What are we going to talk about when Djokovic retires?

[tennis_pro]

He'll probably be the last remaining great player to play the game for quite some time. He could break the Slam record or not. The fact is that when Djokovic retires there will probably be nobody who could have a real shot at breaking the Slam record for a really long time (because of how prohibitive the record will be even if it stands at 17). Djokovic is the only player to have a legit shot at Federer now. That means that the next player who could even think about winning as many as 18 Slams (or more, depends on how many Djokovic ends his career with, unless Federer doesn't win more than 17 that is) will start from scratch and if Djokovic doesn't do it (personally I think he'll come close but he'll just run out of time) then nobody will for a very long time. It will take someone even more special than Federer combined with a weak field for an extended period of time for someone to even think about breaking the Slam record.

My point is - since this whole forum has an incredibly strong GOAT foundation (GOAT this, GOAT that, GOAT on slow hard court, who's the GOAT in Masters etc.) once the last contender in Djokovic retires what are people going to talk about here? By the time Djokovic retires there won't be any active GOAT contenders to talk about so how will this poor forum survive? I mean you can't go any higher/deeper than to discuss about who's the greatest of all time? Will this forum have to lower its "high standards"?

 

[Fedeonic]

They're gonna come more great players who'll try to break that almighty 17 Federer holds right now (assuming Fed stays in 17 and Nole doesn't reach it) or whatever number there is. So forum's not gonna die. Legends passed and tennis still went on, so will happen when Roger, Rafa and Nole retire, tennis is gonna continue.

 

[Mainad]

I suspect many of us will be long past caring by the time Djokovic retires in about 30 years time!

 

[President]

Maybe we can finally talk about actual tennis then, rather than hypothetical GOAT scenarios, rankings, and matchups.

 

[tennis_pro]

They're gonna come more great players who'll try to break that almighty 17 Federer holds right now (assuming Fed stays in 17 and Nole doesn't reach it) or whatever number there is. So forum's not gonna die. Legends passed and tennis still went on, so will happen when Roger, Rafa and Nole retire, tennis is gonna continue.

I'm not talking about tennis in general. I'm talking about this forum specifically. All everyone talks about all the time has a GOAT basis. Unless, for example, there's a 22-year old guy with 5 Slams already when Djokovic retires, there will be NO CURRENT GOAT TALK for quite some time here. It would be a first time it happened on this forum (because this forum started in 2004 and there already was talk about Federer potentially becoming the GOAT back then)

It would be hilarious if everyone just changed the table that we're all sitting at the moment to discuss some more GOAT topics in the Former Pro Player section.

 

[haqq777]

Maybe we can finally talk about actual tennis then, rather than hypothetical GOAT scenarios, rankings, and matchups.

Amen to that!

 

[StannisTheMannis]

He'll probably be the last remaining great player to play the game for quite some time. He could break the Slam record or not. The fact is that when Djokovic retires there will probably be nobody who could have a real shot at breaking the Slam record for a really long time (because of how prohibitive the record will be even if it stands at 17). Djokovic is the only player to have a legit shot at Federer now. That means that the next player who could even think about winning as many as 18 Slams (or more, depends on how many Djokovic ends his career with, unless Federer doesn't win more than 17 that is) will start from scratch and if Djokovic doesn't do it (personally I think he'll come close but he'll just run out of time) then nobody will for a very long time. It will take someone even more special than Federer combined with a weak field for an extended period of time for someone to even think about breaking the Slam record.

My point is - since this whole forum has an incredibly strong GOAT foundation (GOAT this, GOAT that, GOAT on slow hard court, who's the GOAT in Masters etc.) once the last contender in Djokovic retires what are people going to talk about here? By the time Djokovic retires there won't be any active GOAT contenders to talk about so how will this poor forum survive? I mean you can't go any higher/deeper than to discuss about who's the greatest of all time? Will this forum have to lower its "high standards"?

Just like everything, this forum has an expiration date. When the last member of the big 3 retires, we will have hit it.

 

[Deleted member 743561]

What happens when the 5th major becomes a reality? Maybe players won't even be obligated to play them all... but it will add a wrinkle. Raw numbers alone have been rendered nearly meaningless in this era, at least as measures of greatness. So even if someone amasses crazy video game numbers in the near future, their "father" will remain the gold standard.

