Can Djokovic reach 400 weeks at no 1?

[Hitman]

Steffi didn't play BO5 in Slams and didn't play men's tennis. She's irrelevant here.

Graf was never the best tennis player in the world, she was the best female tennis player in the world, had there been no spliting of the tour and just all professional tennis players compete together, she would not have been a tennis player period, letalone a GOAT candidate. Djokovic would have those numbers regardless. Just roll my eyes when I see Djokovic being put down with these comparisons. Two different tours, leave it at that.

 

[R. Schweikart]

Steffi didn't play BO5 in Slams and didn't play men's tennis. She's irrelevant here.

BO5 is a big advantage for the better player. You can't get surprised as easy as in a BO3 match. Advantage for Djokovic here.
Steffi (a female) had to play the best women, Djokovic (a male) the best men. Equal chances there.
So Steffi is very relevant, she always is.

 

[R. Schweikart]

With few stabs here and there i can guarantee the greatness above Graff for Novak ...

Monica wiped the floor with graff until that idiotic moment..

Sales had losing records against Steffi in every phase:
When Steffi was #1 pre-stabbing (2-3 H2H)
When Sales was #1 pre-stabbing (2-3 H2H)
When Steffi was #1 post-stabbing (0-2 H2H)
When neither was #1 post-stabbing (1-2 H2H)

Floor wipings happened only twice:
Steffi wiped the Wimbledon 89 floor with Sales (6-0 6-1)
And the Wimbledon 92 floor again (6-2 6-1) - which was the worst floor-wiping a #1 player ever suffered in a slam final.

 

[R. Schweikart]

Just wow . How can you compare this record, which purely demonstrates someones longetivity to CYGS. And lets compare WTA to ATP, 1988 to 2021, media then and today. This post is salty as an post can get... In reality Djokovic has no real challenge for #1 till RG 2022, so 365 weeks is almost locked for him. You forgot that he played like 5 tournaments before RG, and two of those being 250 Belgrades. He only defends AO and Rome final.

Djokovic profits now from his two best opponents being 40 years old and 35 years old (plus injured).
Steffi won her Golden Slam against peak Navratilova and still dangerous Evert.

 

[Hitman]

Djokovic profits now from his two best opponents being 40 years old and 35 years old (plus injured).
Steffi won her Golden Slam against peak Navratilova and still dangerous Evert.

Peak Martina? The same Martina who had been winning slams since the 70s and had already won 17 of her 18 slams by the end of 87. Just how long was peak Martina around for? She was already 32 by that point...Graf was done and dusted by the time she was 30, but Martina was still peak.

 

[Adman]

And after Djokovic surpasses Graf, something else will be found to belittle his feat, wheelchair tennis records, or other exotics.

 

[R. Schweikart]

Peak Martina? The same Martina who had been winning slams since the 70s and had already won 17 of her 18 slams by the end of 87. Just how long was peak Martina around for? She was already 32 by that point...Graf was done and dusted by the time she was 30, but Martina was still peak.

In 1988 a 31-year-old Navratilova had the 7th-best winning percentage in her 23-year-long career (not even counting 2002-05).
In 1989 even the 6th-best!
So both years clearly in the best third of her career.
Which for instance was not the case with Steffi in 1991 & 1992 when Seles won all those slams.

So 88/89 Navratilova = peak Navratilova
And 91/92 Graf = non-peak Graf

Why is this so difficult to understand??

 

[R. Schweikart]

And after Djokovic surpasses Graf, something else will be found to belittle his feat, wheelchair tennis records, or other exotics.

Golden Slam, each slam won at least 4 times, 8 years as year-end #1, 89.3 career winning percentage - wheelchair tennis is not even needed.

 

[Hitman]

In 1988 a 31-year-old Navratilova had the 7th-best winning percentage in her 23-year-long career (not even counting 2002-05).
In 1989 even the 6th-best!
So both years clearly in the best third of her career.
Which for instance was not the case with Steffi in 1991 & 1992 when Seles won all those slams.

So 88/89 Navratilova = peak Navratilova
And 91/92 Graf = non-peak Graf

Why is this so difficult to understand??

