The going has not been easy for Novak Djokovic this year. The Serb has struggled with form and fitness and has played in only a handful tournaments. His struggles were quite evident during his third-round match against Lorenzo Musetti. Nonetheless, the Serb managed to hold his nerves and continue his run at the French Open with a comeback win after being 2-1 down. While Djokovic’s fighting spirit was evident in that match, age-old criticism of Roger Federer about Djokovic went viral on social media.

During an interview at the Australian Open in the past, Federer revealed Djokovic’s run at the 2009 US Open, “He’s not the guy who has never given up in his career. He gave up against me in Monaco last year because of a sore throat. Those are the kind of things you wonder about.” However, these words by Federer didn’t go down well with Djokovic’s fans, who slammed the Swiss maestro for his thoughts.

After squandering a set point and surrendering a two-set lead, the 37-year-old found himself down 2-1 against a much younger Lorenzo Musetti (by 15 years) who appeared to have more stamina. He ultimately secured a hard-fought victory in four hours and 29 minutes, with the final set a dominant 6-0 display. One of the fans pointed out how Djokovic proved Federer wrong after fighting his way back to remain in contention for the 2024 French Open crown. The comment read, “That aged well for Roger then.” 

However, this wasn’t the first time Djokovic had faced such adversity at Roland Garros. Just like in 2021, when he rallied from two sets down to defeat Musetti in the fourth round, Djokovic dug deep and shut down his opponent’s momentum from the baseline. Meanwhile, one of the Twitter users was brutal in his criticism of Federer and hit out at the 20-time Grand Slam champion for his harsh words.

Similarly, another fan slammed Federer’s arrogance towards his rivals, saying, “He really was overly arrogant in the beginning specially with Nole.. But I feel like hes humbled somewhat over the time he was seeing Novak do wonders..” Further, another fan had additional dimension to the criticism of Federer for his remarks on Djokovic. While the fan called out the Swiss maestro for his arrogance, he also termed him “arrogant” and “fake.” Lastly, one of the fans commented that Federer had little idea that his thoughts would prove to be wrong against Djokovic.

Despite Djokovic not enjoying fans’ support fully as Federer and Rafael Nadal enjoyed during their matches, he has always had massive respect for his rivals. As a result, when Nadal made a personal comment about Djokovic, the latter made a heartening revelation.

Novak Djokovic maintains the utmost respect for his rivals

During an interview once, Nadal made an unwanted comment about Djokovic’s life. He stated, “Novak could be frustrated because he lives everything more intensely, and that’s why he’s the best.” However, Djokovic took Nadal’s comments in his stride and instead of hitting back at Nadal, maintained that he has huge respect for his rivals.

Djokovic revealed, “I have no intention of speaking in a negative light about him or Roger Federer – my respect towards them supersedes some negative opinions I might have. Again, that’s Rafa’s opinion and I, of course, don’t agree. I have my opinion, but I won’t share it as I don’t want us to go deeper into that. There is no need for that.” 

The Serb is in pursuit of a record 25th Grand Slam title at the French Open. He will take on Francisco Cerundolo in the fourth round. It’ll be interesting to see if Djokovic can live up to his favorites tag and prevail at Roland Garros.