 

[nowhereman]

Well there's always the Odds & Ends section where we can talk about random things. There's even a whole tribute thread to sureshs there, and he's always been much more entertaining to watch than all of the big 3/4 combined. It'll keep us entertained for the years to come. amirite @Sentinel and @stringertom?

 

[mattosgrant]

Who knows. One thing for sure, tennis fans like other sports fans will have to come to grips for the cold harsh reality not every generation is going to produce a potential GOAT. It will be a shock to the system for some after an era the men had 3 and the women had 1 (Serena).

 

[nowhereman]

Or if things become really dire, maybe the WTA will start to dominate the discussions around here.

 

[Emperor of Belgrade]

Hopefully some new brilliant players will arrive. But it is definite that after Djokovic retires there will be a period where we will have only "average" players. Some tennis fans might actually welcome that since domination of one player over others is not their preference. Not talking about Djokovic now, but any dominator in general. One thing is for sure - watching the Big 3 got our standards so high it will be tough to follow tennis after they are gone.

 

[nowhereman]

Something just occurred to me. After the big 3 retire, most of us here could just venture on to the former pro section and the fan wars will just continue there. No need for this place to change.

 

[PDJ]

Something just occurred to me. After the big 3 retire, most of us here could just venture on to the former pro section and the fan wars will just continue there. No need for this place to change.

Exactly my thought. AND similarly when Williams retires.

 

[The_18th_Slam]

I'd probably just delete my account.

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

Something just occurred to me. After the big 3 retire, most of us here could just venture on to the former pro section and the fan wars will just continue there. No need for this place to change.

I said similar thing yesterday.

 

[PeterHo]

King K.

 

[nowhereman]

I said similar thing yesterday.

Well I guess I'll see you there then. Here's to more years of Fedalovic fan wars to come. Cheers.

 

[RoddickAce]

Watch Djoker end with exactly 17.

Then you can be sure that there will be no shortage of GOAT debate threads, mixed in with new posters who have never watched fedal play, claiming some new dominant player as GOAT.

 

[insideguy]

There is always someone else. People never learn.

 

[helterskelter]

He'll probably be the last remaining great player to play the game for quite some time. He could break the Slam record or not. The fact is that when Djokovic retires there will probably be nobody who could have a real shot at breaking the Slam record for a really long time (because of how prohibitive the record will be even if it stands at 17). Djokovic is the only player to have a legit shot at Federer now. That means that the next player who could even think about winning as many as 18 Slams (or more, depends on how many Djokovic ends his career with, unless Federer doesn't win more than 17 that is) will start from scratch and if Djokovic doesn't do it (personally I think he'll come close but he'll just run out of time) then nobody will for a very long time. It will take someone even more special than Federer combined with a weak field for an extended period of time for someone to even think about breaking the Slam record.

My point is - since this whole forum has an incredibly strong GOAT foundation (GOAT this, GOAT that, GOAT on slow hard court, who's the GOAT in Masters etc.) once the last contender in Djokovic retires what are people going to talk about here? By the time Djokovic retires there won't be any active GOAT contenders to talk about so how will this poor forum survive? I mean you can't go any higher/deeper than to discuss about who's the greatest of all time? Will this forum have to lower its "high standards"?

The bolded sentence is the one I disagree with (and the one that follows it, but that's just a different way of saying the same thing). I think the great problem with the forum is its obsession with goats. It's a tennis forum, not a farming one. Goat talk is as shallow as it can possibly get. Let's hope we can get into more technical analysis and discuss a broader range of players, preferably immediately, but at least when Djokovic retirees.

 

[helterskelter]

Who knows. One thing for sure, tennis fans like other sports fans will have to come to grips for the cold harsh reality not every generation is going to produce a potential GOAT. It will be a shock to the system for some after an era the men had 3 and the women had 1 (Serena).

I thought I'd include a quote of yours, on the off chance that you may remember this happening (although I suspect you won't), but it's a story intended to illustrate a broader point relevant to this thread.