So a 31-32 year old, who started playing professional tennis since the mid 70s is being proped up as a peak level opponent for 88 Graf, this shows one of two things, or even both....the first is, how lame was the draw that Graf's 88 season is being boosted on the back of 31 year woman in a time, when players were already way past it before 30, Graf was gone from the sport by this age...or does that mean Martina is the actual GOAT because she was able to have such numbers so many years after she first started playing.

I think you are the one who needs to understand how it works when you use a 31-32 year old and claim her to be peak to prop up Graf.

 

[boredone3456]

So a 31-32 year old, who started playing professional tennis since the mid 70s is being proped up as a peak level opponent for 88 Graf, this shows one of two things, or even both....the first is, how lame was the draw that Graf's 88 season is being boosted on the back of 31 year woman in a time, when players were already way past it before 30, Graf was gone from the sport by this age...or does that mean Martina is the actual GOAT because she was able to have such numbers so many years after she first started playing.

I think you are the one who needs to understand how it works when you use a 31-32 year old and claim her to be peak to prop up Graf.

exactly...and Martina's Peak was arguably probably 82-86 (her absolute best was 1984), starting waning in 87. 88 she was still phenominally good compared to the vast majority of the tour, but her peak was over by that point.

and I say this as someone who favors her in the GOAT argument. But I'm still realistic....

 

[Deleted member 748597]

No. He's not even guaranteed to reach 300 yet. 400 is not going to happen though.

400 is just the beginning.

 

[NoleFam]

Graf was never the best tennis player in the world, she was the best female tennis player in the world, had there been no spliting of the tour and just all professional tennis players compete together, she would not have been a tennis player period, letalone a GOAT candidate. Djokovic would have those numbers regardless. Just roll my eyes when I see Djokovic being put down with these comparisons. Two different tours, leave it at that.

Yea, it's two different sports. What Djokovic does does not even compute for Steffi. She's irrelevant in a comparison with the big 3.

 

[NoleFam]

BO5 is a big advantage for the better player. You can't get surprised as easy as in a BO3 match. Advantage for Djokovic here.
Steffi (a female) had to play the best women, Djokovic (a male) the best men. Equal chances there.
So Steffi is very relevant, she always is.

The point is, Djokovic put in a lot more work and plays against the absolute best on the planet. She didn't. She is irrelevant here.

 

[Hitman]

Yea, it's two different sports. What Djokovic does does not even compute for Steffi. She's irrelevant in a comparison with the big 3.

Just a needless comparison.

Lets bring in the wheel chair golden grand slam 2021 while we are at it.

 

[nolefam_2024]

Peak Martina? The same Martina who had been winning slams since the 70s and had already won 17 of her 18 slams by the end of 87. Just how long was peak Martina around for? She was already 32 by that point...Graf was done and dusted by the time she was 30, but Martina was still peak.

Steffi had weakest goat competition . Whatever competition she had was also taken away

 

[R. Schweikart]

The point is, Djokovic put in a lot more work and plays against the absolute best on the planet. She didn't. She is irrelevant here.

Nole won 13 of his 20 slams post-2014 (65 %). When Federer had already turned 33.
Steffi won 14 of her 22 slams post-1989 (63.6 %). When Navratilova had turned 33.

No one worked harder than Steffi (Sampras, Federer are on record praising her for that). Who suffered tons of injuries (in stark contrast to the injury-free career of Djokovic).

 

[R. Schweikart]

Steffi had weakest goat competition . Whatever competition she had was also taken away

No female ever had greater competition than Steffi.
She played 13 slam finals against three (!) different top ten ATGs (Evert, Navratilova, Seles).
21 slam finals against players who each made at least 12 slam finals (Evert, Navratilova, Sanchez, Seles, Hingis).

 

[Hitman]

Nole won 13 of his 20 slams post-2014 (65 %). When Federer had already turned 33.
Steffi won 14 of her 22 slams post-1989 (63.6 %). When Navratilova had turned 33.

No one worked harder than Steffi (Sampras, Federer are on record praising her for that). Who suffered tons of injuries (in stark contrast to the injury-free career of Djokovic).

I like how you completely ignore that apart from Federer, Nadal was also around and is from Djokovic's generation and fellow 20 slam winner.

