As greatness recognizes greatness, the prolific striker for English Premier League soccer club Manchester City, Erling Haaland recently called out tennis GOAT Novak Djokovic as his “sporting hero”. This got the Serbian legend’s attention and he responded to the post as well on X. Subsequently, it led to a social media battle between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic fans. Here’s diving into the rabbit hole of the battle.
An interviewer, who was reading a fan query, asked Erling Haaland the following question:
“Who is sporting hero from another sport and why?”, asked the interviewer.
Haaland ponders for a while and responds, “I like Djokovic. I think he is good, he is being himself, and yeah… what he has achieved is also amazing coming from nowehere, from his country. So, yeah, I think Djokovic.”
The small snippet was taken from Haaland’s recent interview and shared on X. It soon got wind of Djokovic, who then responded gracefully to it.
“Thank you bro @ErlingHaaland”, wrote Djokovic.
Djokovic previously mentioned his home country Serbia, which although in Europe, isn’t a powerhouse in sports like other Western countries. He believes this was also the reason why he didn’t gel well with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal early in his career and why he has been portrayed over the years as a villain in the tennis world.
Mesmerized by Djokovic’s fandom spreading far and wide, his fans couldn’t help but take a dig at Federer and Nadal. They started pointing out how both of the Big Three members besides Djokovic, never had this kind of pull and devotion from other players.
This didn’t take long for Federer fans to dig deep and find something that was an appropriate, if not a better answer. If Haaland is currently ruling the soccer circuit, Lionel Messi is the GOAT, most believe. An Instagram post by Lionel Messi from 2022, paying tribute to Roger Federer after his retirement after the Laver Cup, suddenly started going viral.
Calling Federer “genius” and “unique”, Messi’s words were that of a devout fan. Federer too acknowledged it by saying “Thank you” and calling his words “kind”.
But somehow, even something as innocuous and sweet as these loving tributes turned into a social media battle about who is better than Federer and Djokovic.
Is Novak Djokovic more successful than Roger Federer? Many remain divided
Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have shared an intense rivalry over the years. It started with the 2006 Davis Cup where Federer was angry with Djokovic. It developed into something big two years later when Djokovic beat Roger Federer at the Australian Open 2008 finals for the first time and clinched the title. An endearing and everlasting rivalry was thus born, making many question whether is Novak Djokovic more successful than Roger Federer or not.
Starting with Grand Slams, Djokovic has 24 titles, more than anyone else. Federer, on the other hand, won 20 Grand Slams in his career and is 3rd in the list after Rafael Nadal, who is at 22. Federer held the record for ‘Most Grand Slam Singles in Men’s Tennis’ for the longest time until Nadal broke his, and soon after Djokovic broke Nadal’s. In their head-to-head battle, Federer won 23 matches as compared to Djokovic winning 27. Most of Djokovic’s wins came later whereas Federer dominated their early encounters.
Some of their other numbers would be meeting 19 times in finals, with Federer winning 6 and Djokovic 13. At Majors too, the head-to-head record stands 11-6 in Djokovic’s favor. Novak Djokovic is clearly ahead in numbers of Roger Federer. However, overall tennis fans will love their intense battle on the court and will miss it dearly. Another trivia to solidify their rivalry dominance is that Djokovic is the only player to defeat Federer at all four Grand Slams and Federer to Djokovic vice-versa.
However, many Roger Federer fans believe that numbers are not the only way to measure a player’s success but the impact they create with them as well as their style of play and persona. Federer had all those ingredients and revitalised tennis arguably at a critical time when Pete Sampras retired in 2003 and Andre Agassi followed in 2006. The Swiss star’s elegance on court, fashion sense and largely gracious and witty personality off court played a huge role in him being the most popular and marketable tennis player of all-time across the world. Rafael Nadal is one big fan of Roger Federer despite being his biggest rival from the mid-2000s.
