Like many past great champions, there's always a player(s) who eventually will mature and step up to stop or at least slow down the current reigning champion. Borg's obstacle was McEnroe who snapped his 5 straight Wimbledon titles and denied him the USO twice. Sampras was denied 2 USO by the youngsters(Hewitt & Safin), and Federer snapped his chance of tying Borg's 5 straight Wimbledon. Federer also denied Agassi 2 USO. Nadal have prevented Federer from winning a few FOs, Wimbledon and AO. Nole right now is heading in the same direction as the former champions. I think Thiem and/or Zverev will be the next stars to repeat the same pattern by stopping Nole from winning more slams in the future.
Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev is a threat Nole
- Thread starter TMF
- Start date
tennisaddict
Bionic Poster
Just like how Raonic and Dmitrov are stopping him ?
Not every promising players is going to be the next stars. Usually it's a bust, but there will be at least one talent in the group that will be the next great. Every era has at least one great champion.
Uncle Ebeneezer
Rookie
Zverev definitely has the tools to be a real nightmare for Djokovic (and every other opponent) but we'll see. He's like a Kevin Anderson (who often gives Nole a big fight) with the big serve but even bigger and more consistent groundstrokes than Anderson. Also looks like he moves better. He's like an Anderson/Nishikori mashup (though obviously not quite as fast around the court as Kei.)
mattosgrant
Banned
Yeah Kygrios is more likely than Theim. I think Theim could maybe challenge Djokovic on clay specifically, and not sure of much beyond that. Zverev could get there eventually but he is so young it would probably take several years atleast.
mattosgrant
Banned
Djokovic2011
Bionic Poster
I can definitely see Thiem being a threat but what's with all the hype surrounding Zverev recently? I don't get what people think is so great about him. 
mattosgrant
Banned
I can definitely see Thiem being a threat but what's with all the hype surrounding Zverev recently? I don't get what people think is so great about him.
I call it being desperate for young stars. He is also very young, so for his age he is really good. However looking at his level today it will clearly take him a long time and lots of improving to reach the very top (if he ever does).
RSH
Professional
It's not just TMF; it's all the Djokovic-related hate threads: "new rivals for Djokovic" here, "Novak is boring" over there, another "weak era" condemnation here, "Novak is killing tennis" up ahead, and so on, and so on.
nolefam_2024
Bionic Poster
Everyone is a threat to Nole yet, they will take years to develop to their full skill whatever that would be, by which time, Novak would have almost carved his legacy. So they don't matter to Nole.
metsman
Talk Tennis Guru
Rublev is the only guy I think who has the talent to be something special but he is so far away. Thiem, solid clay court game, hits a heavy ball, but not consistent and doesn't have great hands or footwork. Zverev needs some real weapons for a guy his size but given that he's so young once he physically matures that should come a lot like Delpo. There's hope for him. Kyrgios has an innate feel for the ball but he's a poor mover and just a headcase. Raonic can perhaps start making a name for himself on faster surfaces but he can't stay healthy and when the serve isn't firing on all cylinders it gets very ugly.
Similar threads
- Poll
