He can be past Sampras in 10 months.
USO is the big chance for the outsiders. I think the AO comes too early for everyone bar maybe Dimitrov, and all the non slam winners are further from the big guys on natural surfaces anyway, so unless Thiem flukes RG, I see little happening before the USO.Hmm.
Well I doubt Federer and Nadal will play as well in 2018 as 2017 and think Murray and Wawrinka won't be threats in 2018, so I expect to see at least one new Slam winner. Djokovic could well be there to capitalise big time.
How about all the grass masters Sampras should have been winning? Sampras had 0 masters on his best surface, Djokovic has at least 4 depending on your delineation of slow and fast hard court. Hmmm...Well one could strongly argue that he has already passed Sampras given djokovics superior lower level achievement profile. Same number of wtf’s but 30 masters 1000 vs 11 for Sampras . That is a gigantic gap. It’s not easy to win masters 1000’s. Even if you grant Sampras 4 Extra masters 1000 equivalents (his Phily and Indianapolis wins from the 1990-1992 period) and Sampras 2 grand slam cups - Sampras would still only have 17 to 21 equivalents (depending on how you weight the grand slam cups)
Djoker would have caught Pete last year if he had been healthy and able to practice.
You can't assume that Sampras necessarily would have won that many. It is worth noting that in his whole career Sampras only won a total of 3 non-Wimbledon grass tournaments (in contrast Federer has won 9 non-Wimbledon grass tournaments).How about all the grass masters Sampras should have been winning? Sampras had 0 masters on his best surface, Djokovic has at least 4 depending on your delineation of slow and fast hard court. Hmmm...
I didn't assume anything. I asked you what the counts would be, and if they should even matter, if Djokovic had 3 masters on his worst surface, whatever you want that to be, 0 on hard, and Sampras had 3+ on grass.You can't assume that Sampras necessarily would have won that many. It is worth noting that in his whole career Sampras only won a total of 3 non-Wimbledon grass tournaments (in contrast Federer has won 9 non-Wimbledon grass tournaments).
AgreedAnd Bjorn would have won 17 majors and 9 FO's had he not lost motivation.
And Lendl would have won 15 slams had it not been for Mac, Connors, Becker or Edberg.
And Fed would have 27 slams had Rafa not come along....
You can play the "what if" game till you keel over.
Think he wins 2 next year anyway.If Nole can win one slam every 2 years, he beats Sampras by 33. I think it's doable.
But what if we played the "what if" game till we keeled overAnd Bjorn would have won 17 majors and 9 FO's had he not lost motivation.
And Lendl would have won 15 slams had it not been for Mac, Connors, Becker or Edberg.
And Fed would have 27 slams had Rafa not come along....
You can play the "what if" game till you keel over.
Maybe. If so, he already catches up. Then to surpass, all he needs to do is win one more.Think he wins 2 next year anyway.
2018 will be important for Djokovic. If he doesn't win anything next year, he probably won't catch Sampras.
The young guys aren't going to be garbage forever.
Yup. Who knows how well he has recovered from the elbow, if he's unlucky, he may have chronic issues with it henceforth.I still have my doubts he will get to 13.
People are just too hyped up about Djokovic's comeback.
He can win more Slams, but I am not sure he will. I still have no sample of the "new" Djokovic, so it is impossible to tell.