{"id":14158,"date":"2024-12-25T02:54:55","date_gmt":"2024-12-25T02:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=14158"},"modified":"2024-12-25T02:54:55","modified_gmt":"2024-12-25T02:54:55","slug":"novak-djokovic-or-rafael-nadal-jack-draper-names-his-atp-goat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=14158","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal? Jack Draper names his ATP ‘GOAT’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/header>\n
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\"Novak<\/figure>\n

Jack Draper picked between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as the ‘GOAT’.<\/p>\n

Rising tennis star Jack Draper has named Novak Djokovic as his tennis \u2018GOAT\u2019 \u2013 though admitted his \u201cheart\u201d was with Rafael Nadal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alongside Roger Federer, Djokovic and Nadal defined an era of men\u2019s tennis, winning 66 Grand Slam singles titles between them.<\/p>\n

Djokovic holds a record 24 major singles titles with Nadal close behind on 22, with the Spaniard \u2013 most known for his success at Roland Garros \u2013 having retired from tennis in November.<\/p>\n

World No 15 Draper, the current British No 1 in men\u2019s tennis, was asked by Sky Sports<\/em> to pick between Nadal, Djokovic, Federer, and Serena Williams as the greatest tennis player of all time.<\/p>\n

While proclaiming Williams as the greatest female player, Draper put aside his love for Nadal to name Djokovic as the male equivalent.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart is Rafael Nadal,\u201d said the 23-year-old. \u201cBut who do I think is the best tennis player of all time?<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, let\u2019s just separate Serena out because she\u2019s the female GOAT. I think we can put that down. A separate one for, because she\u2019s incredible.<\/p>\n

\u201cOut of these three\u2026when I was growing up, every kit, every new look, was him [Nadal]. He was just so iconic, being a left-hander like myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy head says Novak. My heart is Rafa, but for me, the GOAT is obviously Novak Djokovic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy head says Novak but my heart says Rafa\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack Draper on who the GOAT of tennis is pic.twitter.com\/QktmPYRwTV<\/p>\n

\u2014 Sky Sports Tennis (@SkySportsTennis) December 23, 2024<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Draper will be one of the ATP Tour players to watch in 2025, having finished the best season of his career in 2024.<\/p>\n

After a tricky start to the year, the 23-year-old won his first ATP Tour title in Stuttgart before picking up a career-best win over Carlos Alcaraz at the Queen\u2019s Club.<\/p>\n

Draper would then reach a first Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open, not dropping a set before his loss to Jannik Sinner, and then won the biggest title of his career at the ATP 500 event in Vienna.<\/p>\n

The British star finished the season at a career-high of 15th and looks primed to potentially break into the top 10 over the next 12 months.<\/p>\n

ATP Tour News<\/h2>\n

\u2018It is too early to compare Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner directly to the Big Three\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Novak Djokovic will win another Grand Slam\u2019, predicts tennis legend<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Djokovic \u2013 the last member of the \u2018Big Three\u2019 standing \u2013 will look to win a historic 25th Grand Slam title in 2025.<\/p>\n

The Serbian failed to win a Grand Slam singles title in 2024, his first such season since 2017.<\/p>\n

His best major run came at Wimbledon, where he was beaten by Alcaraz in the final, while he was also an Australian Open semi-finalist.<\/p>\n

However, Djokovic still made history in 2024 after winning Olympic gold in Paris, joining Nadal and Andre Agassi in being one of just three men to complete the Career Golden Slam.<\/p>\n

Read Next<\/strong>:\u00a0The 9 most-played Grand Slam men\u2019s singles final rivalries \u2013 ft Nadal-Federer, Djokovic-Nadal<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jack Draper was asked to pick between the likes of Djokovic and Nadal to name the greatest player in tennis history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis"],"yoast_head":"\nNovak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal? Jack Draper names his ATP 'GOAT' - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=14158\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal? 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