Big Titles defended - a comparison of Big3s

[MichelaDe]

Big Tournaments where they defended the title at least once in their career:

DJOKOVIC

Australian Open, Wimbledon
Year End Championship
Indian Wells, Miami, Rome, Canadian Open, Shanghai, Paris Bercy

total Grand Slams: 2
total Big Tournaments: 9

FEDERER

Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open
Year End Championship
Indian Wells, Miami, Hamburg, Cincinnati

total Grand Slams: 3
total Big Tournaments: 8

NADAL

Roland Garros
MonteCarlo, Madrid, Rome, Canadian Open

total Grand Slams: 1
total Big Tournaments: 5

 

[Beerus]

Doesn't look good for Nadal.

 

[MeatTornado]

Nadal not defending a non-clay tournament until 2019 was pretty crazy.

 

[AgassiSuperSlam11]

I think the end result in a tournament is more important than number of defenses unless it's boxing where title defenses may indicate dominance of an era. Federer defended his USO four times but never won again. The final tally is 5 for Fed, Sampras, and Connors regardless of the number of defenses.

Nadal was absent from 2009 Wimbledon but DID win the 2010 Wimbledon yet not counted as a defense (deFENCE for UK and Aussie posters). He also missed the 2014 USO and 2020 USO (US Covid-should've gone) and had no chance to defend his title. In 2014 he missed the entire North American HC season and missed out in defending 3 titles. The OP paradoxically actually makes a better argument that injuries has resulted in Nadal missing out in title defenses more than having the inability to defend a title.

 

[ND-13]

I think the end result in a tournament is more important than number of defenses unless it's boxing where title defenses may indicate dominance of an era. Federer defended his USO four times but never won again. The final tally is 5 for Fed, Sampras, and Connors regardless of the number of defenses.

Nadal was absent from 2009 Wimbledon but DID win the 2010 Wimbledon yet not counted as a defense (deFENCE for UK and Aussie posters). He also missed the 2014 USO and 2020 USO (US Covid-should've gone) and had no chance to defend his title. In 2014 he missed the entire North American HC season and missed out in defending 3 titles. The OP paradoxically actually makes a better argument that injuries has resulted in Nadal missing out in title defenses than having the inability to defend a title.

Excises, Excuses and more Excuses

The guy just won HC tournaments only when things aligned.

On grass he was way better in terms of consistency between 2006-11 but after that he was getting taken to the cleaners by journeymen

 

[Herald]

Excises, Excuses and more Excuses

The guy just won HC tournaments only when things aligned.

On grass he was way better in terms of consistency between 2006-11 but after that he was getting taken to the cleaners by journeymen

22>20
Exercises like this are more in the line of excuses than anything else.

 

[ND-13]

22>20
Exercises like this are more in the line of excuses than anything else.

22 with 14 FO compared with 22 tomorrow with 2 big titles everywhere on the globe

You guys should just pack it

Nadal is a great but his achievements are overshadowed

 

[Herald]

22 with 14 FO compared with 22 tomorrow with 2 big titles everywhere on the globe

You guys should just pack it

Nadal is a great but his achievements are overshadowed

All I hear is excuses and qualifications, the same things that were said of the arguments of others when they pointed out Roger's shortcomings.
As far as Novak goes, yes, I would put him slightly ahead if he wins 22 tomorrow.

 

[AgassiSuperSlam11]

Excises, Excuses and more Excuses

The guy just won HC tournaments only when things aligned.

On grass he was way better in terms of consistency between 2006-11 but after that he was getting taken to the cleaners by journeymen

I only saw your response since I was signed out. If you think the stat about "defending titles" is a big stat then you really need to assess what is more indicative of dominance. Federer has defended his USO title 4 times and Sampras only once. The final score is still 5 to 5. There are plenty of more important stats between the Big 3 and many "Rafan haters" will not like to know them.

As for Wimbledon the end result is 2 wins out of 5 finals as Djokovic is 2 wins out of 6 finals (FO). Once again, if it happened recently or the past the final tally remains the same.

As for excuses Nadal did suffer from Lumbar spondylosis (Wawrinka Final), wrist injury (had a cast for 3 weeks), and did have a laparoscopic appendectomy performed at end of 2014. These medical records are corroborated as an impartial person assuming you want the MRI released on the hamstring injury for transparency.

 

[TMF]

Big Tournaments where they defended the title at least once in their career:

DJOKOVIC

Australian Open, Wimbledon
Year End Championship
Indian Wells, Miami, Rome, Canadian Open, Shanghai, Paris Bercy

total Grand Slams: 2
total Big Tournaments: 9

FEDERER

Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open
Year End Championship
Indian Wells, Miami, Hamburg, Cincinnati

total Grand Slams: 3
total Big Tournaments: 8

NADAL

Roland Garros
MonteCarlo, Madrid, Rome, Canadian Open

total Grand Slams: 1
total Big Tournaments: 5

Crazy how Federer would have done even better had there were multiple MS1000 on grass

 

[AgassiSuperSlam11]

Crazy how Federer would have done even better had there were multiple MS1000 on grass

He is the only one of the "Big 3" that has more than 1 Grass title outside of the 100% Perennial Ryegrass consolidation (won Halle 10 times).

 

[MichelaDe]

Crazy how Federer would have done even better had there were multiple MS1000 on grass

Why should?

