As the last man to rip through four majors in a calendar year, Rod Laver appreciates the size of the task facing Novak Djokovic and he has a word of advice for the Serb champion. Sssh.
Australian Laver admits he would love to see Djokovic join his exclusive club but believes the key to success is for the player to avoid talking about it and, if possible, not even think about it.
Laver, who twice managed the feat in the 1960s, was in Paris to witness Djokovic's first French Open triumph.
That victory completed Djokovic's career Grand Slam, as well as making him the first man since Laver in 1969 to hold four majors simultaneously; it also put the Serb halfway to scoring all four of the biggest prizes in the same year.
For the first time in almost a quarter of a century - this hasn't happened since Jim Courier came to Wimbledon in 1992 as the Australian Open and Roland Garros champion - a male player will arrive at the All England Club with a chance of emulating Laver.
Minutes after Djokovic's Roland Garros victory he said this of taking a swing at the mythical calendar-year Grand Slam: "I don't want to sound arrogant but I think everything is achievable in life."
If you say that you're going for the Grand Slam, you just put more pressure on yourself
Laver's suggestion to Djokovic is to hold back. "My advice to Novak before Wimbledon would be not to talk about the Grand Slam yet, or maybe even not to think about it. Just play the tournament. If you say that you're going for the Grand Slam, you just put more pressure on yourself. And that pressure can build and build," said Laver exclusively to Wimbledon.com.
"If it does happen, I would be very happy to shake his hand and congratulate him. It would be a great thing for him to do. It's terrific that he's been playing so well. He's shown his ability and his character. That's why I think he's got a good chance to do the Grand Slam."
Laver sounded his note of caution by comparing Djokovic's challenge with that of Serena Williams last year.
He added: "Remember what happened in the women's game last year with Serena Williams, who went to the US Open with a chance to do the Grand Slam, and she put a lot of pressure on herself. She seemed to think it was her only chance to do it. And then she lost in the semi-finals.
"Novak seems to play well under pressure, and you hope that it wouldn't be a problem for him at Wimbledon, and he's already won the tournament three times. But you just don't know sometimes how people will handle these situations, and how they will react."
Another tip from Laver was that Djokovic shouldn't spend any time worrying about how the tournament will play out, and which opponent might be waiting for him in which round. "You've got to win seven matches, that's all you have to do. You don't have to beat the other 127 players in the tournament," he said.
"Novak could end up playing the game of working out what's going to happen next, and who you might play at what stage of the tournament, but you're just guessing so just leave it alone. Novak should just be thinking, 'I've got to get through seven matches and if I can do that, I'll be the champion'.
"Maybe the players who could be a problem for Novak won't even get that far in the tournament and he won't have to play them. They could get beaten before they get to Novak in the draw."
