In a battle of two giants, Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic at Court Philippe-Chatrier on Sunday. The Spaniard eased past the #1 seed in straight sets to equal Roger Federer’s impressive tally of 20 Grand Slam titles. This match spit fire on an important discussion. Now that Nadal’s equaled Federer, who’s the GOAT in tennis? 

Rafael Nadal once again proved why he’s deemed as the ‘King of Clay’ when he faced Djokovic in the French Open 2020 final. After posting a bagel in the first set, Nadal quickly gained rhythm and sped past his Serbian opponent. 

With this victory, Nadal has famously equaled Roger Federer in winning 20 slam titles. Though the winning destinations may vary, the final number remains identical. Rafa has the most French Open crowns with 13, while Roger has eight Wimbledon titles to his name, the most by a player in any era. 

How can one forget about Djokovic when talking about these two. Of course, Federer and Nadal developed a special rivalry. But Djokovic gate-crashed the party and earned a massive status for himself. 

With 15th grand slams in the previous decade, no other player dominated the 2010s like Djokovic did. Thus he has earned his name in the GOAT discussion. 

Goran Ivanisevic reveals where Novak Djokovic ranks in his GOAT mountain 

Novak Djokovic added former World No. 2, Goran Ivanisevic, to his coaching team during the 2019 Wimbledon championships. The Serb has vastly improved his game since Ivanisevic began coaching him, and his dominant 37-2 record in 2020 serves as a testament to his success. 

Even though Djokovic failed to put up a proper fight against Nadal, Ivanisevic has a strong reverence for the Serbian. The 2001 Wimbledon winner was asked to weigh in on the GOAT rankings in tennis, and one can obviously guess where he placed Novak Djokovic. 

“First of all, Sunday at number one, then the trophies from the Masters series, their mutual score. But it will be a lifelong debate over who is the greatest of all time and it will be a matter of taste,” Ivanisevic said. 

“For me, it is Novak, for some it will be Federer, for some it will be Nadal,” he added. “Now, it will be very difficult to finally solve it, only if Novak has the most Slams, then there will be no room for critics and dilemmas. I know who is the best.”

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Well, that is Goran Ivanisevic’s opinion on the GOAT talk. Even though tennis fans clash with their opinions, the fact that the ‘Big 3’ took the sport to truly a new standard is an undeniable achievement.