Novak Djokovic's status as the greatest of all time is unharmed despite his Wimbledon final defeat, says Marion Bartoli.
Djokovic's hopes of winning a fifth straight Wimbledon title and a joint-record eighth overall were ended by a superb performance from Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who won in five sets to clinch a second grand slam despite only turning 20 in May.
Now 36, Djokovic has won 23 grand slams, more than any other male player, and though he missed the chance for a record-extending 24th at SW19 last weekend, Bartoli maintains his position as the greatest ever cannot be questioned.
"If you have three or four more grand slams than anyone else, how can you even start the conversation?" she told Stats Perform. "The conversation is over.
"You can sort of go into more details with the surface but overall, especially when you look at the head-to-head and we know that Novak is leading the head-to-head against Roger [Federer] and against Rafa [Nadal].
"We know he's leading on the weeks at number one in the world. We know he has won all the grand slams three times and even more. You know, we know all those numbers. So then, what else do you need?"
For all of Djokovic's success, he has not always proved the most popular of players, in stark contrast to his 'Big Three' rivals Federer and Nadal.
Bartoli does not feel this plays into the conversation of who is the best ever and believes Djokovic can continue to challenge for grand slams in the coming years despite his advanced age.
"If it's then how much you're liked by the crowd," Bartoli said. "That is something that is, you know, not a fact. That's purely an emotion, so you can't judge based on emotions.
"Even now, when you split the first three grand slams [of 2023] only with two players [Djokovic and Alcaraz], it's fair to say that the rest of the field is not quite at the same level as them, so Novak can sustain that level [at the top for longer]."
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