Djokovic says the Next 4—Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev—are already as good as the Big 3.

RaulRamirez said:
I don't think he's implying that any of them - let alone all of them will match The Big 3's career accomplishments. I inferred that he's talking about their current level of play ( with some potential to get better.)

Would it be better for him to disrespect them?
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It's a diplomatic answer from Djoko, don't think he meant anything by it. It's just that the next genners suck so much that makes it hilarious.
 
clayqueen said:
I don't see how BO3 in Masters finals has benefitted the Big 4 because they also dominate all 4 slams which are BO5.
Click to expand...

What benefitted the Big 4 the most is the protection given by the 32 seed system

In the 80's and 90's there were only 16 seeds, making the first rounds much more dangerous and tricky

no wonder these days the Slam's / M1000 first rounds are basically a joke
 
Lukhas said:
Djoko-laugh.gif
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HatefulInfiniteAustraliankelpie-size_restricted.gif


You missed the first bit that makes your gif even more relevant
 
r2473 said:

Djokovic: Four As Good As Big 3

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The Big 3—Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer—have combined to capture 13 consecutive Grand Slam titles.

World No. 1 Djokovic, the lone member of the iconic trio playing the Western & Southern Open and US Open this month, says when it comes to quality the Big 3 have company.

Djokovic says the Next 4—Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev—are already as good as the Big 3.

"Whether I have a bigger chance to win it because Roger and Rafa are not here, I really don't know," Djokovic said of his US Open prospects. "I think it's unfair for me to talk about. That in a way is kind of disrespectful towards other players who are here.

"I mean, Dominic Thiem, Zverev, Tsitsipas, Medvedev, these guys, they are as good as the top three guys, myself, Roger, Rafa. Anybody can take it, to be honest."
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They're as good as the "current" big 3. Which says a lot.

Hint: they're as good as Henin at pole vaulting.
 
Currently he means think it is taken a bit out context. Thiem is certainly close.
 
The only place they have no chance is Roland Garros.
Thiem taking a set from Nadal at Roland Garros is considered a big achievement.... and it wasn't an easy set, it was 7-5 in a very lopsided 2019 RG Final which Nadal won 63 57 61 61.
 
Of course he says that. To admit otherwise is to acknowledge the USO is going to be a third rate tournament.

That would make him look bad if he wins, and even worse if he loses.
 
Meles said:
Don't try to kowtow to the Big3 sycophants that rule TTW.:sneaky:

Let's review the facts of the last three slams:
1. Djokovic barely won Wimbledon and probably doesn't if Federer in his half of the draw and doesn't have to go through Nadal (yeah the dinosaurs still rule the museum slam.;))
2. Nadal barely wins US Open over Medvedev
3. Djokovic barely wins Australian Open

We have nearly six months off and the Big 3 aren't getting any younger.

So its hardly a stretch to say that he's not feeling confident given the current trend and appears to be even relishing the new competition.

Djoko has gotten toaster burns to the derrier from all three recently. LOL the Cincy final last year with Medvedev where he was absolutely cruising and then had victory taken away from him. Tsitsipas Shanghai'd him big time with so many glorious backhands down the line. And then Thiem really turned the Australian Open around after Djoko was destroying him in the first set and Thiem staged a truly remarkable comeback late in the first that had Djokovic realing to a ten minute bathroom break at the end of three sets (and is 7-4 versus the Big 3 since beginning of 2019). So seems kind of logical on his part to say that these guys are more of a threat to him than Nadal or Federer who I don't believe have beaten him on hard courts for something like 7 years.:sneaky:

Zverev is a convenient whipping boy, but he's smoked Fed and Nole in masters finals plus blew Nadal off the court at World Tour Finals this year. Yeah his game is comically off right now, but when Zverev is clicking at a tournament he's probably the best closer the game has ever seen. So even Zedrot on paper at a slam deserves some respect as he's got the tools and game to do it, but seems to relish a life of pushery.:sick:
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Fed just beat Djok at the WTF 9 months ago.
 
Tennis_Hands said:
Is it polite, if it is so obviously not true?

:cool:
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Good question. It's courtesy - a nice thing to say (and hear if someone likes to be flattered) but not necessarily true. On the other hand - can we blame him for that? I don't think so.
I, for one, believe that with the exception of Zverev the three of them (Thiem, Tsitsipas, Medvedev) are not that far behind the BIG3.
 
because federer and nadal aint playing

so yes these noobs all together could maybe barely be slightly a tad better than just old novak
 
Will, from today onwards, the next 3 (Thiem, Medvedev and Tsisipas; I don't like Zverev) win more majors than the Big 3?

I say yes, probably by even quite a bit. So in that sense, Djokovic is right on!
 
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Beckerserve said:
Man....losing to Raonic like that is really inexcusable hip op or not.!
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Well, it's certainly not the usual kind of result he gets against Milos. His comment pretty much says it all:

"I don't know how much of it was due to the conditions at the beginning or if I was just a little bit slow. I don't know," Murray said. "But I was really not happy with that at all. I have much higher standards than that. Not good enough tonight."
 
