I still can't believe how much Djokovic achieved in the last 10 years

Cortana

Cortana

Legend
After the 2013 season finished, Djokovic only won 6 slams out of 12 GS finals. Meanwhile Federer alrady had 17 slams, Nadal finished the season strong with 13 slams. What made it even more devastating: He lost a winnable 2013 RG match against Nadal, was straight-setted by Murray in the Wimbledon final and lost again against Nadal in the USO final. Remember the net at RG? The point the turned around the match?

By the end of 2013 I accepted the fact that he will probably max out at ~10 slams and Federer/Nadal will both come close to ~20. That Federer and Nadal will become the 2 greatest tennis players of all time and Djokovic just an ATG comparable to McEnroe, Lendl and Agassi.

Then the 2014 season started where he lost to Wawrinka in the AO QF and again to Nadal at RG. People were already talking that he is done winning slams and I slowly started to believe that too. He was still at only 6 slams and Nadal got to his 14th. The gap just wasn't closing, it widened even further.

Wimbledon 2014 changed everything, really everything. It was only his 2nd title at this event and who could have imagined that he would be at 7 Wimbledon titles 8 years later? Not only that, be he transformed into a GS final winning machine. He lost 7 out of his first 13 GS finals and then won 16 out of 20! 10 years ago he was barely in the Top10 of ATG and now he is considered by many to be the GOAT of tennis.

What a crazy ride.
 
I can't imagine this thread staying positive but crazy we have a era 3 guys that good. Doesn't happen much in sports even solo that they get to compete with other so long and play so much against each other. From 2007 to 2019 each season had at least 1 version of them in great form.
 
RS said:
From 2007 to 2019 each season had at least 1 version of them in great form.
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I would even say to 2021 where Djokovic won 27/28 GS matches and was 1 match away from the CYGS. Plus Nadal annihilated him in RG 2020.
 
Cortana said:
I would even say to 2021 where Djokovic won 27/28 GS matches and was 1 match away from the CYGS. Plus Nadal annihilated him in RG 2020.
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Oh I meant while they were playing as a trio and regularly playing each other since Fed was as good as semi retired at that time but since Fed pretty much didn't officially retire technically you could count it.
 
His 2011 - 2016 period is and always will be LEGENDARY. Stuff of the Goats. Came into the FEDAL party and started beating them (though Fed became way past his prime and Nadal beat Djokovic several times too, still 3 of them created the best period of mens tennis at that time) Add to that incredible competition of great Murray, redlining Wawrinka, still awesome Delpo.

His 2020 - present period, although may produce similiar/better numbers and ultmately, will give him statistical best player of all time status, I can't give him the same credit as I give him for his early 2010's period. ATP tour has been pathetic for couple of years (and yes it inflated Fed and Nadal slam numbers a little bit too).
 
RS said:
I can't imagine this thread staying positive but crazy we have a era 3 guys that good. Doesn't happen much in sports even solo that they get to compete with other so long and play so much against each other. From 2007 to 2019 each season had at least 1 version of them in great form.
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why not extend to 2003?
 
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pj80 said:
why not extend to 2003?
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I flogged myself with the wording. I should have said when they top players as a trio for the most part which was 2007 to 2019.

But yes the era pretty much kick started in 2003 when Fed rose.
 
DogInSpace said:
His 2011 - 2016 period is and always will be LEGENDARY. Stuff of the Goats. Came into the FEDAL party and started beating them (though Fed became way past his prime and Nadal beat Djokovic several times too, still 3 of them created the best period of mens tennis at that time) Add to that incredible competition of great Murray, redlining Wawrinka, still awesome Delpo.

His 2020 - present period, although may produce similiar/better numbers and ultmately, will give him statistical best player of all time status, I can't give him the same credit as I give him for his early 2010's period. ATP tour has been pathetic for couple of years (and yes it inflated Fed and Nadal slam numbers a little bit too).
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Yes, this is what is so impressive to me about djokovic. Nadal and Federer were already established superstars but novak just believed. He willed himself to be the better player. It is amazing. We are so lucky to have witnessed that era from 2005-2021 where those three guys were going at it. Doubt we will ever see anything like it.
 
DogInSpace said:
Aren't you the one who was accusing fedal fans for making excuses? Look into the mirror.

"Commited even more to sport" my ass. His nemesis being bread is also comical and created a nice myth to believe for dummies.
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I was joking. I admit Novak wasn’t as good as Fedal at start. They were better and that’s the facts. Yes, he was 3rd wheel back then. However, when Fedal keep making excuses about age and injuries then sometimes us Djokovic fans need to throw our own grenade in. It can’t all be poor Fedal and how unlucky they were.
 
Weak career inflation era. Djokovic born 6 years earlier would have had no more than 5 slams won.
 
Cortana said:
After the 2013 season finished, Djokovic only won 6 slams out of 12 GS finals. Meanwhile Federer alrady had 17 slams, Nadal finished the season strong with 13 slams. What made it even more devastating: He lost a winnable 2013 RG match against Nadal, was straight-setted by Murray in the Wimbledon final and lost again against Nadal in the USO final. Remember the net at RG? The point the turned around the match?

By the end of 2013 I accepted the fact that he will probably max out at ~10 slams and Federer/Nadal will both come close to ~20. That Federer and Nadal will become the 2 greatest tennis players of all time and Djokovic just an ATG comparable to McEnroe, Lendl and Agassi.

