Novak Djokovic pokazał, jak trudno jest wspiąć się na szczyt i wygrać Wielkiego Szlema

Novak Djokovic has highlighted just “how difficult it is to climb to the top” and win a Grand Slam as he declared that Alexander Zverev “deserves” a major because of “all he has done so far in the sport”.

The quarter-finals have been set at Wimbledon 2024 and it is loaded with players who haven’t won a Grand Slam as Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Alex de Minaur and Lorenzo Musetti are still left in the men’s draw while Elina Svitolina, Lulu Sun, Donna Vekic, Jasmine Paolini and Emma Navarro are yet to lift a major trophy on the women’s side.

Djokovic knows all too well how tough it is to take the step up to become a Slam winner with his first major coming at the 2008 Australian Open. He then had to wait three more years as he initially struggled to crack the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal dominance, but once he found the code he was unstoppable.

He is now just three Wimbledon match wins away from a record-extending 25th Grand Slam, but is all too familiar with the challenges of making a breakthrough.“They’re different challenges, or so to say, different levels of achievements in our sport,” he explained. “Obviously the big one is how to
win a Slam. Then an even bigger one is how to be No 1. Then even a bigger one is how to be winning multiple Slams. Then even a bigger one is how to do that for years and be the No 1 player in the world for multiple years.

Djokovic continued: “It’s not easy. It’s not easy. The longer it goes without you winning a Slam title, the more you think about it. The more this pressure mounts on you every time you’re in that situation where, Okay, I’m playing for the title again. Then you start doubting yourself. “It’s a huge icebreaker when you manage to win the first one. For players like Dominic Thiem, for example, when he won his Grand Slam, only Grand Slam, after that he couldn’t maintain that level for too long. Unfortunately, injuries caught up with him.