“Still Did Better Than Roddick on One Leg”: Novak Djokovic Lauded After Rivals Fail to Capitalize on His Reduced Tournament Appearances

Novak Djokovic had a relatively sedate 2024 in comparison with his own exalted benchmarks. It is not just a drop in victories though. His appearances have noticeable reduced too. Still, the Serb accomplished far more this season than many players did in the best years of their careers. This fact is being highlighted by his supporters while pushing back the critics, including the retired former US Open champion Andy Roddick.

Djokovic played in only nine ATP events this year, three less than 2023. The 37-year-old managed to reach the finals of the Wimbledon and the Shanghai Masters, and a semifinal appearance at the Australian Open. He won an Olympic gold in Paris, capturing the missing item in his trophy cabinet.

The Serb is ranked sixth in the race to the ATP Finals 2024 in Turin. He looks set to secure a ticket to the year-ending event despite skipping the Paris Masters 2024. As things stand, only Alex de Minaur (No.9) and Grigor Dimitrov (No.10) have a chance of upstaging Novak in the race to Turin. That too, if these two have outstanding results in Paris.

This shows how his rivals failed to capitalize on Djokovic’s absence from tournaments.  His fans do not miss opportunities like these to take a dig at his rivals. Pavvy G, a Novak superfan and a social media influencer, did just that, tweeting:

“Djokovic has barely played this year and he is still the 6th best-performing ATP player of 2024!”

His tweet sparked many reactions from many other fans. One comment, comparing the Serb to former World No.1 Andy Roddick, gained a lot of attention.

Djokovic fans have not forgiven Roddick yet

There is a reason why Djokovic fans have an ire against Roddick. Many of them feel the retired American showed bias against Djokovic on his podcast. Although Andy has refuted these claims, the Serb’s supporters continue to target him on social media.

One user responded to the tweet by Pavvy G by listing all of Djokovic’s achievements this year before taking a jab at Roddick.

“One of his worst years in recent memory and he still did better than Roddick on one leg when you add the Olympic gold,” the user wrote.

The online joust has been ongoing for some time. Roddick has engaged in arguments with a few of the users in the past. He even ended blocking some of them.

Although Roddick has praised Djokovic and appears to be ready to move past the controversy, it’s unclear when Djokovic fans will forgive him.