Tennis News: Novak Djokovic, Justine Henin and Lorenzo Musetti

If you are part of any social media group related to tennis you probably see a lot of the same arguments every day. There is a Rafael Nadal camp that thinks he is the best ever, a Roger Federer group that thinks he is the best, and then there are the people who pay attention to logic and reason and they believe Novak Djokovic is the best ever. Tennis great Justine Henin is in the latter group.

OK, for the record, I admit I made a bit of a joke there about people being reasonable and logical, but over the course of his career, Novak Djokovic has more weeks at No. 1 by a year-plus over Federer, he has two more Grand Slams than Nadal, and he leads the head-to-head battle with both Federer and Nadal. So, there’s all that.

But Henin sees something else that is special about Novak Djokovic. Speaking on Eurosport, Henin said Djokovic has the ability to “remobilize himself” in high-pressure situations and “cut short what is happening,” especially in terms of a crowd reacting negatively to him. Most importantly, Djokovic “is no longer there to please (the public), he is there to play and win, and, I think, that by finally doing so, it still appeals to a lot of people.”

Justin Henin talks Novak Djokovic and Lorenzo Musetti teaches kids

And good for Novak Djokovic. When his career is finally done, he will likely be a lot better appreciated. Maybe he is simply still winning too much for people who don’t like such things. Or, you know…people that prefer Federer or Nadal.

In non-Novak Djokovic ATP news, Italian Lorenzo Musetti got really honest in response to a question about maintaining focus during a match. More interestingly, the question came from a child as Musetti was fielding questions for fun from kids at the Sofia Open this week. The 21-year-old Musetti is the top seed in the tournament.

Musetti’s answer was refreshingly open, though, as he said, “Not every game, unfortunately, I maintain the best focus. I am not the best on Tour with that.” And he said a match is “…not finished until you shake hands.” For a young player like Musetti to give such great wisdom to young kids is good for the player and the children as it shows even at a young age Musetti is self-aware and that should help make him a very good player long-term.