Coach Goran Ivanisevic says Novak Djokovic is embracing the pressure of impending history, not cracking beneath it.
Djokovic beat Jenson Brooksby in the fourth round of the US Open on Monday to leave him just three wins away from the first calendar Grand Slam for more than 50 years.
If he can go on and win it, Djokovic would also go out in front in the career Grand Slam race – a record he currently shares with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Many analysts and pundits have suggested the pressure will be too great for Djokovic and he will ultimately fail to win the US Open because of it, but Ivanisevic is having none of it.
“He has pressure,” Ivanisevic told atptour.com. “Everybody feels the pressure.
“You can see in the matches sometimes he plays better. He didn’t play seven perfect matches at Wimbledon, but he won. You don’t see that so much because he’s winning.
“A lot of people will crack. A lot of people will say, ‘Okay, I don’t know’.
“But him? He says, ‘Bring it on, I’m going to show you who I am on the court’.
“Look at him, three Grand Slams in a row. He’s already made history and can make even bigger history.
“He’s an amazing person. You can learn a lot of things from him.”
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