Djokovic soon to be the GOAT

A fresh Nadal can give him a run for his money, but I see where you're coming from. Novak was supreme in the 2nd week, especially the destructions of Nishikori in the SF and Del Potro in the F

Everyone going into Aus Open fresh will be very interesting. The likes of Nadal and Federer were going into the US Open off the back of trying hard the full year. Maybe Federer less so with him skipping the clay season actually.

A Nadal v Djokovic final in Australia would be epic

signs that the tank is starting to run empty for federer. another 4 months older surely massive at his age. been said before i know but think i'll be surprised if he wins another slam even given the utter hopelessness of the younger players

Yep, good summary.

Won't be easy to catch either. Nadal will surely add to his total. Djokovic isn't that young anymore, he will have to win like 2-3 slams a year for next few years to catch them, and I think that's probably unlikely. In theory it sounds plausible, but injuries will kick in at this stage of career, he won't be super dominant like 2015 anymore imo.

There's also that Djokovic plays a very grinding game that relies on having super stamina to grind opponents into oblivion over his career. Much harder to do that once you start getting into your 30s consistently.

joko will overtake feds 20..........

Fed 20, Rafa 17, Djoko 15. Only 1 winner for me from this point - Novak

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
Rafael Nadal is quite possibly the most ferocious competitor in the entire history of sport, he can certainly not be excluded from the discussion.

Just thank our lucky stats to have been around to witness an era of mens tennis when there have been three gladiators of sport pushing each other to greater and greater heights.

True.

But can you imagine what the numbers would be if there were 2 clay court slams & 1 hard court slam?

Federer - 8 grass, 11 hard court, 1 clay
Novak - 5 grass, 11 hard court, 1 clay
Nadal - 2 grass, 5 hard court, 13 clay

I think this shows that Federer and Djokovic are more dynamic than Nadal as they're much more accomplished across different surfaces, if there were 2 slams on clay it would further highlight Nadal's limitations. These top spin forehands are far less effective on surfaces that don't grip and shoot the ball upwards

has there ever been a grass court specialist ?   that's something that could hold you in good stead ...just win every single Wimbledon

Looks like Fed destined to be in 3rd spot quite soon.

At least that will quieten down the annual Federer BBC love-in called Wimbledon.

Few years back and Djoker was dropping out of contention for consideration as a GOAT, even Murray was looking better - right back in it again now.

2-0 down in another match, and still GOATing...

Doean't anyone on here notice how Djokovic employs his nasty gamesmanship in some matches.
It's an age old tactic of pretending you've given up trying to win the match. Only you haven't given up but you're
hoping your apponent thinks you have. And it's not just Tennis where you see it.

has won 7 of last 12 grand slams......nadal 4, thiem 1............no chance of roger winning another. nearly 40. has played no tennis in 18 months.
cant see rafa winning another US or AUS......thiem, zverev, medvedev and tsitsipas can all beat him on hardcourts. however rafa has a chance at wimbledon. may seem a strange thing to say but all those players i mentioned have done nothing at wimbledon yet. rafa has reached last 2 semis there. in last 17 years no one has won wimbledon outside of novak, rafa, roger, murray........latter 2 are not contenders. so its between rafa and novak. this is novaks chance to get to 20. there is plenty of competition on hardcourts. he is not guaranteed to rack up too many more USO's or aussies.
novak has every stat to say he is greater than roger except the 20 grand slams.......more masters (36-28). better h2h (27-23).......better grand slam h2h (11-6).......4-1 in grand slam finals........more weeks at number 1..........and HE HAS DONE THIS IN A MUCH TOUGHER ERA..........roger has lost all 3 wimbledon finals v novak. so if he wanted to be the goat, he had his chance but NOVAK BEAT HIM........novak only has this final grand slam stat to get over the goat line.
by the way......novak h2h v rafa is 30-28.......but in grand slam matched its 10-7 to rafa, 5-4 in finals to rafa.......thats the only stat that rafa has over novak. novaks mix of grand slams is much better. rafa too dependent on clay. 7 of his 10 beatings of novak in grand slams matches are on clay. novak also has 5 master final wins v 0 for rafa. its 36-36 in masters titles. roger might not even be the 2nd greatest plater ever.

scandanavian........there is plenty of competition on hardcourts and clay. wimbledon is going to be his main way of getting past 20. has won the last 2......no event last year....

Baulkline13 Jun 21 18:46
Doean't anyone on here notice how Djokovic employs his nasty gamesmanship in some matches.

He does, but there's a couple of key issues with knocking him for that.

First, it's in no way illegal, he can play how he likes. Second, it can only happen when he's already been outplayed really, no point in going 2-0 down for no reason is there?

Great stats there bdj.

The "gamesmanship" accusation only occurs when he's played Murray. Funny that.

Weird that not maintaining an exceptionally high standard throughout a long match is talked of as gamesmanship.