Back in the late 1990s, @mattosgrant and I used to post on another tennis forum. After the Roland Garros women's final of 1999, a very knowledgable tennis fan commented that after Graf (already on 22 Slams), Seles (on 9 Slams), and Hingis (on 5 Slams), it would be very difficult for any woman to win 10+ Slams and, therefore, another poster who had said that Serena would win 6-10 Slams was not underestimating her and did think she'd be a great player. He also thought it would be very difficult for any man to win 10+ Slams in future. Now, note that Seles and Hingis actually didn't make it to 10+ Slams, but Serena ended up at 20+ Slams, while in the 17 years that have followed this discussion, three different men have made it to 10+. (At the time, Sampras was the only man to make it to 10+ since Borg hit that mark by winning Wimbledon 1980).

The point is that the future is really hard to predict. Changes in the tour that make it easier or more difficult for top players to dominate are hard to anticipate. In 1999, it did indeed look as though the field would become progressively more equal and so it did sound reasonable to think that even a (relatively) dominant player might only win nine Slams. In 2016, it looks to me as though the tour is heading in a progressively more hierarchical direction, so that it won't be that hard for a future dominant player to challenge Federer's 17 Slam tally (or Djokovic's 18, assuming he makes it there). But we don't know what will happen in the future. @tennis_pro may prove right that a generation of players won't even get close. It's just not possible to tell what tour conditions will be like in future. And tour conditions, as well as the talent of the players, affect the probability of players wracking up huge Slam tallies.

 

[THE MAN]

There is always someone else. People never learn.

I agree...." WHO IS NEXT "

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

Watch Djoker end with exactly 17.

Then you can be sure that there will be no shortage of GOAT debate threads, mixed in with new posters who have never watched fedal play, claiming some new dominant player as GOAT.

Well it is cyclic , how many fedalovic followers have seen Pancho or Rosewall.

 

[Sentinel]

Well there's always the Odds & Ends section where we can talk about random things. There's even a whole tribute thread to sureshs there, and he's always been much more entertaining to watch than all of the big 3/4 combined. It'll keep us entertained for the years to come. amirite @Sentinel and @stringertom?

Your recognitions means a lot to us, bro. Thanks.

Spoiler

 

[Luckydog]

The king of weak era.

 

[djokerer]

He'll probably be the last remaining great player to play the game for quite some time. He could break the Slam record or not. The fact is that when Djokovic retires there will probably be nobody who could have a real shot at breaking the Slam record for a really long time (because of how prohibitive the record will be even if it stands at 17). Djokovic is the only player to have a legit shot at Federer now. That means that the next player who could even think about winning as many as 18 Slams (or more, depends on how many Djokovic ends his career with, unless Federer doesn't win more than 17 that is) will start from scratch and if Djokovic doesn't do it (personally I think he'll come close but he'll just run out of time) then nobody will for a very long time. It will take someone even more special than Federer combined with a weak field for an extended period of time for someone to even think about breaking the Slam record.

My point is - since this whole forum has an incredibly strong GOAT foundation (GOAT this, GOAT that, GOAT on slow hard court, who's the GOAT in Masters etc.) once the last contender in Djokovic retires what are people going to talk about here? By the time Djokovic retires there won't be any active GOAT contenders to talk about so how will this poor forum survive? I mean you can't go any higher/deeper than to discuss about who's the greatest of all time? Will this forum have to lower its "high standards"?

You are so wrong. Sampras era was the last to have varied surfaces and surface specialists. Federer started to win on all surfaces and slams. people thought he is once in a life time player. Then when Nadal was on song, he dominated all surfaces. Now Nole does. Three is not a coincidence. Even other guys like Murray, Stan etc are surface agnostic.
When the next Champ arises say at age 22/23, 15 slams at 3/year for 5 years won't be that difficult after all. Federer's record will be broken lot sooner than you think, even if Nole doesn't do it.

 

[Deleted member 688153]

It would be hilarious if everyone just changed the table that we're all sitting at the moment to discuss some more GOAT topics in the Former Pro Player section.

Agreed. :lol:

GPPD becomes a wasteland with a Raonic and Kyrgios thread here and there.
The roles of the GPPD and Ex-pro forums gets reversed and we just keep making (X Big 3 player) is GOAT threads with varying levels of veiled-ness.

 

[Deleted member 688153]

Something just occurred to me. After the big 3 retire, most of us here could just venture on to the former pro section and the fan wars will just continue there. No need for this place to change.

