Wimbledon 2016: Catching Novak Djokovic cold is the only way of stopping one of the greats, says Nick Bollettieri

If you analyse the games of all the great men’s champions – Rod Laver, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, whoever – you can normally find one small weakness. There has usually been one chink in their armour to give opponents some cause for optimism, no matter how tiny.

Novak Djokovic is different. I’m not necessarily saying that the defending Wimbledon champion is the best player in history, but can anyone point out a weakness in his game? Holy cow, you would need a microscope to find a flaw in this guy. Serve, return, forehand, backhand, volley, smash, drop shot, lob, movement, mental strength – man, Novak has it all.

People often ask me who is the greatest player I’ve seen in my 60 years in tennis and the one thing I always point out is that it’s impossible to compare players from different eras. What sort of player would Laver have been if he had played with modern-day rackets and strings? Would today’s training methods have made Agassi physically stronger?

These are questions that are impossible to answer, but what you can say is that Djokovic is clearly the best player of his day, now that Federer and Rafael Nadal are seemingly past their peak. Holy mackerel, his record over the last couple of years speaks for itself. He’s won more matches in that time than I’ve had ice creams in a whole lifetime – and for someone with an Italian background like mine that’s saying something.

Djokovic was already a huge talent before Boris Becker joined his coaching team, but I think old Boom-Boom Boris has made a crucial difference to his man.

I coached Boris for a while and I remember him saying recently in an interview that he thought one of my biggest strengths had been that I kept things simple. That has always been my way with all the great players I have coached and it still is when I’m back working at the IMG Academy in Florida. I try not to over-complicate things. I put across simple messages and then step back.

I think Boris is doing the same for Djokovic. Was he ever going to start tinkering with Novak’s strokes? You must be kidding me. He has just brought simple little tips to the table - nothing complex, just a bit here and a bit there, little insights into what it takes to be a winner. And you certainly have a much better chance of getting your message across if you’ve been a great champion like Boris was.

The thing about true champions is that they nearly always find a way to win. I can’t explain how they do that – they just do. I think Djokovic wants to win every single match he plays.

His record shows that he will nearly always get you in the end. Look at what happened in the French Open final earlier this month. Andy Murray was the stronger player at the start but Djokovic said: ‘Hey, it ain’t over yet, baby.’ The rest was history.

By winning at Roland Garros Djokovic showed to the world that he has achieved everything now. He has proved that he has a right to be regarded as one of the best players of all time.

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Nevertheless the price you pay for being the best in anything in life is that if you let your guard down for a split second you can be history. The problem Djokovic has is that in today’s game there are so many players, equipped with the power that modern rackets give them, who could surprise you early in tournaments.

That’s why I think the biggest threat to Djokovic at Wimbledon will be in the early rounds. James Ward’s heart might have sunk when he saw that he was drawn against Djokovic in the opening match on Monday, but if you’re going to take on the world No 1 there’s no doubt in my mind that you’ll have a better chance at this stage of the tournament. Go for it, James: you ain’t got nothing to lose.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself because there’s one hell of a lot of tennis to be played over the next fortnight and nobody knows what might happen along the way, but I can’t resist the temptation to pull the curtain aside and have a little peak at what we might see in the second week.

Assuming both players make it that far, a quarter-final between Djokovic and Milos Raonic would be a fascinating prospect. Djokovic may be the best returner in the modern game, but if a big server like Raonic finds his rhythm there’s no telling what might happen on the day, especially on grass.

Somewhere along the line I reckon Raonic will have his day, though I think he needs to come into the net a lot more than he has done so far. He has damn good ground strokes when he’s in position and he’s beginning to volley more, but when he’s at the back of the court, especially when he’s running wide to his forehand, his lack of mobility is still a factor.

What if Djokovic and Murray meet in the final for the third time in a row in Grand Slam tournaments? It will be a big boost to Murray to know that he has beaten Djokovic in both their previous meetings at Wimbledon, in the 2013 final and in the Olympics semi-finals the year before that.

However, no matter which way the pendulum swings I just don’t think you can argue against Djokovic at the moment. In the end I don’t think the surface, the crowd, the conditions or any other factor will count if Novak and Andy meet in the final. By the time the last ball is struck in the final in a fortnight’s time I’ll expect Djokovic to be the champion again.