"He spent the last 10-15 years chasing down Roger Federer & Rafael Nadal, but now he's stuck in the mud" - Patrick McEnroe on Novak Djokovic

Patrick McEnroe recently appeared on ESPN's Sports Center, where he spoke about Novak Djokovic's vaccine stance and what the future holds for the Serb. McEnroe called Djokovic as the best player he's ever seen, but lamented the fact that the Serb was squandering an opportunity to put distance between himself and his rivals in the GOAT race by remaining unvaccinated.

Djokovic said in an interview on Tuesday that he would be ready to sacrifice Grand Slam titles to stay true to his principles of freedom of choice. The Serb faces the prospect of being barred from a number of major tournaments, including the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open this year.

Reacting to Djokovic's comments, Patrick McEnroe questioned why the Serb would be willing to let years of effort spent catching up to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal go to waste in such a manner.

"Novak Djokovic has been clearly the best tennis player in the world and in my opinion, he is the greatest player I have seen of all time. Well, he is bypassing the opportunity, as he did in Australia, to continue to do what he does," said Patrick McEnroe.

"He spent the last 10 to 15 years chasing down Roger Federer, chasing down Rafael Nadal. He finally caught them & he was ready to sprint past them. But now he’s stuck in the mud because of this decision to not take the vaccine," added the former player.

Novak Djokovic set to return to action at the Dubai Tennis Championships

Novak Djokovic at the Davis Cup Finals 2021

Novak Djokovic has not played a match since December, when he represented Serbia at the Davis Cup. He pulled out of the ATP Cup at the start of the season and was then deported from Australia, preventing him from defending his title at Melbourne Park.

The World No. 1 is set to kick off his season at the Dubai Tennis Championships next week. Djokovic has won the tournament five times, most recently in 2020, when he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final.

Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, Jannik Sinner, Andrey Rublev, and Aslan Karatsev have also signed up for the ATP 500 event.