Pilić: The West is bothered by Djokovic’s success, Novak is undoubtedly the GOAT

Renowned coach Niki Pilić claims that Novak Djokvic is the best player of all time and that the West has a hard time dealing with that.

Sasa Ozmo

October 3, 2021

Nikola Pilic, famous coach and the French Open finalist in 1973, feels that a lot of people in the western world are bothered by the fact that Novak Djokovic has dominated the world of tennis in the past few years and is now in a good position to be considered at the greatest tennis player of all time (GOAT).

Djokovic first came to Pilic’s Academy near Munich, Germany, when he was 12. Novak stayed there for four years and has in the past referred to Pilic as his “tennis father”. Also, Pilic was part of the Serbian Davis Cup team when the title was won in 2010.

“I think his success has hurt the West in a different way”, the Croat was quoted saying by Croatian daily newspaper Vecernji list. “By their understanding of things, the level Djokovic has reached was reserved for someone from the West; and then comes a guy from a small country to dominate the world of tennis. Had Roger Federer done what Djokovic did at the US Open 2020, he would not have been disqualified. (The West) has a problem with Djokovic being the best“.

Had Roger Federer done what Djokovic did at the US Open 2020, he would not have been disqualified. (The West) has a problem with Djokovic being the best.
Niki Pilic

For Pilic, a former world No 6, there is no doubt that Djokovic is the greatest player of all time.

“Djokovic is just phenomenal, he has worked a lot, with no shortcuts. I remember that Serbian journalists were all over me in 2019 trying to get me to say that Novak is the best. I did not want to say it until he won Wimbledon this year. The day he did that, I took a complete and thorough look at the numbers. Novak has got the same number of slam titles as Nadal and Federer, better head-to-head against both, and he is going towards 350 weeks at the top of the rankings”, stated Pilic before adding:

“Djokovic has won the most Masters titles, he is the only player to have won every Slam at least twice, and at one point he had almost 17.000 ATP points – in that moment, he accumulated more points than Murray, Nadal and Federer combined. I am not being biased, Novak is the best of all time“.

Also, Pilic demanded that Djokovic should receive more respect for his humanitarian work.

“Novak has never been to Bergamo in his life, and he donated a million euros there. He renovated or built 437 kindergartens. He invested 8-9 million euros in humanitarian activities“, Pilic said.