Serena Williams seemed overwhelmed, Novak Djokovic's not afraid: Davenport about players being on brink of breaking Margaret Court's Grand Slam record

Lindsay Davenport recently talked about the mindsets of Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams while being on the brink of breaking Margaret Court's Grand Slam singles record. Court won an impressive 24 singles Major titles throughout her career .

During her career, the Aussie amassed a total of 64 Grand Slam titles, including 24 in singles, 19 in women's doubles, and 21 in mixed doubles.

Serena Williams concluded her career with a combined 39 major titles, with 23 in singles, 14 in women's doubles, and two in mixed doubles . Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic only has 24 Grand Slam singles titles to his name.

The Serb is currently competing at Wimbledon and reached the final of the tournamet, where he will take on Carlos Alcaraz. Victory for Djokovic will see him win a record 25th singles Major, thus surpassing Court's record.

Recently, while speaking at the Tennis Channel, Lindsay Davenport talked about how, Serena Williams, who retired from the sport in September 2022, was trying to catchup to and then break Margaret Court's record of most number of Grand Slam singles title won.

Davenport noted that after Williams claimed her 23rd Grand Slam title at the 2017 Australian Open, she appeared to be "overwhelmed" and struggled under the pressure of matching or surpassing Court's record.

“Given how this year is gone also for him, he hasn’t reached a final until tomorrow. So for him kind of a surprising 2024 season overall. Couple of years ago, trying to catch Margaret Court and beat her record was really driving Serena [Williams] and she would talk about it a lot and it seemed to maybe be overwhelming for her when she reached the Grand Slam finals after becoming a mom,” Lindsay Davenport said [0:45].

Davenport also stated that in the case of Novak Djokovic, he has the ability to thrive under pressure. She said that the Serb, who has already equalled Margaret Court's record of most number of singles Grand Slams won, is not afraid to talk about his ambitions and his goals and doesn't get overwhelmed like Williams.

Davenport also acknowledged Djokovic's awareness of the records within his reach, such as potentially equaling Roger Federer's record for the most Wimbledon singles titles won, which currently stands at eight.

“Novak just talking about it very calmly in there, not afraid to talk about it, not afraid to discuss his goals either. I thought it was also very interesting being very well aware of how many Wimbledons Roger [Federer] had and trying to tie him tomorrow. That’s another big driving point for him,” she added [1:06].

Novak Djokovic surpassed Serena Williams' 23 Grand Slam titles by winning US Open 2023

US Open 2023

In 2023, Novak Djokovic equalled Serena Williams' record of 23 Grand Slam titles won after he clinched the French Open title by defeating Casper Ruud in the final.

Djokovic then went onto surpass Williams by winning the US Open later that year. The Serb was seeded second in the tournament and defeated the likes of Alexandre Muller, Bernabe Zapata Miralles, compatriot and 32nd sed Laslo Djere and qualifier Borna Gojo in the first four rounds.

The former World No.1 then overcame ninth seed Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals and Ben Shelton in the semifinals to advance to the final.

In the championship showdown, Novak Djokovic defeated third seed Daniil Medvedev with a score of 6–3, 7–6(5), 6–3 to win the 2023 US Open title. This was his fourth US Open title and his record-extending 24th men's singles Grand Slam title overall.