Djokovic's most impressive achievement on clay?

What is Djokovic's most impressive achievement on his least favourite surface?

  • Multiple champion in Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome and RG!

    Votes: 16 27.6%

  • 12 Roland Garros QFs in a row (all-time active record; Nadal @ 5, Borg @ 4)!

    Votes: 6 10.3%

  • His Rome record; 6 titles, 12 finals (clay record shared with Nadal)!

    Votes: 5 8.6%

  • Dethroned Nadal in Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros!

    Votes: 24 41.4%

  • I CHOOSE ALL!!

    Votes: 26 44.8%
  • Total voters
    58
UnforcedTerror

UnforcedTerror

Hall of Fame
Clay is Djokovic's least favorite surface, yet he's still a beast on the surface.

In your opinion, what is his greatest clay achievement?

reuters-novak-djokovic-june-12-2021.jpg
 
Connors made 8 straight QFs at RG and never made it past the SFs.

You can read that I suppose as Connors’ level is underrated on red clay or making the QFs is overrated.

Of course back then there were less seeds so if anything QFs were arguably more impressive back then.
 
Taking full advantage of the career inflation era and of RG organizers completely changing the conditions, turning their slam into DO.
 
Being 2/3 of Nadal's RG losses.

The quarterfinals is impressive, but more impressively consistent than like "wow!" impressive to me. Multiple of all the Masters is great, but it doesn't add context of his era. 6 Romes in Nadal's era is certainly impressive, as well as beating Nadal at all the clay Big Titles, but I don't think they hold a candle to the magnitude of being responsible for over 60% of someone's losses at a tournament. I don't think anyone's even close to that.
 
Dethroning Nadal at every single major clay event and going onto win the title. That is a herculean achievement, considering what Nadaland his legacy is to clay.

Most interesting thing is, Djokovic has beaten Nadal more on clay, than Nadal has beaten Djokovic on HC.
 
GabeT said:
???
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Nole fans praise him for beating Nadal at every major clay event. Why wouldn't Djokovic have wins over Nadal at every major clay event? Actually, Nole should've dominated the major clay events from 2011-2016. He surely had the physical game to put more of a dent in Rafa's accumulation of RG titles.
 
I choose all but question...if there were 5 Slams instead of 4 (2 on hard, 2 on clay and 1 on grass), with one with Madrid like clay conditions, would Djokovic's career on clay be better than Nadal's on hard? I ask this because Djokovic now has more Masters on clay (11) than Nadal does on hard (10) while having less opportunities to win them.

11/43 = 25.6%
10/75 = 13.3%
 
GabeT said:
So number 2 without Nadal around? Not a “what if” person either but in this case worth pondering
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Right. I guess he wouldn't be behind Rafa if Rafa wasn't around.
This has been discussed before in different ways, but it's all speculative. Some think Rafa's presence impeded Fed's clay legacy even more, but I think Novak is just a little stronger on clay than Roger. Would it allow Novak to climb above whoever people rate higher now --
GabeT said:
So number 2 without Nadal around? Not a “what if” person either but in this case worth pondering
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True. If Rafa wasn't around, then I guess he can't be behind him.
It's not all about RG, but in the OE, only (Rafa), Borg, Wilander, Lendl and Kuerten have won more FOs ( Wilander, Lendl and Kuerten each with 3) and several others have won at least 2.
It's reasonable that both Novak and Fed would've won at least 3 apiece of those 13 that Rafa would have vacated in this scenario. So yes, probably only Borg would be ahead, but life and tennis doesn't work that way. (Oops - I kind of replied twice.)
 
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duaneeo said:
Nole fans praise him for beating Nadal at every major clay event. Why wouldn't Djokovic have wins over Nadal at every major clay event? Actually, Nole should've dominated the major clay events from 2011-2016. He surely had the physical game to put more of a dent in Rafa's accumulation of RG titles.
Click to expand...
Novak was (and may remain) Nadal’s biggest challenge on clay but no one thinks that means Novak is at the same level on clay
 
Beat Nadalito twice at RG.