Medvedev lost today after dominating the first set - defending champion knocked out again. What’s up with the inconsistency of the Next Gen? Most of them have peaked and won Masters 1000 tournaments beating the Big 3 in Finals - then they lose early in Slams and other big tournaments for the next 12 months. It happens on the WTA also.

Is it all mental or are there holes in their game that make it hard for the NextGen to be consistently good. We’ve become so used to the Big 3 always showing up in semifinals for almost 15 years in every tournament they played. With the NextGen, their highs are like mountain peaks, but they seem to live more in the valleys.
 
socallefty said:
Medvedev lost today after dominating the first set - defending champion knocked out again. What’s up with the inconsistency of the Next Gen? Most of them have peaked and won Masters 1000 tournaments beating the Big 3 in Finals - then they lose early in Slams and other big tournaments for the next 12 months. It happens on the WTA also.

Is it all mental or are there holes in their game that make it hard for the NextGen to be consistently good. We’ve become so used to the Big 3 always showing up in semifinals for almost 15 years in every tournament they played. With the NextGen, their highs are like mountain peaks, but they seem to live more in the valleys.
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Part of it is we're all spoilt because the Big 3 have been so unusually consistently over the last 15 years. When Becker, Edberg, Sampras and Agassi were on top, they more than occasionally would get upset in the opening rounds of majors. The B3 ever got bounced like that, with 2 exceptions: Nadal at Wimbledon a few years back, and Djokovic during his elbow injury spell.
 
Mainad said:
Well, it's certainly not the usual kind of result he gets against Milos. His comment pretty much says it all:

"I don't know how much of it was due to the conditions at the beginning or if I was just a little bit slow. I don't know," Murray said. "But I was really not happy with that at all. I have much higher standards than that. Not good enough tonight."
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Alot of players throwing in garbage performances he is not the only one.
 
Mainad said:
That was a particularly garbage performance though and a surprising one given how clutch he had been in his previous 2 matches and his previous record against Raonic.
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I wonder if in back of his mind he was holding back given USO is next week. Looking at some of the players they are definitely not giving it everything. I think Murray thinks he may have a chance to win the USO. His movement is fine. Groundies are good. Only area he seems shaky on is his serve. Mind you, Zverev was abysmal and i am stunned he is still double faulting all the time. Thiem may as well have not bothered turning up. Medvedev seemed to check out today. Struff was like a club player. Very odd tournament. Djokovic not doing much special either just keeping UFEs down. It feels like a load of warm up matches. Which is a shame as its a big event in its own right
 
Beckerserve said:
I wonder if in back of his mind he was holding back given USO is next week. Looking at some of the players they are definitely not giving it everything. I think Murray thinks he may have a chance to win the USO. His movement is fine. Groundies are good. Only area he seems shaky on is his serve. Mind you, Zverev was abysmal and i am stunned he is still double faulting all the time. Thiem may as well have not bothered turning up. Medvedev seemed to check out today. Struff was like a club player. Very odd tournament. Djokovic not doing much special either just keeping UFEs down. It feels like a load of warm up matches. Which is a shame as its a big event in its own right
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Suffering from taking place in the very same venue where the Open will take place. Maybe players can't help but look ahead to next week?
 
Mainad said:
Suffering from taking place in the very same venue where the Open will take place. Maybe players can't help but look ahead to next week?
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Yep. Got the feel of the week before a Major on site. Im at a loss why the event could not have been in Cincinatti.
Im not sure it is going to help the 2 finalists as cant see anyone playing 3 weeks non stop without one shocker of a performance.
 
Beckerserve said:
Yep. Got the feel of the week before a Major on site. Im at a loss why the event could not have been in Cincinatti.
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The reason given was to cut down on as much travel as possible between events in these infectious times. It has certainly suffered from not being played in its natural setting.
 
Mainad said:
The reason given was to cut down on as much travel as possible between events in these infectious times. It has certainly suffered from not being played in its natural setting.
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It has been a non event tbh. Not helped by a day off for the BLM!!!!
 
Djokovic is being smart here. He knows that if a player like Thiem, Medvedev, or even Zverev zones, then he can be beaten. These guys are dangerous. But they have been extremely inconsistent.

Zverev: His serving has been horrific lately. However, his serves caught fire at the AO and he made it to the semis where he played Thiem quite tough(dominance ratio was 1.0). We've seen Zverev catch fire to beat Federer and Djoker back-to-back. This kid needs his bomb serves back. If he zones with a 80% first serve percentage while hitting 135-140 mph bombs like he did for the first part of the AO tourey this year, then he's extremely dangerous.

Medvedev: His ball striking, particulary that forehand, can be extremely inconsistent. But I like how aggressive he can be. I watched him fall behind Djoker last year in Cinci, due to getting his 2nd serves slaughtered. He made a adjustment by bombing 2nd serves. He came back and won. This guy is 2-2 vs Djoker since the beginning of 2019. Obviously, I'd still pick Djoker to win. But when he's on, he's dangerous.

