Novak Djokovic admitted he was not “comfortable” during his interview with Piers Morgan as he refused to answer whether he should be regarded as the greatest tennis player of all time. The Serbian superstar recently sat down with the broadcaster for a chat about his life on and off the court, with the interview being released earlier in the week.

Djokovic has won a record 24 men’s Grand Slam singles titles throughout his illustrious career, with his most recent triumph at a Major coming in 2023 when he overcame Daniil Medvedev in the US Open final. The 38-year-old, who moved to Greece earlier this year, reached the semi-finals of every Grand Slam this year but now struggles to match Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz on the court.

When asked about being tennis’ GOAT (greatest of all time), the veteran stated: “My answer is quite consistent when it comes to overall, general discussion on the greatest of all time, and I’m going to say it again, which is, I’m not going to say whether I’m the greatest or not because it’s not my position to say that.

“And I would say that that would be very disrespectful towards the generations that have paved the way for me, [Rafael] Nadal, [Roger] Federer, and all the others. It’s so hard to compare eras.”

And Djokovic explained: “Bjorn Borg was the first one that stayed back. He would come in, but he stayed back a lot, and that would confuse quite a lot of players, hence his incredible career and achievements.

“We would probably be sitting down today and talking about Borg being the greatest if he kept going.

“He retired when he was 26 and he won 11 Grand Slams. Which, I mean, Alcaraz is kind of on the way to doing something like that.

“Again, I don’t feel really comfortable. I appreciate the fact that you are bringing this forward to me but I never felt really comfortable to talk about myself as being the greatest because I consider myself as a great student of the game and I respect the history of the game, I respect all of the greats.

“Some of those greats were my coaches like Boris Becker for example, that I consider as part of my family. So I just feel more comfortable leaving that discussion to others. And of course a great honour, privilege, to be part of that discussion.”

Djokovic was forced to pull out of this week’s ATP Finals ahead of the event in Turin due to a shoulder injury and will now be turning his attention to the 2026 season and the Australian Open in January. The star won his final tournament of the year a week ago when he got the better of Lorenzo Musetti at the Hellenic Championship in Athens.