Reigning US Open champion Dominic Thiem believes Novak Djokovic is mentally stronger than both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Speaking about the world No.1 for a feature on his own website, the Austrian reflected on the first time he played Djokovic back in 2014. Overall the two have clashed 11 times on the ATP Tour with Djokovic winning seven of those encounters. However, Thiem has won four out of their six most recent meetings dating back to the 2017 French Open when he beat the Serbian for the first time in what he described as an ‘emotional’ victory.
“I played against him for the first time in Shanghai in 2014. He was on a peak. A few days before he had destroyed Tomas Berdych in the Beijing final. I just hoped he wouldn’t crush me. I had immediately noticed the aura of his superb level of play, however, I managed to wriggle out quite well,” he said.
Continuing his praise of Djokovic, Thiem has labelled him as the ‘mentally strongest of all time.’ The 17-time Grand Slam champion has suffered just three losses this year with his most recent occurring in the quarter-finals of the Vienna Open on Friday. His 6-2, 6-1, loss to Lorenzo Sonego was the heaviest of his career in terms of playing best-of-three matches. Coincidentally Thiem also lost in the quarter-finals of the tournament after being beaten by Andrey Rublev.
“He is probably the best player of all time mentally,” Thiem said of Djokovic. “He is extremely professional , always focused one hundred per cent . Novak took the issue of nutrition in tennis onto a higher level.”
Despite his recent loss, Djokovic remains on track to finish the season at the top of the world rankings for a record-equalling sixth time in his career. Something that has only ever been achieved by his idol Pete Sampras.
The ATP Tour will now be heading to Paris for the final Masters 1000 tournament of the season, however both Djokovic and Thiem have opted to skip the event. Djokovic had previously said he wanted to focus on Vienna and London in order to increase his points tally in line with the new ranking calculations. Meanwhile, Thiem has been forced to pull out due to a right foot injury.
