Nobody takes anything Djokcovid says seriously. He's just trying to big up the others so that there's less pressure on him since he's the overwhelming favourite to with the USO in the absence of the true top players.
Djokocovid basically talks:
Djokovic says the Next 4—Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev—are already as good as the Big 3.
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Nobody takes anything Djokcovid says seriously. He's just trying to big up the others so that there's less pressure on him since he's the overwhelming favourite to with the USO in the absence of the true top players.
Djokocovid basically talks:
ForehandRF
Legend
I can't see any of them being domnant so the most likely scenario is that they will split the slams among them.Tennis will be more unpredictable than in the last 16 years or so.
D
Deleted member 770948
Guest
How does Djokovic have more left in his legs than Nadal when 2 of the last 3 year-end-#1s were won by Nadal?
Nadal has won 2 of the last 3 US Opens. And Nadal has won the last 3 French Opens while dropping a total of 3 sets!
Even on Nadal's worst surface - grass - he's made the SFs of the last 2 Wimbledons included the 10-8 5th Sets with Djokovic....
And their 2019ao meeting doesn't count, because Nadal had ankle surgery at the end of 2018 and wasn't allowed to practice defense in January 2018....
"....because of the things that happened to me in terms of surgery, then what happened in Abu Dhabi, I was not able to work that much the defensive game. I worked a lot on the offensive game, but not that much on the defensive game.
To play against a player like him, playing the way he played tonight, I needed that defensive game to finally have the chance to be offensive, no?"
https://ausopen.com/articles/interviews/rafael-nadal-f-interview
danglarND2010
Rookie
Lets see:
Thiem is 7-3 against big 3 since the beginning of 2019, 2-2 vs djoker(his AO lose was really close), its better than what nadal and federer showed against him.
Zverev other than his AO run was disappointing since his WTF title back in 2018.
Medvedev did great last summer and was a very problematic opponent for novak since last year, so he is dangerous.
Tsitsipas causes some trouble to novak, won the WTF and has a few masters finals under his belt.
Overall, he obviously means that lately these guys are as good as the big 3, while its arguably true out side of majors, the big 3 in slams are by far better considering that in the previous 5 slam finals, all were won by them(hopefully the streak continues here), the finalist was a big 3 member twice as well, with the other finalists being madvedev and thiem(twice). So, the younger players(thiem is not really a young tennis player anymore, he is almost 27) are getting closer and are improving and have a great chance to win the title here, and novak knows it.
Thiem is 7-3 against big 3 since the beginning of 2019, 2-2 vs djoker(his AO lose was really close), its better than what nadal and federer showed against him.
Zverev other than his AO run was disappointing since his WTF title back in 2018.
Medvedev did great last summer and was a very problematic opponent for novak since last year, so he is dangerous.
Tsitsipas causes some trouble to novak, won the WTF and has a few masters finals under his belt.
Overall, he obviously means that lately these guys are as good as the big 3, while its arguably true out side of majors, the big 3 in slams are by far better considering that in the previous 5 slam finals, all were won by them(hopefully the streak continues here), the finalist was a big 3 member twice as well, with the other finalists being madvedev and thiem(twice). So, the younger players(thiem is not really a young tennis player anymore, he is almost 27) are getting closer and are improving and have a great chance to win the title here, and novak knows it.
abmk
Bionic Poster
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."
AnOctorokForDinner
Talk Tennis Guru
Nice Wilander impression.
TheNachoMan
Legend
RIP Ray Liotta
TheNachoMan
Legend
Come on now..lol
abmk
Bionic Poster
RF-18
Talk Tennis Guru
The margins are very small at this level when deciding a winner.
What I get from his comments is that they are capable of beating big 3. It's not a given that just cause you have 2 of the big 3 gone in a slam tournament that you are gonna win the tournament. These players are really good.
mike danny
Bionic Poster
It's one thing to say they're good, it's another to say they're as good.
I think they are good, but nowhere near great. Par for the course for the 90's born guys.
NatF
Bionic Poster
Sister RF-18 drank the cool aid long ago.
abmk
Bionic Poster
hypocrite lying ND-propagandist
disparage fed's prime competition, but go on treating djoko's worthless competition in inflation/asterisk eras with kid gloves and kisses.
