Andy Roddick disputes Novak Djokovic's claim about winning Olympic gold
By Lee Vowell
Novak Djokovic had one thing left on his resume. He needed to win Olympic gold to become one of the five people to have won the Golden Slam. Djokovic accomplished that by defeating Carlos Alcaraz in the Olympic final in a fantastically great match that likely made the Serb winning gold that much sweeter. The fact that the victory did not come easily probably makes him appreciate it even more.
After the match, the Serb stated the victory was the "biggest sporting success I've had in my career." That is saying quite a bit as Djokovic is a 24-time Grand Slam victor and has won each of the majors multiple times. He has accomplished more in tennis than any other man. The next-best Grand Slam winner is Rafael Nadal who has 22 and Nadal is never going to catch Djokovic.
Former US Open winner and former ATP No. 1 Andy Roddick nicely disputed Djokovic's claim that winning Olympic gold should be his biggest success. Of course, the Serb might think this because he had won each of the majors much earlier in his career and had to wait to win the Olympics because he had not been as successful in the event in previous years and the Olympics are only ever four years.
Andy Roddick has a different view than Novak Djokovic on winning Olympic gold
The above is stated because Roddick does give a caveat to his view that Djokovic's new Olympic win should be what a player finds his highest form of success in. On his Served with Andy Roddick podcast, the American thinks a tennis player achieves their best success when they win a major. The Olympics is relatively second (or fifth, if one counts each major).
Roddick says he would have been much happier winning at Wimbledon than by winning at the Olympics. To be fair, Roddick did neither, though he did make the finals at Wimbledon three times. This is probably why he feels winning Wimbledon would have been more special to him.
The American was also speaking solely for him as he said that the Olympics pales in comparison to winning a Grand Slam so much that contrasting the two is "not even worth a conversation." He acknowledged that Djokovic has a right to feel differently based on his own experience, but Roddick was basing his views on his own past.
He said, “I think it’s each individual (decision)...I would have definitely taken a Wimbledon title instead of that, 100 percent. No chance [that the Olympics is on a par with a Grand Slam], like it’s not even worth a conversation. If you put me in this seat right now and you give me, ‘Hey, you could have an Olympic gold medal or you could have a Wimbledon title?’ It’s not even up for discussion to me. The point is it’s different for everyone."