam count, honestly,” Federer said after beating Nadal in the 2017 Australian Open final. “That’s the smallest part.”

“I really never thought much about that,” Nadal said after winning the US Open nine months later. “I just do my way, he does his way. Let’s see when we finish, no?”

Djokovic, by contrast, has never had a problem with publicly confessing, and embracing, his own sky-high ambitions. After he won the Australian Open in 2015 and 2016, he welcomed the challenge of going after the Holy Grail of tennis, the calendar-year Grand Slam. While he didn’t get it, he did become the first man since Rod Laver to win four majors in a row.

This year in Melbourne, Djokovic said that Federer’s record of 20 Slams was “still far.” But he also admitted that the thought of breaking it has crossed his mind from time to time.