Thiem: He pushed Djoker to the limit in the AO final. Granted, he didn't close the deal. But he came within a set of beating Nadal and Djoker in the same tourney. That's impressive. However, his serves have gone south lately.


Will the three players above get their form back for the USO? We shall see.
 
guitarra said:
It's not a fully fair comparison.
Average age of BIG3=35,3.
Average age of the 4 mentioned=23,8.
Their time will come.
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junior74 said:
Slams won at 23.8 years of age:
Big3: 13
4 mentioned: 0
Slam won before entering their 25th year:
Big3: 19
Let's see if 4 mentioned can make it 2 :)
Click to expand...
35.3 - 23.8 = 11.5
There are 46 Grand Slams played during 11.5 years.
Even if 4 Next Gen players win ALL the Slams during next 12 years (2021-2032), they will be way behind Big-3 at current average age of Big-3.
 
Pheasant said:
Djokovic is being smart here. He knows that if a player like Thiem, Medvedev, or even Zverev zones, then he can be beaten. These guys are dangerous. But they have been extremely inconsistent.

Zverev: His serving has been horrific lately. However, his serves caught fire at the AO and he made it to the semis where he played Thiem quite tough(dominance ratio was 1.0). We've seen Zverev catch fire to beat Federer and Djoker back-to-back. This kid needs his bomb serves back. If he zones with a 80% first serve percentage while hitting 135-140 mph bombs like he did for the first part of the AO tourey this year, then he's extremely dangerous.

Medvedev: His ball striking, particulary that forehand, can be extremely inconsistent. But I like how aggressive he can be. I watched him fall behind Djoker last year in Cinci, due to getting his 2nd serves slaughtered. He made a adjustment by bombing 2nd serves. He came back and won. This guy is 2-2 vs Djoker since the beginning of 2019. Obviously, I'd still pick Djoker to win. But when he's on, he's dangerous.

Thiem: He pushed Djoker to the limit in the AO final. Granted, he didn't close the deal. But he came within a set of beating Nadal and Djoker in the same tourney. That's impressive. However, his serves have gone south lately.


Will the three players above get their form back for the USO? We shall see.
Click to expand...

Zverev - I heard a commentator say that he had the highest 1st serve average speed on tour last year, but he was also amongst the highest in double-faults. So, he always bombs his 1st serves and gives away easy points on too many 2nd serves. To use a golf analogy, he‘s got to realize that “1st serves are for show, but 2nd serves are needed to make dough” especially in Bo5 matches.

Medvedev - apart from one great hard-court summer last year, he hasn’t done much in his career even to the level of Zverev or Tsitsipas. Maybe, the rest of the tour has figured out how to play him. He does not like to finish points at the net and runs back to the baseline after taking control of rallies - it’s going to cost him if the USO courts are fast this year.

Thiem - best player on Tour outside of the Big 3, but this is more so on slow courts like clay and IW-style slow hard courts. Needs too much time with his big backswings to play good defense on fast low-bouncing courts (hard and grass) and cannot out-hit everyone offensively for two weeks during a fast-court Slam. Also, vulnerable to big-servers as he returns from very deep.

I think the best player amongst the NextGen with the best technique is Tsitsipas and he might be the biggest threat for Novak at the USO. But, he seems a bit weird and time will tell if he has the mind and heart of a great champion.
 
Surely Thiem, Medvedev and Tsisipas will have more years of Top 1 and Top 3 in their future, than Big 3 have in their future!
 
vive le beau jeu ! said:
so he's saying his current competition is strong... interesting :unsure:

tenor.gif

#JellyGen
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Yep, nice resume-padding from him. "Of course my numbers are legit and darn impressive. I had to play peak Federer when I was young, then Nadal basically my whole career, and when I was past 30, I had to deal with not one, not two, not three, but *four* (count them!) young ATG's who were all as good as the Big 3. No-one in the history of tennis ever had to contend with such strong competition." :eek:
 
other than thiem im not even sure if next gen is as good as berdych, tsonga, davydenko, and nalbandian were in their peaks. thiem can knock djokovic out but idk about any of the others.
 
d-quik said:
other than thiem im not even sure if next gen is as good as berdych, tsonga, davydenko, and nalbandian were in their peaks. thiem can knock djokovic out but idk about any of the others.
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Medvedev, Thiem and Tsitsipas all beat Djokovic on hardcourt last year.
Djokovic is on his last legs, as we saw at the AO.
When you are struggling to beat a slamless opponent in the Final of your favorite slam, you know your time is almost up.
And Djokovic was in perfect form coming into that AO Final, and Thiem almost beat him despite Nadal taking Thiem's energy with the 76 46 76 76 grindfest.
 
Dream on! Djokovic has a lot more left on his legs than the other two, probably combined. And he can always count on his mental toughness, more than the other two.

BTW, at '20 AO, he needed 5 sets against Thiem, but would've beat anyone. Remember he needed only 3 easy sets against Nadal a year earlier!
 
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