{"id":300713,"date":"2023-12-19T09:54:20","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T09:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/?p=300713"},"modified":"2023-12-19T09:54:20","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T09:54:20","slug":"novak-djokovic-accused-of-wanting-to-be-roger-federer-or-rafael-nadal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/tennis\/novak-djokovic-accused-of-wanting-to-be-roger-federer-or-rafael-nadal\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic accused of ‘wanting to be Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Novak Djokovic has been told that he won fans over by being himself. Former world No 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga believes that the 24-time Grand Slam champion went through a period of \u201cwanting to be\u201d like his rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist is happy to see Djokovic embrace his \u201cwarrior\u201d personality, something he thinks makes the Serb more loveable.<\/p>\n

Djokovic spent much of his career playing catch-up to Federer and Nadal. As the youngest member of the Big Three, he turned pro later on and trailed both men in the Grand Slam tally for years. But he has since surpassed them to be crowned the undisputed GOAT, holding the most Majors in Open Era history and the most all-time weeks at No 1.<\/p>\n

However, the 36-year-old has often struggled to receive the same support and admiration from tennis fans even after breaking his rivals\u2019 records. And retired Frenchman Tsonga believes that it could be because Djokovic spent too long trying to mirror Federer and Nadal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI consider that he had a period where he didn’t want to be himself. He wanted to be Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal, when perhaps he should have remained himself all along. I think today he is himself,\u201d Tsonga told the Generation Do It Yourself podcast.<\/p>\n

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Explaining why the world No 1 had been able to win around some new supporters, the 38-year-old continued: \u201cAnd even if it is divisive, I think that\u2019s why it is appreciated by many people. Because now he’s completely honest. He doesn’t do things to be appreciated. He does things because he considers that they deserve to be done that way. We gain a lot from being ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Tsonga thinks that fans would have gotten behind Djokovic years ago if he was himself. He added: \u201cHe wanted to get away from this warrior image that he has, because he is a Serb, who experienced difficult things in his childhood. So he\u2019s a warrior, he should have assumed it from the start. I think he would have been loved for that.\u201d<\/p>\n