Just to make it clear
Hewitt beat Haas/Blake/Roddick/Kafel/Sampras to win USO 01.
Roddick beat Ljubicic/Henman/Nalby/Ferrero in USO 03
Safin beat Sampras (&Todd Martin) and peak Fed/Hewitt to win his slams.
These fail gens can only dream of winning these slams.
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Pheasant
Legend
I agree. The margins are nearly nonexistent. This is why Donskoy, who was ranked outside the top 100, destroyed peak Federer in Dubai in 2017. And this is one of Fed's very best events. He's won the title 8 times. And he hadn't lost at Dubai since 2013 until the highly evolved Donskoy spanked peak Fed like a little boy. Federer beat peak Djokovic in the final at that event in 2014 and 2015.
All kidding aside, this is just a case of Djokovic speaking politically correctly; something that each one of the Big Three has always done. And it's honestly pretty annoying.
Lendl was interviewed in 1987 and was asked what he thought about facing McEnroe. Back then, I absolutely hated Lendl for firing from the hip. He said that McEnroe cannot beat him. He said that McEnroe isn't fit enough and he doesn't have the power from either wing to hurt him. That absolutely infuriated me at that time., being a teenager that was a huge Mac fan. But now, I respect that answer. That's honestly how he felt.
All kidding aside, this is just a case of Djokovic speaking politically correctly; something that each one of the Big Three has always done. And it's honestly pretty annoying.
Lendl was interviewed in 1987 and was asked what he thought about facing McEnroe. Back then, I absolutely hated Lendl for firing from the hip. He said that McEnroe cannot beat him. He said that McEnroe isn't fit enough and he doesn't have the power from either wing to hurt him. That absolutely infuriated me at that time., being a teenager that was a huge Mac fan. But now, I respect that answer. That's honestly how he felt.
insideoutforehands
Semi-Pro
In fairness to Djokovic, he did not always win against garbage competition. His 2011 year was super impressive facing a very strong Nadal and a still quite strong Federer, plus prime Murray, and others. His 2007-2009 achievements as a still not fully prime up and comer against a very strong field at that point was impressive. His 2012-2013 achievements, even though he wasn't dominant either year, was against formidable foes. 2014 is when the field started sucking, and went into full fledged suck mode starting near the end of the decade.
Anyone who denies Djokovic's competition of late is horrific is delusional of course. And regardless what one thinks of Federer's competition (I know there are a variety of opinions there which is fine), there is no argument it was as weak at any point as Djokovic's the last 5 years or so. Interestingly I have never seen a Nadal fan (Nadal also having benefited some from this) deny this, but Djokovic fans I see consistently do so.
abmk
Bionic Poster
well I did specify inflation or asterisk era. that starts from 2016 onwards.
14 was still decent.
15 relatively weak like 06/10.
insideoutforehands
Semi-Pro
Yes I 100% agree on that timeline. 14 was when it dropped to just ok. 15 was when it started to get flat out bad, and sometime near the end of the decade (hard to define which year) was when it began to get downright horrific, and still continues to this day. The fact Djokovic supposably had this horrendous injury, which his fans insist he was truthful on, and how dare anyone deny it, at the Australian, and still won without breaking a sweat, shows beyond dispute it is still horrific. Of course at age 35 on top of that. Particularly by their own insistence he was really injured in Australia.
CoolCoolCool
Hall of Fame
Yet the four of them won 2 slams combined. This statement has been made 3 years ago and since then, only one of them managed to take a slam from one of the Big 3 just once. The other guy who won a slam needed the Big 3 to be out his way and still barely won by delivering an extremely poor performance in the final. Djokodal were a nonfactor at USO last year yet they still failed. The youngest guy of the group is about to turn 25, how many slams did the Big 3 have at his age individually? 5 slams for Djoker, 9 for Rog and 10 for Rafa. That's at least more than twice as many slams won as the other four combined lmao.