And comparing a 33 Federer to a 33 Navaratilova without taking into account the advances in sport science, medicine, nutrtition that has only helped prolonged athletes competitive level and the fact you are making that comparison from the late 80s to mid 2010s as if they are exactly the same eras is quite something.

 

[nolefam_2024]

No female ever had greater competition than Steffi.
She played 13 slam finals against three (!) different top ten ATGs (Evert, Navratilova, Seles).
21 slam finals against players who each made at least 12 slam finals (Evert, Navratilova, Sanchez, Seles, Hingis).

The time Steffi graf won her slams was when older players retired or were irrelevant beyond 30. Even Martina was 31 and Evert was even older. If that's the competition then today's big 3 is great competition for next gen.

 

[NoleFam]

Just a needless comparison.

Lets bring in the wheel chair golden grand slam 2021 while we are at it.

Lol. Might as well.

 

[NoleFam]

Nole won 13 of his 20 slams post-2014 (65 %). When Federer had already turned 33.
Steffi won 14 of her 22 slams post-1989 (63.6 %). When Navratilova had turned 33.

No one worked harder than Steffi (Sampras, Federer are on record praising her for that). Who suffered tons of injuries (in stark contrast to the injury-free career of Djokovic).

It doesn't matter what Steffi did and nice comparing to Djokovic. I don't recall somebody taking a knife to the back of Nadal or Federer anyway. If you want to compare so much, why'd you leave that out?

At the end of the day, Djokovic plays a different sport than she did and played a massive amount of more sets to win his majors. There is no valid correlation.

 

[Steffi-forever]

Navratilova was still a prime player on fast surfaces in late 80’s early 90s. She had a stretch of 67 matches win out of 70, the 3 losses vs Graf. She would have dominated 88-89 without Graf, with 3 more slams, a YEC, 2 more seasons of 10+ titles, 2 more YE #1 and many more weeks as well.
Also Navratilova had her eyes on the 24 records at that time, but Graf destroyed her dreams.

 

[fishpiefriday]

Covid stole the opportunity to try and win 1 slam from him too.

Fixed that for you.

 

[Rudiiii]

Navratilova was still a prime player on fast surfaces in late 80’s early 90s. She had a stretch of 67 matches win out of 70, the 3 losses vs Graf. She would have dominated 88-89 without Graf, with 3 more slams, a YEC, 2 more seasons of 10+ titles, 2 more YE #1 and many more weeks as well.
Also Navratilova had her eyes on the 24 records at that time, but Graf destroyed her dreams.

Hahahahahahahahah it is exactly same for Fed and Nole rivalry, Fed would have dominated hard and grass had Djokovic been out. And add Nadal and Murray there( both same age as him) you have pretty strong competition, with grass,clay and hard goats competing againts eachother,no? Graff had ok competition,nothing else. Only ATG to make her run for her money was stabbed

 

[nolefam_2024]

Hahahahahahahahah it is exactly same for Fed and Nole rivalry, Fed would have dominated hard and grass had Djokovic been out. And add Nadal and Murray there( both same age as him) you have pretty strong competition, with grass,clay and hard goats competing againts eachother,no? Graff had ok competition,nothing else. Only ATG to make her run for her money was stabbed

Federer is less than 6 years older than Novak.

Evert is almost 15 years older than Graf.
Navatatilova is 13 years older than Graf.

This is like Novak beating Sampras in 2008 AO. Lol.

 

[Rudiiii]

Federer is less than 6 years older than Novak.

Evert is almost 15 years older than Graf.
Navatatilova is 13 years older than Graf.

This is like Novak beating Sampras in 2008 AO. Lol.

I know, just pointed that it is useless to use those arguments

 

[DjokoLand]

I still not sure this will happen due to this season. Djokovic only really turned up for slams and winning 3 and making the F kept him at #1 but I don’t see him matching that next year and I feel he plays even less outside of slams

 

[Milanez82]

Come on, lets not compare him to Graf, two different tours. Steffi would have zero weeks at number one if she played in a field which included all professional tennis players, Djokovic would still have the exact same amount of weeks.

Or significantly less weeks if her main rival wasn't stabbed

 

[top10]

If only Novak had fans like Graf (to stab Rafa on the court), he would have had quite a few more weeks as No.1 and quite a few more slams too…

 

[Hyde]

Without the covid frozen weeks, Djokovic would be pushing around ~370 weeks right now. 400 would have been a real possibility. I was wrong.

