Wimbledon: Federer’s ex-head coach drops staggering Novak Djokovic prediction, sends critical warning to Carlos Alcaraz

Going into Wimbledon 2023, Novak Djokovic will try to match Roger Federer’s tally of record right titles at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The Serbian ace stormed to a historic 23rd Grand Slam title in Roland Garros, where he defeated Casper Ruud in the French Open final. He set a new men’s singles record and overtook Rafael Nadal. He also toppled Carlos Alcaraz to return to World No. 1 in the ATP rankings. But since then, Alcaraz has returned to pole position after winning the Queen’s final.

The pair met in the French Open semi-finals, where Djokovic came out on top in a thriller, winning 6-3 5-7 6-1 6-1. Speaking to Sport Klub, former world no. 3 and Roger Federer’s former head coach Ivan Ljubicic revealed that he watched the French Open semi-final with the Swiss legend.

“Roger travels more now compared to when he was playing, but we make an effort to see each other a few times a year. His life is definitely not boring. Actually, we watched one part of the Djokovic – Alcaraz match together, but we were mostly on the beach, you’re going to have to forgive us”, he said.

“We were not supporting anyone, we just enjoyed the exceptional level of tennis. It’s impressive what Novak is doing, just like Roger said the other day. We can watch from the side and admire him, but Roger has been there and knows what it takes.”

Ljibicic also had a critical warning for Alcaraz, although he also had plenty of praise for the Spaniard. “In that match against Novak, he wasn’t as creative and fluid as he usually is, but he brought another dimension to tennis, a dimension young players lacked in the last 10-20 years. He is positive and he is something we haven’t seen so far – some sort of ‘sick’ combination of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal. I just hope that his body holds up, because he is putting crazy demands on his body at this moment”, he said.

Speaking on the GOAT debate, the Croatian pointed out that Djokovic is the ‘most successful already’, but ‘everybody has a preferred GOAT’. “I feel that Novak is the most successful already, but the word ‘greatest’ implies subjectivity and personal preference. I think that’s good, to be honest – everybody has a preferred GOAT and let the discussion begin,” he said.

“If we look at other sports, for example is there a (definitive) GOAT in football. In basketball everybody agrees that it’s Michael Jordan, but he’s not the one with the most trophies. It’s someone that influenced you personally mostly: for a third of the world it’s Federer, for the other third of the world it’s Nadal and for the final third it’s Novak. If Novak wins a few more Slams – which seems likely at this point – then the debate becomes meaningless. If Novak ends up having five to ten more than the others, we won’t have conversations like this anymore,” he further added.