Yevgeny Kafelnikov has lauded Novak Djokovic as the greatest tennis player of all time but believes that he cannot lay claim to being sports greatest ever athlete.
Kafelnikov puts basketball superstar Michael Jordan, who also played baseball at the pro level, on a pedestal as the greatest athlete of all time.
He says that Jordan’s charismatic draw sets him aside as someone that you just needed to see.
“There’s no doubt that Novak is the greatest tennis player of all time, that’s for sure. You can’t put him on the same level as Michael Jordan… I don’t think so, because I grew up idolising the greatest athlete of all time, which was Michael Jordan,” Kafelnikov wrote in a social media post.
“All I wanted to do was watch him play live. To me, he’s still number one, but Novak is definitely in the top three greatest athletes of all time, without a doubt – all the accomplishments, the records he’s broken, the titles he’s won.”
Djokovic found an answer for the new generation at last in Paris, blowing away many with his efforts in overcoming Carlos Alcaraz in the gold medal match.
The Serbian had identified the need to find a way to best the likes of Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner after he was bested in straight sets by the Spaniard at Wimbledon.
“Well, the Olympic Games and US Open are the two big goals for the rest of the year for me really,” Djokovic said as he took in his loss at SW19.
“I’m hoping I can be at my best on those two tournaments, yeah. That’s all I can say right now.
“I mean, being able to reach the finals of Wimbledon, of course, it’s a great confidence boost. But I also feel like in a matchup today against best player right now in the world for sure, I mean, other than Jannik, and both of them are the best this year by far, I feel like I’m not at that level.
“In order to really have a chance to I guess beat these guys in Grand Slam latter stages or Olympics, I’m going to have to play much better than I did today and feel much better than I did today.
“I’m going to work on it. It’s not something I haven’t experienced before ever in my life. I’ve had so many different experiences throughout my career. In the face of adversity, normally I rise and I learn and get stronger.
“That’s what I’m going to do.”
