"It's Novak - it's neither Rafa nor Roger, he's a level ahead of everyone"

"It's Novak - it's neither Rafa nor Roger, he's a level ahead of everyone"

From August 30 to September 12, Novak will try to win the fourth Grand Slam in 2021.

"I still think that Novak is above the level when he plays in three won sets. It will be interesting to see how much he will be in shape without the preparatory tournaments before the US Open. I think he is the one who keeps things under control for the first week and expects that he will make use of that week to reach the top form for challenges in the second week," Hantuchová told Amazon Prime.

She believes that Novak, regardless of the absence of Federer and Nadal, will have strong competitors.

"The closest to Novak are Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Sasha Zverev is not far behind them when he plays his best tennis. In five sets, I think Medvedev is the one who has the most chances against Novak. He is in good shape, he won Toronto. He has self-confidence and will believe he has a chance to beat Djokovic. With Federer and Nadal not playing, it feels like there has been a generational change and I am sure these guys will be competing to see who is first among them. Now there are more and more of those coming and it can be even more exciting", the Slovak said.

She believes that Novak's first motive in New York will be the failure at the Olympic Games. Novak was angry with himself for the failure in the Olympics, so Hantuchová believes that he will come to the US Open best prepared.

"It's about Novak's personality, he's not Rafa, he's not Roger. It all shows how much he cares and how competitive he is. It's good that all three are different in many ways, it all makes us enjoy more of what they've done for the past two decades. For Novak, that defeat in Tokyo can be good because he always reacts well after a failure. Everything is on him now, but as we saw in the case of Serena Williams, the pressure is hard to bear when you are close to something special. He will feel that pressure, but in my opinion, he feels and gives his best under pressure", Hantuchová concluded.