It is still a possibility now, even likely.
He has 371 weeks and is No 1 again now. He won‘t even have to defend that many points until Wimbledon. If he stays #1 until Wimbledon, he should already be very close to 400 weeks.

 

[Rudiiii]

It is still a possibility now, even likely.
He has 371 weeks and is No 1 again now. He won‘t even have to defend that many points until Wimbledon. If he stays #1 until Wimbledon, he should already be very close to 400 weeks.

He defends less then 2000 points untill Astana/Tel Aviv. I don't see him loosing no1 for 10 more months, so maybe 410+ weeks?

 

[NoleFam]

It is still a possibility now, even likely.
He has 371 weeks and is No 1 again now. He won‘t even have to defend that many points until Wimbledon. If he stays #1 until Wimbledon, he should already be very close to 400 weeks.

Oh it definitely is. This will be his 374th week actually and he's guaranteed at least 378. I think if he kept the ranking from now until mid/late September, he'd reach 400 weeks.

 

[Hyde]

He defends less then 2000 points untill Astana/Tel Aviv. I don't see him loosing no1 for 10 more months, so maybe 410+ weeks?

But I just read that he won‘t be able to enter the United States until at least April (because of his vaccination status), so that means he won‘t play the American Masters tournaments in spring.
I wasn‘t aware of that, that makes it a bit harder to stay #1. Because his point lead is not big.

 

[Djokodalerer31]

But I just read that he won‘t be able to enter the United States until at least April (because of his vaccination status), so that means he won‘t play the American Masters tournaments in spring.
I wasn‘t aware of that, that makes it a bit harder to stay #1. Because his point lead is not big.

The only factor here is Tsitsipas! Alcaraz (who is much closer to Novak, only about 340 points below now...) has to defend 1360 points (360 from the semis of IW last year, followed by the victory at Miami two weeks later!), even if Novak isn't allowed to travel that is titanic job for the young spaniard, given his most recent circumstances! He is likely not going to be fully fit and competitive until at least clay portion of the season, where he still needs to defend his Madrid title for a hot second! (and yes Novak needs to defend lots of points too before Roland Garros during clay court portion, but who do you think is more likely to succeed at all those points defending, Alcaraz or Novak? Off course it's Novak!)...i think it all comes down to how each of them will perform this year at RG respectively! And that will set the tone for the reminder of the season!

 

[Rafa4LifeEver]

If we are being realistic...Who will really take the number 1 spot from him? I don't see anybody doing that in the next few years.

You were absolutely correct

 

[Hyde]

The only factor here is Tsitsipas! Alcaraz (who is much closer to Novak, only about 340 points below now...) has to defend 1360 points (360 from the semis of IW last year, followed by the victory at Miami two weeks later!), even if Novak isn't allowed to travel that is titanic job for the young spaniard, given his most recent circumstances! He is likely not going to be fully fit and competitive until at least clay portion of the season, where he still needs to defend his Madrid title for a hot second! (and yes Novak needs to defend lots of points too before Roland Garros during clay court portion, but who do you think is more likely to succeed at all those points defending, Alcaraz or Novak? Off course it's Novak!)...i think it all comes down to how each of them will perform this year at RG respectively! And that will set the tone for the reminder of the season!

Maybe Tsitsipas will be playing as many tournaments as possible in the upcoming months, now that he sees the rare chance to get to #1 once in his life.

 

[Djokodalerer31]

Maybe Tsitsipas will be playing as many tournaments as possible in the upcoming months, now that he sees the rare chance to get to #1 once in his life.

Tsitsipas is still about 900 ranking points away, not to mention that Novak himself may play in Dubai and in case he wins that one too, it's additional 500 points lead! I don't think Tsitsipas is mentally ready to tear himself apart just to get that temporary #1 ranking just to lose it very soon and quite frankly i don't think he is mentally ready to jump into every single little tournament and win it right away because of his crushing defeat...

