India, June 9 -- When Novak Djokovic won his 24th Grand Slam at the US Open in 2023, that terrific trio of tennis experts - Sania Mirza, Somdev Devvarman and Purav Raja - were unequivocal in pronouncing him the greatest of all time in any sport. Let alone dismissing the claims of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, they had no compunctions about leaving out greats in other sports, like Michael Phelps, Messi, Michael Jordan, and even the ultimate - Muhammad Ali. That's when I realised that, like beauty, the notion of sporting greatness lies in the eyes of the beholder; that assessment of renowned personalities is ever so subjective.

There are other dangers in making such sweeping judgements. Apart from one's own preferences, the differing pla...