I think this is unfair: Daniil Medvedev on Novak Djokovic’s criticism

The World no.2 Daniil Medvedev has hit out at Novak Djokovic’s critics after the two players locked horns against one another in the final of the Paris Masters on Sunday. Djokovic went on to create history as he won the 37th ATP 1000 Masters title and thus he now has the most titles.

Meanwhile, it has been noticed that Djokovic doesn’t get the respect he deserves despite being a modern great. Djokovic holds the record of most consecutive weeks as a World no.1 in the ATP rankings and has won 20 Grand slam titles in his glorious career.

Djokovic has had a stellar run in 2021 as he won three Major titles except for US Open, which he lost to Daniil Medvedev. However, Djokovic is always under scrutiny for his on-court antics, which is not appreciated by a lot of Tennis fans. There is no denying the fact that Djokovic doesn’t receive the same appreciation as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

“I think this is unfair, because it’s tough for me to talk to other people, but I see what you mean because I feel it sometimes,” the Russian said. “I also have the feeling though that people start more and more to, let’s say, I don’t even say respect him, respect what he has done in tennis more and more, because, well, he continues to beat the records.

“Only this year he beat the records for being number one for many weeks, 310 it was, and now it’s much more. He got to 20 Slams, almost done a calendar Slam. “I feel like unless real haters, which are not real fans, people start to see what he’s done and to see that he’s able to do more, which we can never know, that’s why we like tennis, but which he can do more.”

The Russian feels Djokovic might get the respect he deserves when he will retire from the game and the next generation of budding players will read about his records on the Internet.

“And I think, yeah, 10 years after he retires, because there is gonna be starting to be people who will start watching tennis – just like me, I didn’t see Sampras play, I was too young but I heard he was amazing – it’s going to be the same.

“There are going to be new people coming to tennis who are just going to read in Wikipedia, who was the world number one for most weeks, for most times in the end, and they are going to see Novak everywhere. “That’s when people are going to start to understand, Okay, that’s amazing what he has done.”