You know this Djoker stan has long maintained that no version of Novak (or Fraud, for that matter) has any realistic chance against trophy-holding Bull at RG (though now I'd exclude
last season's Rafa). And my boy is certainly not getting the better of a strong Bull a la '10, however (slightly) overrated '10 Nadal is (yes, thanks to his 27-0 run at RG).
But here's the thing: IRL it's impossible for anyone to play at his "peak" for a full match, let alone a 10-match series. In fact the very notion of two players peaking at the same time is rather dubious. On paper the highest "peak" any player could achieve is to be utterly untouchable on serve while doing enough to break your opponent's, kinda like what Goran did to Pete in their '95 Wimby SF. And he
was as untouchable as they come, posting a truly outrageous
85.0% and 72.7% of URS in the 2nd and 4th sets respectively while losing all of 2 SPs
combined and breaking arguably
the 3rd best Pistol's serve in each of those sets. I seriously doubt anyone else including Sampras himself has ever duplicated such video-game #s against a worthy opponent, so does that mean his GC peak was lower than Goran's even though he won the match and of course their career Wimbledon H2H? Exactly.
Nor does it make much sense to hypothesize about a multiyear when we already know the results more or less. After all the ATP/WTA
Tour is a yearslong grind where you must find ways to keep healthy, play into form and peak at the right time. Doesn't matter one whit how well you played leading up to the Grand (Slam) Finale if you're overtaken by your rival in the end. Fatigue, injury, rust, luck or whatever is part of the game, and if you fall short for whatever reason that's on you and no one else (barring an exceptional circumstance like Seles' stabbing). We tend not to think of day-to-day or even set-to-set consistency as a skill, but it sure is a more important one than this mythical peak which your fav player might reach maybe a few times a year, or for about half of a marquee match at most.
That's why I say the only kind of hypothetical worth discussing is a variation of the pre-OE pro tours where the contenders would barnstorm corners of the world playing at one venue after another, except that in this case those venues would be none other than the GS stadiums known to every tennis fan. So Djoker and Bull (or whoever) would duke it out in a 10-match H2H for about a month at the starting point of choice, take a few weeks' rest, move on to the next venue and so on till the last destination. It'd be just like a regular ATP/WTA season, but more concentrated except maybe for the RG-Wimby/Wimby-RG transition. If it were up to moi I'd work my way up like this: RG in June, July off, Wimbledon in August, ditto September, October in NY, more rest in November, and then the December holiday bonanza in Melbourne (give or take a couple weeks). And I could also throw in an indoor "year-end" championship, maybe in April as a warm-up/teaser for the upcoming tour or as a proper YEC after the AO which would move the rest of the tour at least back a month.
Under this format I don't see anyone going 10-0 anywhere against a fellow ATG. These guys/gals are just too good to be swept aside like that even on their worst surface, and the mini-season is long enough to result in an occasional bad hair day even for the top dogs on their home turf. I'm not necessarily talking fluctuating form or injury here - just partying a little too hard or sleeping on the wrong side the nite before could be the difference. Hell, one might even "tank" a match to save himself for the next one/series if he thought he'd built enough of a cushion. Maybe Borg/Bull vs. Boris/Pete on dirt could still end in a 10-0 blowout due to the surface's high margin for error, but I doubt it.
Per these rules/parameters this is how the Djokovic-Nadal tour would go, assuming Bo5 with maybe occasional Bo3 (say, when the outcome of the series is clear a la dead DC rubbers):
AO - Djoker 7-3 or 7.5-2.5 if fractions are allowed
RG - Bull 8-2
WIM - Djoker 7-3 or 6.5-3.5
USO - Bull 6-4
Dead even, though I'm becoming more and more convinced that the USO H2H would be closer to 5-all itself cuz your boy would be hard-pressed to maintain that serve for a whole month and in fact admitted as much when he revealed the reason for dropping it. But in that case I'd also be more inclined to give him a slightly bigger lead at RG, so we're back to square one.
After all is said and done, though, Djoker is the ultimate winner cuz the YEC would give him the decisive edge (obviously the margin doesn't matter but I'd say about 8-2). But that is assuming Bull would still be around for the finale, which brings us to....
Harsh, but fair. I mean we know for a fact that the only surface where Pig-Pen is a shoo-in for a whole season is dirt. Who's to say he's gonna be peaking for an entire tour/mini-season like this?
And before VB comes at moi I'm more than willing to admit my own boy Pistol was no model of consistency himself. I actually can think of at least 1-2 setbacks in every year of his prime:
1993 -
shin splints at AO and
bum shoulder at Wimbledon, though both are fairly minor compared to the rest (Edberg himself was playing with a sore back, for starters)
1994 - those damn Nike shoes which made him
miss the American HC swing/flame out early at Flushing (a true tough break if there ever was one, but like I said part of the game), and
strained right hamstring that forced him to retire from DC SF vs. Edberg
1995 -
sprained ankle at MC that led to a crap CC season when he should've been at least a top contender a la '93/94/96, and cramping near the end of 1st rubber vs. Chesnokov in DC finals
1996 - slow start due to
inflamed right knee that made him withdraw from '95 GSC, subpar returning all season (perhaps due at least in part to dealing with Gullikson's death), and that (in)famous incident vs. Corretja at USO
1997 -
left-thigh strain at Rome and WTC and stomach bug prior to 3R match vs. Norman at RG, blowing probably his last realistic chance at a deep run there, and
pulled left-calf muscle in DC finals, denying him a 2nd Cup
1998 - carryover from said year-end recovery (again) and
pulled left quadriceps muscle during USO SF vs. Rafter (though I do think Pat would've eked it out regardless)
1999 - exhaustion from previous YE's historic quest for 6 straight seasons as #1, and of course
the herniated disc that forced him out of USO
2000 -
tore right hip flexor muscle in
AO SF vs. Agassi, and
left-shin tendinitis that almost made him pull out of Wimbledon
You get the picture. It's funny cuz most pros would agree these two on the whole are better athletes than Fraud and Djoker, but there's a reason why the other two boast more GOAT seasons and it sure ain't lack of consistency/durability. And the fact that
Bull has never defended his YE #1 ranking (along with
his meh indoor resume, yes) is indeed significant when they insist on grading the Big 3.