And, overall, has been more competitive on clay vs. Nadal than Nadal has been against him on hardcourts.

Djokovic vs. Nadal on clay: 48.4% total points won, .92 dominance ratio
Nadal vs. Djokovic on hard: 46.6% total points won, .82 dominance ratio

Those two USO finals that Nadal beat Djoko and really outplayed him solidly hurt Djoko.
 
Hitman said:
Dethroning Nadal at every single major clay event and going onto win the title. That is a herculean achievement, considering what Nadaland his legacy is to clay.

Most interesting thing is, Djokovic has beaten Nadal more on clay, than Nadal has beaten Djokovic on HC.
Click to expand...

Thanks 2015/16 crapdal and 2017 disappearovic :laughing:
 
GabeT said:
Is this what you came back to TTW for? Spam the same nonsense over and over?
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It's not nonsense. It is just sad that some Djokovic fans try to act like the conditions haven't changed in RG and like it's still the same tournament. Ironically, these users are usually the first ones to complain about AO 2022 "asterisk".
 
2011 for me. He had prime, healthy Nadal, for the only time in his career, absolutely clueless about how to beat someone on clay, and mentally beaten by the end of their Rome match. If he hadn’t been up against Federer’s best RG level ever, he would have beaten Nadal in the RG final and that win would have been miles and miles above his other 2 RG wins over him.
 
StrongRule said:
It's not nonsense. It is just sad that some Djokovic fans try to act like the conditions haven't changed in RG and like it's still the same tournament. Ironically, these users are usually the first ones to complain about AO 2022 "asterisk".
Click to expand...

Nadal is the greatest on clay, the greatest shouldn't be that vulnerable to changes in conditions. It kind of goes against him being the greatest.
 
Hitman said:
Nadal is the greatest on clay, the greatest shouldn't be that vulnerable to changes in conditions. It kind of goes against him being the greatest.
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This is not clay anymore, it's like red hardcourt. Nadal feels more comfortable in AO than in these "clay" night sessions. You can't underrate such big changes, especially when you are 35-36 years old.
 
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StrongRule said:
This is not clay anymore, it's like red hardcourt. Nadal feels more comfortable in AO than in these "clay" night sessions. You can't underrate such big changes, especially when you are 35-36 years old.
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Nadal would lose a lot worse to Djokovic at AO in those night sessions, than at the RG night though, that is Djokovic's hunting ground. Nadal on clay always has a chance to get into every rally, and make things happen by moving Djokovic around with his forehand, we saw what happened in AO 2019 final in night session how Djokovic can literally take Nadal out of the match with his serving alone.
 
StrongRule said:
This is not clay anymore, it's like red hardcourt. Nadal feels more comfortable in AO than in these "clay" night sessions. You can't underrate such big changes, especially when you are 35-36 years old.
Click to expand...

Nadal bagelled and almost destroyed Novak on the same court that too indoors .
Such underrating of Nadal is actually disrespectful for Nadal . Is Nadal one dimensional who can only play in day time only ??
Are you really his fan ? :unsure:
 
maratha_warrior said:
Nadal bagelled and almost destroyed Novak on the same court that too indoors .
Such underrating of Nadal is actually disrespectful for Nadal . Is Nadal one dimensional who can only play in day time only ??
Are you really his fan ? :unsure:
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As if Djokovic any different. It's just the opposite for him. He was hardly relevant in RG after 2016, before the organizers decided to make these crazy changes. This is not being talked a lot because it's not his favorite surface. But imagine if the conditions in AO changed so much and became worse for him. There would be lots of complaining.
 
StrongRule said:
Yes. The type of clay changed, the balls changed, the time of the matches has changed...They changed everything. And somehow every change they made is perfect for Djokovic.
Click to expand...
The clay didn't change. I know you try to spread this fake news since 2020, but no.

You litterally invented this information.
 
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