 

[reaper]

The only factor here is Tsitsipas! Alcaraz (who is much closer to Novak, only about 340 points below now...) has to defend 1360 points (360 from the semis of IW last year, followed by the victory at Miami two weeks later!), even if Novak isn't allowed to travel that is titanic job for the young spaniard, given his most recent circumstances! He is likely not going to be fully fit and competitive until at least clay portion of the season, where he still needs to defend his Madrid title for a hot second! (and yes Novak needs to defend lots of points too before Roland Garros during clay court portion, but who do you think is more likely to succeed at all those points defending, Alcaraz or Novak? Off course it's Novak!)...i think it all comes down to how each of them will perform this year at RG respectively! And that will set the tone for the reminder of the season!

Alcaraz is more likely to defend his points. I doubt Djokovic will be motivated by any tournament other than Roland Garros prior to Wimbledon. Alcaraz will probably be more aggressive in pursuing the #1 ranking if healthy.

 

[Djokodalerer31]

Alcaraz is more likely to defend his points. I doubt Djokovic will be motivated by any tournament other than Roland Garros prior to Wimbledon. Alcaraz will probably be more aggressive in pursuing the #1 ranking if healthy.

Not sure about that...Novak needs to be ready as hell for Roland Garros, given it's historic significance this year (in previous seasons as well, but ESPECIALLY this year!) and that means playing and winning lots of warm-up clay court titles, including masters in Rome, where he is defending champion!...Plus i don't think that Alcaraz himself wil lbe as good on clay this year as he was previous year and there are several factors why i think it can be the case, one of them is the injury he is dealing with, another being - motivation, which he cannot find since winning the USO last year!...if you think Alcaraz will be killing it on clay this season i think you should be prepared for nasty surprise...

 

[mika1979]

Let's not forget, he defends zero points in Wimbledon and US open, should he get in. If he is number one at Wimbledon, he will be until the year end tournament

 

[BGod]

It really is bananas Novak would be past 400 if not for politics.

And Alcaraz and City have default chance to grab undeserved #1 cause Novak blocked from Sunshine Double.....ugh.

Hope he plays to 40 and gets 500 weeks.

 

[Fabresque]

He’ll need to defend some stuff in the clay season but he defends absolutely nada at Wimbledon and the US Open + tournaments preceding it. Wimbledon will most likely have to get points back now, and if his ban is lifted in time, he’ll be feasting over in America. 400+ is probably just a formality at this point.

 

[Hyde]

It really is bananas Novak would be past 400 if not for politics.

And Alcaraz and City have default chance to grab undeserved #1 cause Novak blocked from Sunshine Double.....ugh.

Hope he plays to 40 and gets 500 weeks.

At this point, Djokovic lost more than a year of #1 ranking to Covid. First, the 22 weeks when the ranking was freezed in 2020, second, the 33 weeks when Medvedev and Alcaraz were at No 1, which wouldn’t have happened if Djokovic didn‘t miss AO, USO and a couple of Masters due to his travel ban.

He likely would be around 430 weeks by now.

 

[Cortana]

No. He's not even guaranteed to reach 300 yet. 400 is not going to happen though.

He needs 140 weeks. So 2 years and 8 months. That means he needs to be number 1 continuously until just after the AO 2022. It's not happening

Djokovic is not reaching 400 weeks. I don't think he will get close to that number.

Not just no but hell no. The #1 rank will be the first thing to go when Djoker truly declines. Someone else will fill the void. It happens

 

[RS]

Somebody please start reporting bump ups.

 

[CoolCoolCool]

Somebody please start reporting bump ups.

Peak Djoker fans' bumps vs peak Rafans' 10 match series, who wins ?

 

[thrust]

Djokovic profits now from his two best opponents being 40 years old and 35 years old (plus injured).
Steffi won her Golden Slam against peak Navratilova and still dangerous Evert.

When it looked like no-one was going to reach Federer's weeks at #1, no-one mentioned Graf or Navratilova's records. Now that Novak has surpassed Roger, we are also talking about wheelchair players records. Surprising?

 

[fedfan24]

should reach 400. djokovic is deservedly the record holder for this, but not by 100+ weeks worth. 320-340 would’ve been appropriate but the big 3 stats have been inflated by an unprecedented era

 

[NoleFam]

@Cortana , Yep I was wrong, very wrong in fact, and that was one of my worst predictions. I did already acknowledge that in 2021 though...

 

[Holmes]

So many timeless takes