ROGER
FEDERER (September 2007)
"He is a very complete player. The best after myself and Rafa. I have to say Iâm impressed with his game, because when I was his age I didnât have such great results."
NATALIE DESSAY, opera singer (September 2007)
After he sang a few notes in the New York Metropolitan
Opera House: "
Novak has a bad voice, but he is a good tennis player. Such a young man, he could even be my son in terms of age, and he is so good-spirited and refreshing. And such a wonderful tennis player."
BJORN BORG (August 2007)
"
Djokovic is definitely ready to win a Grand Slam. This guy can beat any player on the
ATP Tour. He has just proved that, by beating them in the last couple of days. He is still very young, and is level with
Federer and
Nadal."
"He is a great player, has an excellent game, and can play well on any surface. He had a brilliant run at this yearâs Wimbledon, which he can repeat at the US Open, but Iâm convinced he will do much better at Grand Slam tournaments next year.
RAFAEL NADAL (May 2007)
"He won Miami, Estoril, Adelaide, he played the final of
Indian Wells. Novak is full of confidence. He is a very good player, who will stay at the top for a very long time."
MARIO ANCIC
"Novak is an amazing player whose time has yet to come. He will have a great future, and already he is near the top. With the results he achieved in the last few months he will soon enter the top ten. He plays solid from the baseline, and is able to produce winners from any part of the court."
RICHARD KRAJICHEK
"I think that by the end of 2007 Novak will enter the top five in ATP ranking."
MARIANO PUERTA (October 2006)
"Novak is a
future champion. Next time he comes to
Bersi he will be inside the top 30, Iâm sure. He is so young, and he plays so well!"
JOHN McENROE (September 2005)
Serbiaâs best ranked tennis player Djokovic today received what is quite possibly the greatest compliment in his
fledgling career. Before the start of tonightâs late match at the US Open, featuring Spaniard
Rafael Nadal and American
Scoville Jenkins (both 19), the legendary
John McEnroe, commenting for the âUSAâ TV Network (which broadcasts matches from Flushing Meadows), talked about talented young players who, together with Nadal (currently world number two) should reach the upper echelons of the tennis world in the coming years. One of the three names he mentioned was the 18 year oldâs from Belgrade.
âThere are definitely several very talented young players such as Monfils, Djokovic or Murray... I expect over the next year or so they will be inside the top 20 ATP players", said
McEnroe during a live broadcast.
The oldest of the three players McEnroe mentioned is Frenchman Monfils, who turns 19 today;
Briton Andy Murray will celebrate his 19th birthday on May 15th next year, and Djokovic a week later,
May 22nd 2006. Monfils is currently the best ranked player (43), Djokovic is 97 and Murray is 122; despite this fact, both Djokovic and Murray are still competing at this yearâs US Open Championships.
JUSTIN GIMELSTOB
"The 18 year-old from Serbia has a great future. He plays an aggressive game from any part of the court. He will be a force to be reckoned with over the next decade or so. This will be his breakthrough year in terms of winning a big title, with maybe even Australian Open being his first success, where he qualified for the main draw for the for the time last year.â
MARAT SAFIN (January 2005)
"I wish this boy all the best, because he is an amazing talent and has massive potential!"
JELENA GENCIC
I began working with
Novak Djokovic in 1994, when he was seven.
After only a couple of months of my coaching him, I saw I was dealing with an amazing and extraordinary talent.
As a tennis coach and expert, I workd and travelled around the world with Monica
Seles,
Goran Ivanisevic,
Iva Majoli,
Tatjana Jecmenica and Sabrina
Goles and I can freely say that Novak Djokovic is the first great talent to emerge in this region since Monica Seles.
Three years ago I created a work programme for Novak Djokovic and he has already realised this
five-year plan and achieved successes even beyond the expected.
Novak is totally ready, both physically and mentally, for big competitions and greater achievements. He is very intelligent and good person, he thinks clearly out on the court and is prepared to work hard, which is very important for his future development and career advancement.
I sincerely believe that with the optimum training conditions and good organisation, within two to three years he could achieve marked results in professional tennis.
With regards,
Prof.
Jelena Gencic
TENNIS ITALIANO
A number of talent scouts present at the 26th European Championships in San
Remo had an opportunity to fill their notebooks. Never before have we been able to witness such a pool of high quality players, both male and female, with certain competitors standing out as extremely impressive. Such is the case with the winners, 14 year-old Yugoslav Novak Djokovic and 13 year âold Russian-born Frenchwoman, Tatiana Golovin, two early favourites, who not only did as predicted, but did so with such confidence and personality which separates top sportspeople from the rest. It was the first time since the inception of the European Under-14 Championships that they have been won by a Yugoslav and a Frenchwoman whose names will be added on to the rich list of famous tennis stars (Vilander, Edberg, Enquist, Graff, Seles,
Hingis, Tommy
Robredo i Justin Enan
Ardenne).
As in the past we had balance when writing about Robredo and Ancic, and the Belgians Enan and Clijsters, so too shall we write about the Yugoslav, Novak Djokovic, boy with a âvelvetyâ feel for the ball, who can hit the ball hard, but above all he is a player who is extremely intelligent tactically speaking and very string mentally so that he is sure to go far.
We talked about a high technical level which featured some other interesting namesâŚand our
Jari Natali. Our representative was âthrashedâ in the semi-final by a too-strong Novak Djokovic.