"One day it will be clear to everyone that Novak Djokovic is a man born once in 100 years" - Serb's ex-coach Nikola Pilic

Nikola Pilic has spoken highly of his former pupil Novak Djokovic, saying that he was a generational athlete.

Former World No. 6 Pilic, who trained Djokovic at his tennis academy in Munich during the Serbian's formative years, showered the Serbian with praise in an interview where he touched on a host of topics, including who was the greatest tennis player of all time.

Pilic, who was once called his “tennis father” by Djokovic, likened the pair's working relationship to Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel.

“There are 200,000 tennis coaches in the world, but only about 30 can create players. I put 39 of them among the top 100. I don’t want to compare myself to anyone, but it’s the same as when Michelangelo was painting the church ceiling, and before that, he sketched how it should all look up there,” he told Serbian media outlet Vecernje Novosti.

“After three months, both he [Djokovic] and I saw that it was better, and after six months even better. He was hurting, I was hurting all over, too. But we made it,” he added.

Pilic further said that Djokovic is a generational athlete who isn't just the pride of Serbia but of the entire Balkan region, which comprises other countries like Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, and Slovenia.

The 84-year-old acknowledged that many in the West are jealous of the 24-time Grand Slam winner's achievements.

"The Balkans have their great qualities, not only in sports, but also a lot of negative, wild things. But one day it will be clear to everyone that Novak is a man who is born once in a hundred years. And the whole region loves him," he said.

"But there are also some who are jealous. Such always exist. They are not important. Novak has both personality and charisma, and that bothers the West a lot. Let them mind," he added.

Later, citing his Wimbledon ban in 1973, the Croatian coach clearly expressed that he would decline any prospective invitation to the Tennis Hall of Fame.

"I also bothered them, with the Wimbledon boycott. I'm probably the only athlete today who would refuse to be invited to the Hall of Fame. I would refuse it for a reason!" he expressed.

Pilic was barred from taking part in the 1973 Wimbledon Championships by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (now the ITF) for refusing to play a Davis Cup match for his native Yugoslavia.

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Nikola Pilic picks Novak Djokovic over Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal as the greatest tennis player of all time

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic at the 2022 Laver Cup.

Over the last few years, tennis fans have been debating about who the greatest tennis player of all time was. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic — popularly known as the Big 3 — all have various reasons to lay a claim to the title.

When asked about the same, Nikola Pilic gave a bunch of statistics to explain that the Serbian can be considered the best player to have graced the sport.

"I'm not interested in anything else but numbers. I'll list just six things for you. In 2016, Novak had almost 17,000 ATP points! More than Federer, Nadal and Murray combined. Number two: he has a positive score with all of them. Number three: He is the only one to win all four Grand Slams in a row," he said.

"Four: Has the most consecutive Grand Slam wins, 30. Five: Has won the most Grand Slams, 24. Six: It will be 410 weeks at No. 1 on January 30. How old is that? And in this generation, which is the best in the last hundred years. And now someone will tell me that I am subjective? I am objective with numbers," he added.