Mark WiedmerIt almost seems blasphemous to suggest another athlete could be the greatest in his particular sport when we're mourning the loss of perhaps the greatest athlete of all time, boxer Muhammad Ali.
But within the narrow confines of tennis, we may be watching just that in Novak Djokovic, now that he's become the first player since Rod Laver in 1969 to win four straight Grand Slam tournaments.
The latest of those triumphs occurred Sunday in Paris on the red clay of Roland Garros, where Djokovic took out Andy Murray in four sets to claim his first French Open crown in his fourth final at the tournament. And to be perfectly fair to Laver, he won all of his in the same calendar year. Djokovic has merely won the past four played, dating back to his 2015 Wimbledon win over Roger Federer.
But despite turning 29 two weeks ago, the Djokster just may have enough left in the tank to not only win a calendar Grand Slam with victories at next month's Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in September, but also claim Olympic gold in Brazil if he makes good on plans to play there.
Steffi Graf pulled off just such a feat in 1988, the media labeling it the "Golden Slam." Though duplicating that would require the Serbian to win two Slams and Olympic gold over three continents in a span of two months, it's not impossible for Djokovic.
And should he do all that, he'd find himself tied with Rafael Nadal and Pete Sampras with 14 major championships, which would leave him just three back of Federer's record 17 with no signs of slowing down.
What's scarier for Federer's camp is that unlike their hero - who won but one of those 17 since turning 29 - Djokovic seems to be getting better as he gets older, even to the point of widening the gap between him and the rest of the field. Despite Federer's Wimbledon crown in 2012 hiking his Slam total to 17, he hadn't won a title in eight previous majors and hasn't won one since, either.
Contrast that with Djokovic's six major crowns in his past eight attempts - including, no matter what happens the rest of this season, his just-completed Djoker Slam - and it's quite easy to see him being within one or two majors of Federer by the close of 2017.
"A thrilling moment," Djokovic said after Sunday's victory. "One of the most beautiful I have had in my career."
It didn't start out that way. Murray - whose sad fate it is to share an era with Djokovic, Federer and Nadal - won the opening set 6-3, which caused at least a few among the crowd of 15,000 to no doubt worry Djokovic would repeat last year's French final, when he fell to Stan Wawrinka.
But from the second set on, it was all "Nole" - the crowd chanted his nickname time and time again - as his surgically clean strokes were too much to overcome for even the similar human backboard that is Murray.
A single quote from Djokovic frames his brilliance over the vast majority of the final three sets.
"Once I got into the rhythm, all the way to 5-2 in the fourth," he said, "it was really, really great tennis."
Murray did slow the Djokster's celebration at that point, winning two straight games to force the world-ranked No. 1 player to serve for the match a second time. This time he prevailed to further cement the growing notion he can surpass Federer's Slam total before he retires.
Remember, too, that Djokovic has reached this point while battling Federer, Nadal and Murray for much of his career. Though he holds but a 26-23 lead over Nadal, he has won 11 of the past 12 meetings between himself and the lefty. His lead over Federer is only 23-22, but he has won nine of the past 15 in that rivalry. Sunday was his 13th win in his past 15 meetings with Murray.
Wrote Tennis.com's Steve Tignor on Sunday in as good an explanation as any for Djokovic's recent domination: "Federer and Nadal can match Djokovic's forehand, but not his backhand; Murray can match his backhand, but not his forehand. And there isn't anybody who can hit the straight down-the-line forehand like Djokovic. It's the kind of flexibility that allows you to win four straight majors on three different surfaces."
As Murray addressed the crowd after the match, he said of the Djoker Slam, "This is something that is extremely rare in tennis. It's not happened for a very long time, and it's going to take a long time for it to happen again."
Or it could happen again four majors from now, at next year's French Open, when Djokovic could not only be going for an eighth straight major, but also a shot at pulling within one of Federer's once-safe record of 17.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.