Despite Djokovic’s vaccine saga, Somdev Devvarman feels Serb ‘outright favourite’ to beat Nadal in Grand Slam tally race

Novak Djokovic’s refusal to take Covid-19 vaccine denied him an appearance in a second Grand Slam in 2022. After the whole episode before the start of the Australian Open earlier this year, where he was deported from the country, denying him the opportunity to defend his title, Djokovic suffered a similar fate in US Open as well. Covid protocols of the U.S government bars unvaccinated foreigners from entering the country, hence Djokovic was left with no option but to withdraw from the competition. Former professional Indian tennis player Somdev Devvarman admits that Djokovic is only facing consequences of the stance he is taking, but strongly believes that despite the vaccine saga, the Serb remains the favourite to surpass Rafael Nadal in the Grand Slam tally race.

It has been a strange turn of events for Djokovic in the last 12 months. A year back Djokovic was chasing the elusive Calendar Year Grand Slam before being stopped by Daniil Medvedev in straight sets in the US Open final. The Serb was expected to return strong from the defeat an unfortunate episode unfolded at the Australian Open. He then lost to Nadal in the French Open quarterfinal, before successfully defending his Wimbledon crown, although the 2022 rules denied him any points for it. And then was left with no choice but to withdraw from the US Open.

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Speaking to a select media group ahead of the start of US Open 2022, Somdev felt that entire vaccine saga surrounding Djokovic has been unfortunate, but added that consequences follow when players take such steps.

“It’s unfortunate. When it comes to the entire Djokovic saga, I think it is very unfortunate the way it is played out because everybody knew that he was able to compete in the Open during the pandemic. Unfortunately, when Djokovic takes such a stance, there will be consequences and I think he understands that as well,” he said in response to a Hindustan Times query.

“He tried his best to get in because the Americans weren’t having him. Again it is unfortunate because at the biggest event with the best players in the world, Djokovic won’t be playing which is a shame. If you look at it from his perspective, he wasn’t able to play in the Australian Open this year, lost to Rafa at French Open quarters, won the Wimbledon where he didn’t get any points for it and here we are, the last hardcourt Slam and he is not allowed to compete. Regardless of that there is a lot to look forward to. And at the end of the day, no one player is bigger than the game.”

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Tennis greats like Mats Wilander recently claimed in an interview that the GOAT race is starting to become “irrelevant” with Nadal winning Slams and Djokovic missing due to Covid protocols, but Somdev disagrees and rather explained why the 35-year-old remains the “outright favourite” to pip Nadal in the Grand Slam tally race.

“It is safe to say that the world has really moved forward given that he was allowed to compete in the French Open and Wimbledon which means that we are getting closer and closer to having him being able to travel around the world. Also, he is now just one Slam behind Rafa and he is a lot younger and has less injury concerns which is the most important thing. When you talk about the GOAT debate, for Federer to win another Slam, it’s going to be hard, which means Djokovic has got a really really good chance at winning more Slams than Rafa and it is only because he has far less injury concerns. For Novak, all he needs is to get allowed to compete, because every time he steps on the court, except on clay, he is the outright favourite and the fact that he is incredibly determined,” he added.

US OPEN 2022 favourites?

With no Djokovic in the draw, the repeat of the 2019 finals is what fans might be most expecting. Nadal, who is 19-0 in Slams in 2022, remains the top favourite to claim his fifth US Open title. But lack of match practice and injury issues remain a concern for the Spaniard. On the other hand, Medvedev hasn’t been in the the best of form heading into the contest. Somdev feels that while there are dark horses in the draw which will make things difficult for the two, Nadal and Medvedev will remain the favourites.

“Don’t think Rafa versus Medvedev final is a guarantee. There’s a lot of really tough players in the draw. For Rafa, his biggest concern is that since his withdrawal at Wimbledon he hasn’t played a whole lot of matches. But his draw is fairly favourable. If Rafa gets past the first two or three rounds then he’ll be back in his groove and then we won’t be talking about the fact that he hasn’t played so many matches. The Slams have always been important for Rafa, Djokovic and Federer in their career. So Rafa will try to do everything in his power like he always does. But unfortunately he hasn’t played a lot of matches and that’s a reality. Even for Medvedev, he is world no.1 but he did not go on to win the lead-up tournaments. There are a lot of players out there who have played really well. Tsitsipas, for example, who has beaten Medvedev in Cincinnati. Then there is Alcaraz and Felix. So it won’t be that straight forward, but yes Rafa and Medvedev are among the hit favourites,” he said.

In women’s draw, Somdev has backed Simona Halep to take the US Open crown.

“A dark horse would be someone like Caroline Garcia. She has finally found her form and was a former top-5 player and won three tournaments on three different surfaces in the last three months, he said, “But for me, Simona Halep is probably one of the favourites in the women’s draw just based on how she has been playing in the last few months. I would definitely put Halep up there. She is a former Slam winner and is coming in with a really good form.”