Novak Djokovic was once perplexed when John McEnroe compared his personal life to Tiger Woods’ in terms of their performance slumps.
The 2017 season proved challenging for Djokovic, as he failed to win any Grand Slams, suffering a second-round exit at the Australian Open and quarterfinal exits at both the French Open and Wimbledon. He suffered from an elbow injury afterwards which sidelined him for the rest of the year and caused him to miss the US Open.
McEnroe was among those openly critical of Djokovic, who hadn’t won a major since the 2016 Roland-Garros. The American drew parallels between the Serb slump and Tiger Woods while speaking during BBC’s Wimbledon 2017 coverage and compared their personal lives. Woods had notably faced a similar dry spell in titles following his highly publicized fallout with his ex-wife, Elin Nordegren.
“The person that comes to mind immediately with Novak is not a tennis player, it’s actually a golfer: Tiger Woods,” McEnroe said (via ESPN).
“[Woods] had the issues with his wife, and then he seemed to go completely off the rails and has never been even close to being the same player. So we’re starting to say, ‘Wait a minute, is this possible with [Djokovic]?'” he added.
Novak Djokovic addressed John McEnroe’s controversial comments during a conversation with the media following his second-round victory over Adam Pavlasek at SW19 that year.
While unsure of McEnroe’s motives, the 24-time Major champion speculated that it might have been related to a playful incident during a warm-up session, where he jokingly landed a serve at the former World No. 1.
“I don’t know where was the basis or if he [John McEnroe] was just maybe making a comparison,” Djokovic said (via ESPN). “I’m not really sure. When I was warming up for my first match on the Centre Court [on Tuesday], he was giving an intro, talking to the camera, and I served and the serve went straight at him as I was playing.”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because of that. Maybe he thought it wasn’t a joke, and I was joking; I was trying to hit him. I don’t know. I take it very lightly. I don’t think there was any kind of really wrong intention from his side towards me,” he added.
Novak Djokovic: “John McEnroe is very well-known for his bold comments; I don’t take anything personal”
In that same conversation with the press, Novak Djokovic said that he didn’t take John McEnroe’s “bold comments” personally, acknowledging the American’s outspoken nature.
“He’s very well-known for his kind of bold comments and not really caring too much about being politically correct, but saying whatever is on his mind,” the Serb said.
“That’s all I can say. I really don’t take anything personal,” he continued further.
Djokovic got engaged to his long-term girlfriend Jelena in 2013 after eight years of dating, and tied the knot a year later. The couple share two children: a nine-year-old son named Stefan, and a seven-year-old daughter named Tara.