BobbyOne, pc1, and kiki are going to be in utter ruins.
I will feel sorry for them to be honest - it's so tranquil over there.

This is the House, and that is the Senate.

 

[Deleted member 688153]

Well there's always the Odds & Ends section where we can talk about random things. There's even a whole tribute thread to sureshs there, and he's always been much more entertaining to watch than all of the big 3/4 combined. It'll keep us entertained for the years to come. amirite @Sentinel and @stringertom?

Sureshs is too one-dimensional to provide constant entertainment for me though.

Like many things, he's better in short bursts.
I couldn't stand him dominating TTW.

 

[tipsa...don'tlikehim!]

It would be hilarious if everyone just changed the table that we're all sitting at the moment to discuss some more GOAT topics in the Former Pro Player section.

That would be great and I hope it happens
(Will never go there)

 

[Deleted member 688153]

Just like everything, this forum has an expiration date. When the last member of the big 3 retires, we will have hit it.

12 years and going strong - I love the new improvements here too.
TT also has an advantage in that it/we are not just a forum - it's also a racquet and equipment store.

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

BobbyOne, pc1, and kiki are going to be in utter ruins.
I will feel sorry for them to be honest - it's so tranquil over there.

This is the House, and that is the Senate.

Haha ha , who will play who?

 

[CYGS]

He'll probably be the last remaining great player to play the game for quite some time. He could break the Slam record or not. The fact is that when Djokovic retires there will probably be nobody who could have a real shot at breaking the Slam record for a really long time (because of how prohibitive the record will be even if it stands at 17). Djokovic is the only player to have a legit shot at Federer now. That means that the next player who could even think about winning as many as 18 Slams (or more, depends on how many Djokovic ends his career with, unless Federer doesn't win more than 17 that is) will start from scratch and if Djokovic doesn't do it (personally I think he'll come close but he'll just run out of time) then nobody will for a very long time. It will take someone even more special than Federer combined with a weak field for an extended period of time for someone to even think about breaking the Slam record.

My point is - since this whole forum has an incredibly strong GOAT foundation (GOAT this, GOAT that, GOAT on slow hard court, who's the GOAT in Masters etc.) once the last contender in Djokovic retires what are people going to talk about here? By the time Djokovic retires there won't be any active GOAT contenders to talk about so how will this poor forum survive? I mean you can't go any higher/deeper than to discuss about who's the greatest of all time? Will this forum have to lower its "high standards"?

Why do you care? You won't be able to outlast him. His domination bores you so much that you probably quit watching tennis when Federer retires two years later anyway.

 

[MichaelNadal]

Something just occurred to me. After the big 3 retire, most of us here could just venture on to the former pro section and the fan wars will just continue there. No need for this place to change.

Eww. I'm not going in there.

 

[Krish872007]

The end of this forum in its entirety would mean the end of tennis as we know it, as clearly a lot of "tennis experts"/commentators read some things posted here.

Maybe the General Pro Player and Pro Match Results forums completely shut down and we're just all chilling in "Former Pro Player Talk"

 

[tennis_pro]

The end of this forum in its entirety would mean the end of tennis as we know it, as clearly a lot of "tennis experts"/commentators read some things posted here.

Maybe the General Pro Player and Pro Match Results forums completely shut down and we're just all chilling in "Former Pro Player Talk"

Maybe 40 years from now.

 

[ollinger]

Gee, I recall the same conversation taking place when Pete and Andre were nearing the ends of their careers, nothing to talk about thereafter. Yawn.

 

[Doflamingo]

Tennis always moves on and there will always be another player that will be talked about.

Say if the Big 3 didn't exist from 2011 and onwards, SOMEONE still has to win those slams and fill the slots of 4 slams per year in, it only takes one slam win to kick up someone's career and confidence which can also lead to that same player winning multiple slams...this is without the Big 3 of course since we all discuss what would happen without them. So carrying on from this example you'd have new slam champions, new fans, and pissing contests would rise again. Nothing would change. ​

 

[StannisTheMannis]

12 years and going strong - I love the new improvements here too.
TT also has an advantage in that it/we are not just a forum - it's also a racquet and equipment store.

I really hope it doesn't die. But seeing as the posts only have to with big 4 I have my reservations