Donald Trump and Novak Djokovic— Separated at Birth?

What do Donald Trump and Novak Djokovic have in common?  

They are both the best at what they do and are hated for it. 

Trump presided over, and was to a great degree responsible for, the best American economy in decades with virtually the lowest unemployment ever, including for minorities with their pay on the upswing.  He made more peace in the Middle East than anyone had in years and kept us out of war.  He also built a secure border while making Communist China pay attention to American needs and stop ripping us off for the first time in decades.  (There’s more, but you get the idea.)

For this, Trump is hated by multitudes, largely because he does things like insult Rosie O’Donnell on Twitter.  He also is assumed to be racist with absolutely no evidence.  Others don’t like him because he brags.

Compared to what he has done positively, these things are less than negligible.  In fact, they’re absurd.

As for Novak Djokovic, let’s get that tired debate out of the way first: He is the tennis GOAT, in fact arguably the most amazing athlete alive in all of sports for the last 10 years. 

No one in the history of tennis has had the all-around game of Novak Djokovic accompanied by a physicality that allows him to outlast competitors only slightly more than half his age while chasing down balls that seem impossible for any normal human to come near.

At his best, he plays the game on a level touched by no other, except, on clay only, Rafael Nadal.

Now that Djokovic has beaten Nadal at Roland-Garros, won his second French Open, his 19th Grand Slam, become the only player of the open era to win every slam twice, has passed Roger Federer for weeks at number one by a growing number that current world number two Medvedev recently said could reach a staggering (and genuinely untouchable by homo sapiens) 400 weeks, and holds a winning record against both Federer and Nadal (by large, almost embarrassing, margins since 2011), isn’t it about time we stopped debating the issue?

Yes, I know continuing the GOAT discussion is good fodder for sports journalists, but aside from them, honest observers know the debate is over.

Nevertheless many hate him, especially denizens of that public opinion sewer known as Twitter.  They hate that Nole has “outbursts,” kicks walls, slams his racquet and even, by accident obviously, once hit a line judge in the throat during one of his rages. (She was fine, but it cost Djokovic yet another Grand Slam.)

They forget the long line of tennis players — McEnroe, Connors, Nastase, etc. — not to mention many in other sports who have done and do similar.  

They are all competitors in the heat of battle.  Once it’s over, they are often pussycats, the nicest guys around.

That’s true of Djokovic and Donald Trump.

So what’s really going on here?  

For Djokovic, it comes down to his misfortune in coming along after Federer and Nadal.   Most tennis fans had chosen their favorite between these two, and along comes a Serbian, yes, a Serbian (where the Hell is that?), who might actually be better.

It can’t be.  Someone’s cheating or lying.  How could this Eastern European punk with his cheesy jokes and imitations be a better tennis player than the oh-so-elegant, Rolex-wearing Monsieur Federer or the uber-macho man from Mallorca with the unstoppable inside-out forehand, sleeveless Rafa?

There can’t be three?

Oh, yes, there can, and now … dare I say it … there is only one. Just wait, Henry Higgins.  You say it’s not over until it’s over, but it is over.  The fat lady has already sung, no matter what happens at Wimbledon.

From now on, it’s Djokovic and the younger generation.  

Yes, eventually Djoker will fade out, but by that time, he will unquestionably be the major exhibit in the Tennis Hall of Fame.  If you don’t like it, learn to live with it. There are worse things.

Mr. Trump, a man of equal number of detractors percentage-wise, so infinitely more in actuality, will have it tougher. 

But he too, I predict, will prevail.  And relatively soon.  Perhaps it’s too early to say the Earth will move after the release of the Maricopa County audit, but the wise man or woman keeps his or her ear to the ground.  

If this were actually an old style sports column, and maybe it is, I’d end by saying, “You heard it here first, folks!”

Roger L. Simon -- currently the editor-at-large of the very popular The Epoch Times -- has written a whole host of books and movies.  If it’s sports that you love, try his recent novel “The GOAT” in which his hero does the impossible and defeats, you guessed it, Novak Djokovic.