"Like Serena Williams & Martina Navratilova, Novak Djokovic has done the next best thing" - Paul McNamee downplays Serb's lack of calendar grand slam

Paul McNamee recently took to social media to lavish praise on Novak Djokovic. The former Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Open spoke highly of the season that the Serb had put together this year before drawing a comparison between him and past greats of the sport.

The 23-time Major winner started his 2023 season in emphatic fashion, winning the first two Major tournaments of the year in Melbourne and Paris. He could've very well won Wimbledon too, but was denied by Carlos Alcaraz in the championship match in a five-set tussle.

Djokovic has carried his rich vein of form to New York this fortnight and will be a firm favorite to win the third Major title of his season when he takes on Daniil Medvedev on Sunday. In that context, McNamee was effusive in his praise of the 36-year-old's year-to-date performance.

The Aussie stated that Djokovic missed out on the opportunity to complete the much sought-after "calendar year grand slam" this year. He added that the Serb could take pride in the fact that he was one of the few players in the Open era to have completed a non-calendar-year sweep of all four Major tournaments.

McNamee also mentioned the likes of Serena Williams and Martina Navratilova in his post on social media.

"Novak Djokovic may or may not miss the calendar year Slam again by a single match. Remarkable. But let’s not forget that, like Serena and Martina, he has done the next best thing… holding all four Slams at the same time, which is arguably just as good," McNamee wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

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Novak Djokovic, Rod Laver, Serena Williams, Steffi Graf, Margaret Court, and Martina Navratilova are the only singles players to hold 4 Major titles at once

Margaret Court and Rod Laver are honored at the 2020 Australian Open

For what it's worth, McNamee made a major oversight in his social media post. He missed Rod Laver, Margaret Court, and Steffi Graf in his list of pro tennis players who have held all four Major tournaments at some point in their careers.

Laver, Court, and Graf, for their part, completed the elusive calendar-year grand slam in 1969, 1970, and 1988, respectively.

Navratilova, meanwhile, happens to be the only player in the Open era to have won four consecutive Major titles in singles (from 1983 Wimbledon to 1984 French Open), doubles (from 1984 French Open to 1985 Australian Open), and mixed doubles (from 1986 Wimbledon to 1987 French Open).

Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams joined the aforementioned four players in the exclusive club in the 21st century.

While the American completed a non-calendar-year grand slam in both singles (2002–03, 2014–15) and doubles (2009–10), the Serb emulated her achievement by going on an unbeaten run between 2015 Wimbledon and 2016 Roland Garros.