Novak Djokovic will next be seen in action at the Paris Olympics, aiming for the gold medal in his trophy cabinet.

Serbian tennis legend Novak Djokovic has achieved a lot throughout his tennis career. With 24 Grand Slam titles and almost a century of ATP titles to his name, there is no doubt that the right-hander will go down as potentially the greatest player of all time.

However, the topic of Djokovic that has divided opinion within the tennis community is his popularity. The Belgrade native has always been seen as someone who wasn’t as adored as his great rivals, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Leading tennis manager Patricio Apey shared his take on this topic.

Novak is just great. I’ve been lucky enough to get to know him down the years. I’ve done some things for his Foundation and I don’t have the smallest bad word to say about him. Of course, everyone will care how fans view them, but I’m not sure it’s entirely true to say that Djokovic is not popular.

Patricio Apey said in an interview with Tennis365

In the documentary ‘Federer: Twelve Final Days’, the Swiss Maestro also shared his opinion on this topic. Federer claimed that the 37-year-old was more of a ‘party crasher’ to the ‘Fedal’ fans, as the tennis community was happy with the Swiss and the Spaniard as the two heroes rather than a third icon.

A lot of Federer and Nadal fans will want to drive that message, but he is caring, he is as intelligent as can be and is a class act in so many ways. He can attend an event for a charity or a foundation and deliver a 30-minute speech about the mission of the organization without a single note. He is always so impressive. He’s so grounded, centred and comfortable in his skin. That’s more important than anything anyone can say about him. You can’t please all of the people all of the time, that’s the reality.

Patricio Apey added

Djokovic’s relationship with the tennis crowds has added fuel to this topic. It was seen recently in the Wimbledon fourth-round match against Holger Rune, when the 24-time Grand Slam champion lashed out at the crowd for disrespecting him during the match.

Novak Djokovic shares Paris Olympics outfit

24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic is already looking ahead to two key events for the rest of the season: the US Open and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. He mentioned this in a press conference after his loss to Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final.
Novak Djokovic (via Open Source/X)
For the Paris Olympics, Djokovic’s outfit has been revealed. He will wear a red polo with blue inserts on the sides and collar, paired with white shorts. His shoes will be white with his technical logo, featuring the colors of the Serbian flag, red and blue.

Djokovic knows he needs to step up his game for both the US Open and the Olympics. Losing to Alcaraz at Wimbledon means he missed the chance to match Roger Federer‘s record of eight titles at the All-England Club.

More concerning is that Djokovic hasn’t won a single tournament in 2024 yet, and Wimbledon was his first final of the season. This is the first time since 2005 that he has reached August without a title.