By Shyam Kamal

Copyright sportskeeda

Novak Djokovic paid a solemn visit to Croatia with his parents over the weekend, attending ex-coach Nikola Pilic’s funeral ceremony in Opatija. Pilic, one of the main reasons for Serbian tennis’ success in the last two decades, passed away earlier this week at the age of 86.Earlier, the Serb had shared a message mourning his ‘tennis father,’ recalling his time with Pilic during his childhood and thanking the Croat for influencing his development as a tennis player.”A feeling of emptiness and sadness has taken over me. I hope you felt how much you meant to me in your career and life. Your influence on my development as a man and tennis player remains indelible. I am eternally grateful to you and your lovely wife Mia.””All your achievements as a player and coach have been written in golden letters in the books of sports history of the Balkans and world tennis. For me, however, the most important thing is that I can proudly call you “Sjor Niko, my tennis Father”. May you rest in peace,” Djokovic had written on social media.On Sunday, Pilic’s funeral took place at the Opatija city cemetary, few kilometers away from Rijeka — the city where he breathed his last breath. Pictures surfaced from the ceremony, featuring Novak Djokovic, his father Srdjan and mother Dijana, all clad in somber black clothes to pay their final visit to the Croat.Pilic worked with the 24-time Grand Slam champion from 1999 to 2003, playing a key role in his formative years.”I am not being biased, Novak Djokovic is the best of all time” – Nikola Pilic2025 US Open – Day 13 – Source: GettyIn a 2021 interview with Tennis Majors, Nikola Pilic shared his opinion that Novak Djokovic should be considered the unanimous GOAT, claiming that his records were better than that of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. At the time, the Serb had won only 20 Grand Slams, and was level with Federer and Nadal in the Slam race.”Djokovic is just phenomenal, he has worked a lot, with no shortcuts. I remember that Serbian journalists were all over me in 2019 trying to get me to say that Novak is the best. I did not want to say it until he won Wimbledon this year. The day he did that, I took a complete and thorough look at the numbers,” he said.”Djokovic has won the most Masters titles, he is the only player to have won every Slam at least twice, and at one point he had almost 17.000 ATP points – in that moment, he accumulated more points than Murray, Nadal and Federer combined. I am not being biased, Novak is the best of all time,” he added.Since then, the former World No. 1 has racked up 4 more Majors, and is now solo at the top of the charts with 24 Slam titles to his name. The closest to him in the Open Era is Serena Williams, with 23, and Steffi Graf and Rafael Nadal with 22 each.