Silverbullet96
Hall of Fame
Fiero425
Legend
We can't allow ourselves to make it seem like a player has to have the same durability, consistency, & excellence to last 20+ years on the tour & be on par w/ Big 3! It may never happen again! Murray's probably the closest to judge since he was made to elevate his defensive skills to stay in matches w/ Fedalovic for well over a decade! The last couple of gen-eras have been quite disappointing, starting w/ Dimitrov & Kei thru to Theim & Zverev! Alcaraz looks like a star in the making w/ possible assistance from Sinner & Rune! I'm still not ready to give that kind of potential to FAA, Fritz, & Tiafoe! They might blast thru a draw once or twice to steal a major or 2! The longevity isn't going to be there unfortunately! They're all rather fragile! END RANT!
CoolCoolCool
Hall of Fame
Alcaraz has a shot at being as good as the Big 3, no one else does. I can sense at least a Sampras-like career for him.We can't allow ourselves to make it seem like a player has to have the same durability, consistency, & excellence to last 20+ years on the tour & be on par w/ Big 3! It may never happen again! Murray's probably the closest to judge since he was made to elevate his defensive skills to stay in matches w/ Fedalovic for well over a decade! The last couple of gen-eras have been quite disappointing, starting w/ Dimitrov & Kei thru to Theim & Zverev! Alcaraz looks like a star in the making w/ possible assistance from Sinner & Rune! I'm still not ready to give that kind of potential to FAA, Fritz, & Tiafoe! They might blast thru a draw once or twice to steal a major or 2! The longevity isn't going to be there unfortunately! They're all rather fragile! END RANT!
Fiero425
Legend
At least a dozen majors, but he's already overplaying! It takes a lot out of you to not only have a great season as he did in 2022, but to defend titles adds a bit more stress! I think if he goes deep in Rome, it might hurt him in Paris! True enough he's young, but a candle burns out eventually! It's up to his handlers if they want to extend his career or not! Nadal abused himself enough over the years, but being a part of elite athletes, he still ends up playing over 20 seasons on tour! That's just astounding for Fedalovic in general, much less stay in the top 4 or 5!
mike danny
Bionic Poster
Djokovic only had 8 slams at age 28. For someone supposedly always having been the best, it seems weird how 2/3 of his slams were won after that.
Fiero425
Legend
The delusion is real! It makes sense that the competition was thicker early on w/ prime FEDAL so Djokovic had some growing pains! As an older player & seasoned, Nole took over & stacked majors so quickly, he zipped by them both! He owns just about every meaningful rec. & you kvetch about the timing of his winning? Seek serious help!
It’s about as close to a given as you can get lol. Djokovic and Nadal have combined for 16 of the last 19 slams. Even on one leg they tear through the Next Gen.
nolefam_2024
Bionic Poster
What an idiotic statement. Maybe in masters when big 3 stopped giving 100%
mike danny
Bionic Poster
No, it doesn't make sense as Nadal at the same age had 14.The delusion is real! It makes sense that the competition was thicker early on w/ prime FEDAL so Djokovic had some growing pains! As an older player & seasoned, Nole took over & stacked majors so quickly, he zipped by them both! He owns just about every meaningful rec. & you kvetch about the timing of his winning? Seek serious help!
And shall we also ignore the losses to Murray and Wawrinka in those major finals?
Fiero425
Legend
No, it doesn't make sense as Nadal at the same age had 14.
And shall we also ignore the losses to Murray and Wawrinka in those major finals?
I guess by your logic, Federer's back on top and the Ultimate GOAT because he surpassed Sampras' record 14 Majors in just 8.5 years by winning '09 Wimbledon! I'd actually agree believe it or not! I've always said, Federer overstayed his era! If he had retired earlier after Wimbl. '12 or '17 wins, I think people might just give him the benefit of the doubt when Nadovic eventually passed him by at his record 20 Majors! He acquired niggling injuries and went thru a racket change & all it got him after 5 1/2 years was 3 majors while Novak was injured & "walkabout" thru '17 & Summer of '18! He allowed himself to be embarassed by Nadovic tourney after tourney when "also rans" began to wear him out!
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Third Serve
Talk Tennis Guru
it was already a hilarious statement then
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