{"id":34760,"date":"2025-03-21T02:44:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T02:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34760"},"modified":"2025-03-21T02:44:50","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T02:44:50","slug":"when-jimmy-connors-claimed-that-roger-federer-and-rafael-nadal-could-not-be-considered-the-greatest-players-of-their-own-generation-for-this-reason-%f0%9f%98%b3-full-story-here-%f0%9f%91%87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34760","title":{"rendered":"When Jimmy Connors claimed that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal COULD NOT be considered the greatest players of their own generation for this reason! \ud83d\ude33 Full Story here \ud83d\udc47"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Jimmy Connors has claimed that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal cannot be considered the greatest players of their own generation due to Novak Djokovic’s dominance.<\/p>\n

Connors joined his son Brett on the ‘Advantage Connors’ podcast to discuss the recently concluded 2023 Wimbledon Championships. In the men’s final of the grasscourt Major, Carlos Alcaraz defeated Djokovic 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 to claim his second Grand Slam title.<\/p>\n

During the podcast, Brett Connors commented on the Wimbledon crowd seemingly favoring Alcaraz over the Serb. He questioned the apparent lack of support for arguably the greatest player in history.<\/p>\n

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Jimmy Connors responded that the lack of crowd support for the 23-time Grand Slam champion stemmed from fans believing that he had already achieved enough in his career. Connors expressed his disagreement with this perspective.<\/p>\n

He highlighed how both\u00a0Federer\u00a0and Nadal were hailed as the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) and enjoyed overwhelming crowd support. This was despite the duo not being the undisputed greatest players of their own era.<\/p>\n

“It comes to a point where a lot of people think he\u2019s had enough. To me that\u2019s bulls**t. Look at all the people that were on the Federer bandwagon and the Nadal bandwagon as the greatest of all time. They\u2019re not even the greatest of all time in their own era,” he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The American stated that despite the crowd’s desire for the Serb to step aside and a new contender to emerge, he wanted the 36-year-old to keep going.<\/p>\n

“They think that maybe he\u2019s had enough and it\u2019s time for somebody else to come up. I look at it the other way, I say ‘Kill it.’ Stay out there and play until somebody just comes up and beats your brains out because you always got a chance to win,” he added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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“As long as Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are playing, there’ll be no change of era” – Carlos Alcaraz<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Novak
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Carlos Alcaraz’s victory at Wimbledon 2023 put an end to\u00a0N<\/a>ovak Djokovic’s 34-match winning streak at SW19. It also marked the Serb’s first defeat on Centre Court in 10 years.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the Spaniard’s triumph put an end to the dominant reign of Roger Federer,\u00a0Rafael Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray at Wimbledon. Alcaraz became the first Wimbledon champion outside of the Big 4 since Lleyton Hewitt in 2002.<\/p>\n

After the match, the 20-year-old was asked whether his victory at SW19 signalled the start of a new era in tennis. He\u00a0contended\u00a0that as long as Nadal and Djokovic remained active players, there would be no change of era.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think so, I don’t think so because as long as Rafa and Djokovic are playing and are active, there will be no change of era. In a few years, when they retire and don’t play anymore, the debate may come up again. Now it’s not the moment,” he told Marca.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic Jimmy Connors has claimed that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal cannot be considered the greatest players of their own generation… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Jimmy Connors claimed that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal COULD NOT be considered the greatest players of their own generation for this reason! \ud83d\ude33 Full Story here \ud83d\udc47 - 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=34760\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When Jimmy Connors claimed that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal COULD NOT be considered the greatest players of their own generation for this reason! 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