On the eve of this Australian Open, Sir Andy Murray took a new angle on tennis’s greatest of all time debate.
Asked to evaluate his new coaching client Novak Djokovic, and their prospects of lifting the title together, Murray replied: “If Novak can go out as a 38, 39-year-old and win more slams, and beat [Carlos] Alcaraz and [Jannik] Sinner in big matches, he’s got a claim to be the best athlete of all time.”
Murray was not just talking tennis’s greatest of all time, because Djokovic’s ownership of that honour has long since been put to bed. He was backing Djokovic’s claim to be the pre-eminent performer across the whole of sport; nay, the whole of sporting history.
At the time, this might have seemed like an overreach. But after watching Djokovic defeat Alcaraz across four electric sets on Tuesday night, Murray’s claim felt more relevant than ever.
Who does this? Which 37-year-old beats a 21-year-old phenomenon, over the best of five sets, while carrying an injury somewhere in the hip/thigh/groin region?
It made for irresistible viewing. Remember, this was the biggest age gap for a grand-slam tournament quarter-final since a 19-year-old Andre Agassi took on a 36-year-old Jimmy Connors at the 1989 US Open.
On that memorable night, Agassi finished the stronger in a five-set epic, telling reporters afterwards: “The longer the match went on, the more it leaned towards my side. My strategy was to make him work.”
But on January 21, 2025, Alcaraz found himself unable to break Djokovic’s vice-like hold, both on his own serve and on the match in general. Over more than three-and-a-half hours, Djokovic confounded the best shot-maker of the new generation, pre-empting his every move and making him look positively naive.
Where are the parallels for such a feat of age denial, especially in an individual sport with a significant physical and aerobic dimension? Andy Roddick, the former world No 1, is fond of saying that “Time is undefeated”, but Djokovic is coming closer than anyone in history to beating the clock.
One might think back to the most famous lines ever uttered by the BBC boxing correspondent Harry Carpenter, in relation to Muhammad Ali’s victory over George Foreman in Kinshasa: “Oh my God! He’s won the title back at 32!”
Well, by Djokovic’s standards, Ali was a babe in arms.
Will it end here for the grand old man of Melbourne Park? Or could Djokovic yet land an 11th Australian Open crown, and thus become the first player – man or woman – to clock up 25 major titles?
The draw is certainly opening up for him. At the time of writing, both the two leading players on the rankings ladder were still in the tournament. But Jannik Sinner, the world No 1, has been in indifferent health and No 2 Alexander Zverev is a perennial under-performer at the majors.
There is another potential record at stake here, because if Djokovic were to knock off the top three seeds on the way to the title, he would be notching yet another unprecedented feat.
Admittedly, Djokovic’s own state of fitness remains an unknown. There’s still an outside chance that he will not even participate in Friday’s semi-finals. But if he does, look out. Two more wins would further cement his place at the pinnacle of the sporting pantheon.
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