Andy Murray has admitted he does not care who wins the GOAT race in tennis between the Big Three in tennis. But the Scot said he was “jealous” watching the epic semi-final showdown between Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal at the French Open.
The Serb’s Roland Garros triumph took him to 19 Grand Slam singles titles – one behind the record held by the Spaniard and Roger Federer. The world No.1 can equal the mark by winning Wimbledon and set a new high by completing a calendar Grand Slam at the US Open.
Asked if Djokovic will be the GOAT, Murray said: “None of their careers are finished yet, so I think obviously you have to wait and see what happens.
“But he’s won every Masters Series twice. And yesterday has won every slam twice, as well, which for him is something that that obviously stands out as where you could make that argument, that is incredible what he’s done.
“Then, with Rafa you would then look and go: ‘Well, on clay he’s won 13 French Opens. That’s the most that anyone has won at a single slam. That’s incredible’.
“Then with Roger, he’s been doing it all multiple kind of generations now. He’s still able to compete at the highest level. He’s 39 years old.
“You know, his record and his results on grass are unmatched. “All of them have, you know, things that or achievements that you could argue make them better than another.
“I’m not that fussed about who is the best. I think there is no doubt that it’s been the best era in tennis history. I know people said the same thing like when Sampras won 14.
“It was like: God, I don’t think anyone is ever going to beat that, or, It’s going to take a long time for someone to beat a record of 14, and then you’ve got three guys that are probably going to win 20-plus majors in the next generation.
“So it’s incredible what all of them have done. It’s been great to have played during that period and also challenging, but, yeah, I think as a tennis fan it’s been a great, great time to get to watch it and play a small part in it as a player, as well.”
World No.124 Murray will make his latest comeback at the cinch Championships on Tuesday.
Asked if the level of tennis between Djokovic and Nadal had made him think it would be harder to return to the top of the game, the three-time Major winner said: “It depends what my goal is.
“If my goal is to get to No. 1 in the world or to win majors, if that’s the only reason why I would continue playing tennis, which it isn’t, because if it was then I would have stopped three, four years ago.
“I got asked yesterday in an interview, like, At Queen’s what’s been your best memories, Queen’s looking back?
“And it is winning the doubles at Queen’s with Feli (Feliciano Lopez in 2019). For me it was really special, and I still created a memory and something I will look back on and be very proud and look back on that fondly.
“You can still do things on the court outside of winning slams or competing with those guys, you know, which you can enjoy. What I’m trying to do as well has not happened before, so that’s my own part of, you know, my career and my journey that I like that, as well.
“In terms of that match, it was an incredible match. There is a bit of me that’s jealous watching that, like I would love to be playing in those matches, I would love to still be competing with them in semis and stuff of slams, I would love that. I’m not going to try and hide that.
“But, I also respect incredibly what they are doing and the level of tennis that they are playing.
“They both played amazing. So many points in that match were just incredible. Fair play to those guys that they are still out there doing it. But, I don’t look at that match and think about my own career really, like I wasn’t thinking that really as I was playing like what this means for me really.”