No one plays tennis on grass. Have you ever played tennis on real grass?

 

[NatF]

Why should?

No one plays tennis on grass. Have you ever played tennis on real grass?

I have many times

 

[TMF]

Why should?

No one plays tennis on grass. Have you ever played tennis on real grass?

My point is the big 3 each has his own pet surface. Nadal - clay, Novak - hard court, Federer - grass.

What Federer has done is even more impressive since he doesn't get a chance to play on his pet surface unlike Nadal & Nole

 

[RS]

I just want to derail the thread and make it about boxing

 

[TMF]

He is the only one of the "Big 3" that has more than 1 Grass title outside of the 100% Perennial Ryegrass consolidation (won Halle 10 times).

Which prove my point had there were 3 MS1000 on grass. Federer wins many, many more MS1000 and thus holding the record with most MS1000 titles

 

[itrium84]

22>20
Exercises like this are more in the line of excuses than anything else.

310>209. Rafa is not great no1 material, needed to be better player.

 

[DSH]

Nadal not defending a non-clay tournament until 2019 was pretty crazy.

How many clay titles have Federer and Djokovic defended in their career?

 

[Herald]

310>209. Rafa is not great no1 material, needed to be better player.

Since when is 200+ weeks at no.1 not great no.1 material?

 

[platypus50]

Fedole > Nadal

Nadal has never defended an ATP Finals title...oh wait I just remembered that you need to actually win one first before you can defend it.

2009 Wimbledon - I acknowledge that Nadal was going through a tough time with personal things in his life at that particular moment.

However I think he still should have had the common decency to pull out before the draw was made if he wasn't 100% up for playing instead of messing other players around by running away AFTER he saw the difficult draw (Hewitt in 2R, Roddick in QF, Murray in SF, Federer in F) he was given. Delpo who was seeded 5 had to take Nadal's place in the draw once Nadal officially withdrew

 

[MichelaDe]

My point is the big 3 each has his own pet surface. Nadal - clay, Novak - hard court, Federer - grass.

What Federer has done is even more impressive since he doesn't get a chance to play on his pet surface unlike Nadal & Nole

If there were more grass tournaments, tennis players would have a different game, it would be a different sport.

The reality is grass is a niche surface and Federer doesn't have the Masters record because he was not as good as Djokovic and Nadal on the main surfaces of tennis.

 

[AgassiSuperSlam11]

As for the 9 M1000 tournaments there is no current tournament that is a Category 4 or higher court pace index. Shanghai and Cincy being the fastest and 5 of the 9 tournaments being either Category 1 or 2. There are many dynamics involved including feasibility and economics. At minimum, there should be one Grass M1000 tournament. The Olympics are going back to a Bo5 Final and the sport should reconsider some of their changes as Davis Cup and the ATP Finals.

 

[itrium84]

Since when is 200+ weeks at no.1 not great no.1 material?

In GOAT race context, it's shockingly low number. Sampras GOATed up to 286, Fed GOATed to up 310, Novak GOATed up to 373+.
In regular ATG context, 209 is a great and respectable number, Rafa is greatest tier 2 ATG in tennis history, nothing to be ashamed about.

 

[mehdimike]

Fedole > Nadal

Nadal has never defended an ATP Finals title...oh wait I just remembered that you need to actually win one first before you can defend it.

2009 Wimbledon - I acknowledge that Nadal was going through a tough time with personal things in his life at that particular moment.

However I think he still should have had the common decency to pull out before the draw was made if he wasn't 100% up for playing instead of messing other players around by running away AFTER he saw the difficult draw (Hewitt in 2R, Roddick in QF, Murray in SF, Federer in F) he was given. Delpo who was seeded 5 had to take Nadal's place in the draw once Nadal officially withdrew

If Roddick could go through that draw why couldn't Rafa?! Also even Rafa's presence could change the whole draw in others way like the matches might drag on more or for instance some matches would probably start at a different time which could change the results somehow.

 

[Herald]

In GOAT race context, it's shockingly low number. Sampras GOATed up to 286, Fed GOATed to up 310, Novak GOATed up to 373+.
In regular ATG context, 209 is a great and respectable number, Rafa is greatest tier 2 ATG in tennis history, nothing to be ashamed about.

Rafa has 22 majors to Fed's 20. He leads in the metric which has universally been agreed upon as the most important one by every fanbase. As if that wasn't enough, he has the double career slam and leads the h2h. Federer is his #2, and the overall #3 of this era.

Sampras GOATed at 286 weeks at #1, and this is still an amazing record because it inspired the two who came after and broke it, and he was the clear best of his generation.
Roger was surpassed by his first/second greatest rival in Djokovic while he was still active, which gives context to the numbers being a bit inflated in comparison.

 

[TMF]

If there were more grass tournaments, tennis players would have a different game, it would be a different sport.

The reality is grass is a niche surface and Federer doesn't have the Masters record because he was not as good as Djokovic and Nadal on the main surfaces of tennis.

Grass is certainly not a niche but one of major surface that has been played on for 100 years!

I see that you completely ignore my point. Each player has his own pet surface and Federer never had a chance to play MS1000 on grass.

It's clear that the surface and condition(slow homogenization) on the tour is tailored for Djokodal

 

[GoatNo1]

fed has never won MC and rome
rafa has never won miami, paris and WTF (+shanghai)

nole is much closer to complete 3x of all big titles than rafa is his first.