Djokovic joins Federer and Nadal at 20 slams surely one of the most insane group of career stats of any sport.
And there is every possibility of him getting many more, 25 slams is quite likely and even an insane 30 is not impossible. Not to mention the possibility of a golden slam this year with an Olympic gold.
Djokovic is not just the GOAT of tennis, he is one of the very greatest athletes of all time.
From a couple years ago:
Heh, actually Nadal should have more in him yet…
Yeah, as long as ND’s abdominal injuries don’t flare up again, he’ll have unpassable records under his belt by the time he’s done.
Already 34, but his fitness is still up there with everyone else’s. Crazy seeing the rubber-man slide around so much on grass - a good way to turn ankles, you’d think.
Going back only 20 years ago, everyone thought the 14th Grand Slam by Pete Sampras would be nigh insurmountable, and now 3 guys have essentially denied everyone else from winning one. It is too early to say if Djokovic will get 25 and beat Margaret Court (sorry Serena), but it certainly is possible.
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I don’t expect Federer to win another Grand Slam, or even make it to the final. Nadal should make it to another final or two, and maybe win one. Djokovic is looking old. His performances in the semifinal and final were not up to his previous level. But he’s far enough ahead of everyone else I expect he’ll reach the finals multiple times over the next several years. And win five more Grand Slams.
For fun, I looked up the champions in men’s singles for the last fifteen tournaments (it seemed like a good number) and asked myself, how many have been won by anyone OTHER than the Three Horsemen of the Tennis Apocalypse?
Australian: One (Stan Wawrinka in 2014)
US Open: Five (Juan Martin de Potro, Andy Murray, Marin Cilic, Wawrinka, and Dom Thiern)
French: One (Good ol’ Stan Wawrinka)
Wimbledon: Two (Andy Murray twice)
I mean, it’s really without compare. It’s like a European soccer league where you’re like, sure, I may cheer for by team here in Germany, but you know it’s probably gonna be Barcelona or Real Madrid again.
Off the top of my head I am not sure why the US Open appears to be somewhat likelier to not be on of the Big Three or if that’s just a fluke. I am sure something obvious is slipping my mind, I’m tired this morning.
I have newfound respect for Stan Wawrinka, who has managed to get past the Big Three in three of four Slam tournaments. In an earlier era he’d have won 10 Slams himself.
I think the reason for the US Open having more diversity is that it is toward the end of the season and therefore, having won for most of the rest of the season, the Three Horsemen of the Tennis Apocalypse as you termed them are tired. Also, there is added pressure to end on a high note, so it likely also involves more pressure. Take also into account that during an Olympic year they will have also competed at the Olympics, so, a lot more of a build up to that one than the rest of the year.
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The Olympic point is interesting. I checked and the last two Olympic US opens were won by Murray and Wawrinka both times defeating Djokovic in the final. Will be interesting to see what happens this year with a potential golden slam on the line.
I can only hope that if Federer and Wawrinka happen to win the Oly doubles, they will not do what is still probably the strangest sports victory celebration (in Bejing '08) that I have ever seen in any sport, even end zone goofiness.
Hmm…for a few years, no players born in the 1990’s had won a Grand Slam. I think Thiem broke this streak last year in the US Open that no played in and that Djokovic got kicked out of.
Any other male players from the 90’s win one?
There is like an entire decade of guys who missed out.
I don’t like Djokovic, with his weird views on vaccines and so forth. But I am coming around to the idea he may be the best ever. I don’t like it, but if he ends up with more Grand Slams and even wins the “grand slam” of tennis this year, I have to admit it. He even beat Rafael Nadal in the French Open final this year, not an easy task.
/nitpick/ Actually it was Tsitsipas who lost to Djokovic /n/.
Yeah, when Novak did all that social media stuff boogieing maskless in clubs last year…A major black eye on the dude, and one that’ll last for quite some time in my books.
If he does, you say you’ll have to admit he’s the best ever; if he doesn’t, then — who?
Sure, I’d say it is Roger Federer. I do get that Nadal is another option as well, but I think Roger at his peak was the greatest of all time. He was the first of the big three to really elevate the game. We are lucky that Nadal and Djokovic came along. I’m not kidding that Roger could have won 35-40 majors without them.
Anyway, many years from now it may just be simpler to say that Roger, Novak, and Rafael were all the greatest of all time in their own ways and there is simply no way to really determine which is the only best.
Cheesy as it is, the real winners are tennis fans because we have had matches like this year’s French Open final and the Wimbledon & Australia open finals between Nadal and Federer. So many great matches at a level of tennis unimaginable 25 years ago.
It’s clear to me now that when all three retire, tennis will at least briefly experience a decline in overall talent. Rare in a sport, but true.
This is clearly true, but something else that is interesting is that due to the pandemic general interest in tennis as a sport has increased:
Who knows if it will continue, but maybe it will be enough to get some future greats on the path to Tennis domination.
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Yep. It was the one organized sport still open during the worse days of the pandemic. Naturally outdoors and socially distanced. My kids play tennis competitively (not at a high level) and courts are either difficult to find, or expensive, or both. And the prices for lessons, coaches, and camps have gone up a lot. Tournaments are actually full, with wait lists to cover withdraws. Of course, SoCal is somewhat of a tennis mecca, so I can’t know if this is a regional thing or not.
But Federer, who already has a losing record against Djokovic, has already spent less time at #1 than Djokovic has. To my way of thinking, yeah, one more Grand Slam win this year would be icing on the cake for Djokovic — but even without it, can’t we figure that Djokovic already, uh, takes the cake?
My answer remains…maybe?? I guess. I’m not really sure who is the best.
Tennis rankings are objective, but not necessarily useful for determining who is a better player. The current system with points seems a little too arbitrary to reflect true skill. I’m not sure what the best method is, but there is an ELO system as well. I’d love to see a full Nate Silver treatment of tennis. I think a system looking at fraction of points won on and off serve over all matches played could be much more predictive.