Andy Roddick uses Novak Djokovic’s dominant win at No. 770 to debunk shocking claim

Andy Roddick believes Novak Djokovic’s defeat by a player outside the top 700 is the clearest evidence yet of the ridiculousness of the claim that recreational players can win points, and probably matches, against professionals.

A few months ago there was a poll doing the rounds on X, in which the majority of club players gave their opinion that winning points against pro players was not as difficult as some would think. At the time Roddick and a number of other former and current players criticized the opinion as nonsense.

This past weekend, Djokovic faced world number 770 Ioannis Xilas in the Davis Cup, defeating the Greek 6-0 6-1. Although Xilas, who is currently enjoying a career-high, has made some deep runs at the ITF level this year, he stood no chance against the 24-time Grand Slam champion, narrowly avoiding a double bagel.

Responding to that result, the 2003 US Open winner cheekily wrote: “Remember that poll that said the majority of club players said they could win a match???”

Remember that poll that said something like the majority of club players said they could win a game??? …………. https://t.co/KKut0IYwRA

— andyroddick (@andyroddick) September 15, 2024

Djokovic made his home return

When the 37-year-old took on the 770th-ranked player, he was playing his Davis Cup match in Serbia since 2017. And it was quite a comeback.

However, Djokovic remained respectful to the Greek team after beating Xilas, acknowledging that their rivals were without Stefanos Tsitsipas and that things would have been very different if the two-time Grand Slam finalist had been involved.

“I’m proud of the whole team, first of all because they showed themselves, even though Tsitsipas is not here, Stefanos’ brother is here, but their main player is not here. So they are weakened compared to the players who came here with a lower ranking. But still the whole selection,” said the Serbian tennis superstar.

On Sunday, Djokovic was supposed to play against Aristotelis Thanos, but since Serbia had already won the match, he did not have to take the court.