Tennis icon John McEnroe has discussed Novak Djokovic\u2019s popularity among tennis fans and his fellow players as he urged the great Serb to \u201cenjoy every minute\u201d he has left in his career.<\/p>\n
Djokovic<\/a> is vying to win his 11th Australian Open<\/a> title and 25th Grand Slam overall, which would see him extend his records.<\/p>\n At the age of 38, Djokovic would become the oldest Grand Slam singles champion in history if he lifts the title in Melbourne.<\/p>\n The world No 4 saw off Pedro Martinez and Francesco Maestrelli without losing a set to reach the third round, taking his tally of Australian Open match wins to 101.<\/p>\n Speaking to TNT Sports and Eurosport, McEnroe proclaimed that Djokovic deserves to receive the adulation of tennis fans and said other players \u201clove\u201d the former world No 1.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was like Ivan Drago [a character in the Rocky films] with [Rafael] Nadal and [Roger] Federer, who were so popular, and then along comes [Carlos] Alcaraz and everyone loves him,\u201d said the seven-time major singles champion.<\/p>\n \u201cHe (Djokovic) is like, \u2018Where is my love? I deserve it.\u2019 And he does deserve it. He has been an unbelievable positive for our game and his record speaks for itself.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has always been extremely intelligent and the other players love him. So strut yourself, Novak, and enjoy every minute of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Pat Cash names Australian Open star most likely to upset Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Boris Becker hints John McEnroe may be proved wrong after Novak Djokovic comments<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n Ahead of Djokovic\u2019s first round match at the Australian Open, McEnroe lauded the Serbian\u2019s record at the tournament.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is mindblowing,\u201d said the American.<\/p>\n \u201cWe talk about Rafa [Nadal] winning 14 French Opens and you think that doesn\u2019t seem possible, and then you come to Novak and he has won 10 of these. So, you\u2019re like, how does he figure it out each off-season?<\/p>\n \u201cIn a lot of cases, he hasn\u2019t played and you are not quite sure where he is at physically or mentally. And he comes down here and does his thing and gets in the head of whoever he is playing and figures it out. It\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n The former world No 1 also declared that he does not think Djokovic possesses the belief that he can overcome both Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.<\/p>\n \u201cIn his heart of hearts and in my opinion, no,\u201d said the former world No 1.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think he can beat both of those guys when he has already had to go through five matches \u2014 that\u2019s the problem. That\u2019s the reality he has talked about.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people might think, \u2018Why are you still going at this point, you haven\u2019t won in a couple of years and you are so used to winning?\u2019 Why not would be the question?<\/p>\n \u201cIn my book, he is No 3 in the world. He made four semis last year and beat Alcaraz here. He must think he can still win this otherwise, because he won\u2019t play unless he thinks he can win, which is tougher because he doesn\u2019t play much.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch the Australian Open on Eurosport, TNT Sports, HBO Max and discovery+<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Djokovic will play Botic van de Zandschulp in the third round at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Novak Djokovic Australian Open theory questioned by leading injury expert<\/a> The post John McEnroe gets honest on Novak Djokovic\u2019s popularity with fans and fellow players<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tennis icon John McEnroe has discussed Novak Djokovic\u2019s popularity among tennis fans and his fellow players as he urged the great Serb to \u201cenjoy every minute\u201d he has left in his career. Djokovic is vying to win his 11th Australian Open title and 25th Grand Slam overall, which would see him extend his records. At […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Australian Open News<\/h2>\n
What else has John McEnroe said about Novak Djokovic during the Australian Open?<\/h2>\n
Who will Novak Djokovic play next at the Australian Open?<\/h2>\n
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