Stan Smith feels Calendar Slam is "going to be hard" for Novak Djokovic, says he's "surprised" Federer & Nadal have never been in this position

Stan Smith believes Novak Djokovic's pursuit of the Calendar Slam will be far from easy, even though he considers the Serb a "heavy favorite" to lift the US Open title. Smith also expressed surprise that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have never come as close to achieving the Calendar Slam as Djokovic has.

Novak Djokovic has already won the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon this year. If he manages to lift the US Open trophy too, he will become the first man in more than 50 years to complete the set of all four Majors in a single season.

Rod Laver was the first and last man to complete the Calendar Slam in the Open Era, a feat he achieved in 1969.

Novak Djokovic has spoken extensively about his Calendar Slam ambitions, even claiming it would be the greatest achievement of his career. Against that background, Rod Laver recently opined that Djokovic could be adding pressure on himself by openly declaring his objectives.

Now Stan Smith, a two-time Slam champion, has echoed Laver's thoughts. In a recent conversation with ATP, Smith asserted that Djokovic is the "heavy favorite" to win the US Open but cautioned that the task on hand would be difficult for him.

"It's hard. It’s going to be hard for Djokovic," Smith told ATPTour.com. "He's a heavy favourite, he's committed to do it. He's not saying, 'Well, maybe…'. He's really committed to do it. Unless he gets hurt, he's the heavy favorite."

Stan Smith went on to claim that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had the ability to complete the Calendar Slam too, given that they both won three Majors in a year.

"Nadal and Federer are certainly capable and they’ve won three [in a year]," Smith said. "I am surprised that one of those guys hasn't been in that position."

Roger Federer won three Slams in a year thrice (2004, 2006 and 2007), but he fell short at Roland Garros on each occasion. Rafael Nadal thwarted him in the summit clash at Paris in 2006 and 2007, which in hindsight was the closest the Swiss ever came to completing the Calendar Slam.

Nadal has twice thwarted Federer in the years he won three Slams

Nadal meanwhile won the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open in 2010. But he never came close to winning the Calendar Slam, given that he had lost in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open that year.

Novak Djokovic, on the other hand, is now seven match wins away from his fourth Major trophy of 2021. The Serbian star will be confident of doing well on the New York hardcourts, where he has emerged victorious three times.

When I see Novak Djokovic miss a backhand, I'm sort of surprised: Stan Smith

Novak Djokovic striking a backhand

During the conversation, Stan Smith heaped praise on Novak Djokovic's backhand, which is regarded by many as the greatest of all time. The American claimed he is "surprised" on the rare occasions Djokovic misses a backhand because, according to him, the Serb's balance while striking that particular shot is nearly flawless.

"When I see him miss a backhand, I'm sort of surprised because he’s usually in great balance and in that match he’d maybe be out of balance one out of 15 times," Smith said. "The rest of the time he is on balance and when he’s on balance, he doesn’t miss too much. If he misses, he doesn’t miss by much."

Stan Smith further pointed out that Novak Djokovic is a different beast altogether when it comes to hardcourt tennis. Smith reckons the rest of the field would have to play out of their skin to beat the Serb at the US Open.

The 74-year-old went on to reference Djokovic's Roland Garros final against Stefanos Tsitsipas, where he came back from two sets down to lift the title. According to Smith, Djokovic never panics even in the worst of situations, regardless of the surface.

Novak Djokovic after winning the 2021 French Open

"Hardcourts might be Djokovic's favorite surface, and so someone is going to have to play really well," Smith said. "Having said that, he played a terrible couple of sets at the French, where he just played the first two sets in the final really badly, but came back and played great."

"I don’t know what it was, but it was really bad for him and I thought he was done," Smith added. "The fact that he came back there and played great tennis, it just shows he’s got the confidence that if things go bad, he’s not going to panic. A lot of people do [panic]."