Megafanoftennis100
Professional
As phenomenal as Djokovic is as a grass court player, I think that they are a little bit too inflated. He has won 7 Wimbledon titles, the same as Pete Sampras and one less than Federer. I think that Djokovic's first 4 Wimbledon titles were definitely well-earned.
2011 - faces red-hot Tsonga and prime Nadal (2x Wimbledon champion)
2014 - faces Roger Federer, who, even when past his prime at 33, is still a formidable All-Time-Great level player on grass. 33-year-old Federer was at least as good as, if not, better than some of the top opponents Sampras faced at Wimbledon, e.g. Ivanisevic, Rafter, Agassi
2015 - Same as 2014, except Federer was playing even better in 2015. Look at his semi-final match against Murray - he showed one of his greatest performances on grass. And his match against Djokovic only took place 2 days later. Even if he did not play as well against Djokovic, it wouldn't have mattered, because Nole was just too good that day. Even hardcore Fedfans would agree with this. In fact, I think he even played better in 2015 than he did in 2017 for real.
2018 - faces Rafael Nadal (who has started to become a legitimate threat on grass again) and Kevin Anderson, a brilliant server who had knocked out Federer, the defending champion. If anyone watched those two matches live, they could see that Nadal was playing considerably better than he did during 2012-2017. And since 2018, he has made 3 consecutive Wimbledon semi-finals (not counting the 2020 and 2021 editions, from which he pulled out). Anderson was also in the form of his life and his serves can be very dangerous on grass.
Now, from 2019 onwards, things get interesting.
In 2019, I wouldn't really call his title "inflated", because he did beat Roger Federer, who, even at 38, was still playing extremely well. So many people rated Federer's level in Wimbledon 2019 super highly, and yes, surely, he was nowhere near his 2003-2007 form, but he was still an ATG-level player. This version of Fed is still arguably superior to the likes of Ivanisevic and Rafter on grass. And while Federer did hold match points, he failed to convert them. Djokovic mentally overcame him and well, that is what tennis is about - as the saying goes "tennis is a mental game". Up until 2019, I would not call Djokovic's titles "inflated".
However, his 2021 run seemed ridiculously easy for a Wimbledon draw and this definitely seemed inflated. His toughest opponent was Matteo Berretini, who was the only top 10 player he faced throughout the whole tournament. His semi-final opponent was Shapovalov for crying out loud!
His 2022 run also seems super inflated, because he did not face any top 10 players throughout the tournament. Maybe Sinner could be given more credit because now, we know how great of a player he is judging by his record this season, but still, 2022 was not a hard Wimbledon draw really...
Now, as phenomenal as Federer is as a hard-court player, his AO title count seems to be slightly inflated.
2004 - He went through a tough draw and won it fair and square. Safin, Nalbandian and Hewitt are no slouches.
2006 - This one is really inflated. He only faced one top 10 opponent - Nikolay Davydenko. And aside from that, his next toughest opponent was 21st seeded player. Not to mention his final opponent was Marcos Baghdatis, who was a 54th seeded player.
2007 - He was playing incredibly well here and also beat three top 10 players in a row without dropping a set. His demolition of Roddick was a masterclass performance. Not inflated at all.
2010 - He beat three top 10 players in a row, including Murray and Tsonga. Not inflated at all.
2017 - He beat FOUR top 10 players in a row, including Wawrinka and Nadal. Not inflated at all.
2018 - This one does seem inflated. He faced only one top-10 opponent - Marin Cilic. Cilic played very well, but Federer should have closed out this match in 3 or, at worst, 4 sets. Also, his semi-finals opponent was Hyeon Chung, who quit in the middle due to feet injury.
So, apparently, Federer seems to have 2 inflated AO titles (2006, 2018) and Djokovic seems to have 2 inflated Wimbledon titles (2021-2022).
Honestly, both of them had huge success at each other's home Slam and are the 2nd best players there (8>7 and 10>6), but two of their titles seemed overrated.
What do you guys think?
2011 - faces red-hot Tsonga and prime Nadal (2x Wimbledon champion)
2014 - faces Roger Federer, who, even when past his prime at 33, is still a formidable All-Time-Great level player on grass. 33-year-old Federer was at least as good as, if not, better than some of the top opponents Sampras faced at Wimbledon, e.g. Ivanisevic, Rafter, Agassi
2015 - Same as 2014, except Federer was playing even better in 2015. Look at his semi-final match against Murray - he showed one of his greatest performances on grass. And his match against Djokovic only took place 2 days later. Even if he did not play as well against Djokovic, it wouldn't have mattered, because Nole was just too good that day. Even hardcore Fedfans would agree with this. In fact, I think he even played better in 2015 than he did in 2017 for real.
2018 - faces Rafael Nadal (who has started to become a legitimate threat on grass again) and Kevin Anderson, a brilliant server who had knocked out Federer, the defending champion. If anyone watched those two matches live, they could see that Nadal was playing considerably better than he did during 2012-2017. And since 2018, he has made 3 consecutive Wimbledon semi-finals (not counting the 2020 and 2021 editions, from which he pulled out). Anderson was also in the form of his life and his serves can be very dangerous on grass.
Now, from 2019 onwards, things get interesting.
In 2019, I wouldn't really call his title "inflated", because he did beat Roger Federer, who, even at 38, was still playing extremely well. So many people rated Federer's level in Wimbledon 2019 super highly, and yes, surely, he was nowhere near his 2003-2007 form, but he was still an ATG-level player. This version of Fed is still arguably superior to the likes of Ivanisevic and Rafter on grass. And while Federer did hold match points, he failed to convert them. Djokovic mentally overcame him and well, that is what tennis is about - as the saying goes "tennis is a mental game". Up until 2019, I would not call Djokovic's titles "inflated".
However, his 2021 run seemed ridiculously easy for a Wimbledon draw and this definitely seemed inflated. His toughest opponent was Matteo Berretini, who was the only top 10 player he faced throughout the whole tournament. His semi-final opponent was Shapovalov for crying out loud!
His 2022 run also seems super inflated, because he did not face any top 10 players throughout the tournament. Maybe Sinner could be given more credit because now, we know how great of a player he is judging by his record this season, but still, 2022 was not a hard Wimbledon draw really...
Now, as phenomenal as Federer is as a hard-court player, his AO title count seems to be slightly inflated.
2004 - He went through a tough draw and won it fair and square. Safin, Nalbandian and Hewitt are no slouches.
2006 - This one is really inflated. He only faced one top 10 opponent - Nikolay Davydenko. And aside from that, his next toughest opponent was 21st seeded player. Not to mention his final opponent was Marcos Baghdatis, who was a 54th seeded player.
2007 - He was playing incredibly well here and also beat three top 10 players in a row without dropping a set. His demolition of Roddick was a masterclass performance. Not inflated at all.
2010 - He beat three top 10 players in a row, including Murray and Tsonga. Not inflated at all.
2017 - He beat FOUR top 10 players in a row, including Wawrinka and Nadal. Not inflated at all.
2018 - This one does seem inflated. He faced only one top-10 opponent - Marin Cilic. Cilic played very well, but Federer should have closed out this match in 3 or, at worst, 4 sets. Also, his semi-finals opponent was Hyeon Chung, who quit in the middle due to feet injury.
So, apparently, Federer seems to have 2 inflated AO titles (2006, 2018) and Djokovic seems to have 2 inflated Wimbledon titles (2021-2022).
Honestly, both of them had huge success at each other's home Slam and are the 2nd best players there (8>7 and 10>6), but two of their titles seemed overrated.
What do you guys think?