Then the 2014 season started where he lost to Wawrinka in the AO QF and again to Nadal at RG. People were already talking that he is done winning slams and I slowly started to believe that too. He was still at only 6 slams and Nadal got to his 14th. The gap just wasn't closing, it widened even further.

Wimbledon 2014 changed everything, really everything. It was only his 2nd title at this event and who could have imagined that he would be at 7 Wimbledon titles 8 years later? Not only that, be he transformed into a GS final winning machine. He lost 7 out of his first 13 GS finals and then won 16 out of 20! 10 years ago he was barely in the Top10 of ATG and now he is considered by many to be the GOAT of tennis.

What a crazy ride.
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2011 to 13 were very competitive years. Nole was in slam finals of all but 3 times.
AO11 beat 1 big 3, Wimby 1, USO 1
AO12 1, RG 1
AO13 beat 1

Beat Big 3 6 times in just these 3 years and was beaten by big 3 only 5 time.

It's his 2 losses vs Andy that were the worst and not vs big 3.
 
Nole v.1 (2007-10, inexperienced, gluten Nole)> raw talent with huge potential. He would have had Becker's career at best but that's pretty much it.

No1e v.2 (2011+, gluten-free Nole)> the physical transformation of Nole v1. Unbelievable technical and physical abilities. Legend of the game. Simply a beast.

No1e v.3 (2014+, Becker's magic)> the mental transformation of the beast Nole v2 was. With the help of the German magician, all the nasty wiring in No1e's head got fixed and the whole field had the misfortune to experience the full effect of Boom Boom's doings. An absolute monster. The GOAT.
 
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Cortana said:
Wimbledon 2014 changed everything, really everything.
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140815124256-djokovic-becker-horizontal-gallery.jpg

140820180222-boris-becker-hugs-djokovic-story-top.jpg


On behalf of all real tennis fans. Thank you, Boris.
 
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Tennfan123 said:
This.
It really isn’t amazing what he did post Fedal peak and in the midst of the weakest era in tennis history.
Far from it, in fact.
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In the time that Djokovic won his last 16 majors, Nadal won 9 majors and 10 Masters titles. Having a Nadal who won more majors just in that time period than Connors, Lendl, Agassi, and McEnroe did in their entire careers as your primary opponent (they played 20 times during this period) is not that weak in terms of competition. Without Nadal there to stop him, Djokovic may well have had 3 more Roland Garros titles by now.
 
Tennfan123 said:
This.
It really isn’t amazing what he did post Fedal peak and in the midst of the weakest era in tennis history.
Far from it, in fact.
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his longevity and consistency is superb no doubt.. he hasn’t broke any new ground that fed already didn’t though, just got lucky with career timing that his 30s coincided with crap gen inflation times so he can hoover up easy slams with any decent level.
 
not that impressive given how weak the field has been. It's not like Fed or Rafa wouldn't have done the same in his situation. Alcaraz is dominating the field at a similar rate to Novak and he just barely turned 20. Goes to show what a weak field it was that Djokovic vultures. Okay, maybe vulture is too harsh a word but it's not that impressive when you put everything into context.
 
robthai said:
not that impressive given how weak the field has been. It's not like Fed or Rafa wouldn't have done the same in his situation. Alcaraz is dominating the field at a similar rate to Novak and he just barely turned 20. Goes to show what a weak field it was that Djokovic vultures. Okay, maybe vulture is too harsh a word but it's not that impressive when you put everything into context.
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Lol
 
fedfan24 said:
his longevity and consistency is superb no doubt.. he hasn’t broke any new ground that fed already didn’t though, just got lucky with career timing that his 30s coincided with crap gen inflation times so he can hoover up easy slams with any decent level.
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New grounds -

387 weeks at #1, holder of all slams at the same time, first one to reach DCGS amongst the 3, reached 22 slams at an earlier age than any male player ever, double masters champion at all masters - forget about it Fedal haven’t even completed one set
 
Djokovic_is_the_best#1 said:
Maybe, it’s Fedal who wouldn’t win as much. I doubt Fed in 2004-2007 would have wanted to face peak/prime Djokovic instead of pigeon roddick. It works both ways.
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Believe me when I say this but 2004-2007 would be heavy favorite to win all those wimbledon finals that Grandpa Fed lost to Djokovic. Djokovic would much rather play the inferior athlete than Fed in his absolute peak.
 
robthai said:
not that impressive given how weak the field has been. It's not like Fed or Rafa wouldn't have done the same in his situation. Alcaraz is dominating the field at a similar rate to Novak and he just barely turned 20. Goes to show what a weak field it was that Djokovic vultures. Okay, maybe vulture is too harsh a word but it's not that impressive when you put everything into context.
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Lol. Where was Nadal in those 10 years? Injured?
 
SecondToNone said:
You also said that Tsitsipas is going to dominate H2H against Djokovic, then Novak won 10 times in a row.
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Not my fault that Tsitsipas is stubborn and refuses to change his game. The caveat here is Tsitsipas actually went backwards and never improved, ei he was better back then. Now he's getting dominated by the gen below him. Alcaraz will dominate that h2h with Djokovic. I am confident on that prediction.
 
robthai said:
Believe me when I say this but 2004-2007 would be heavy favorite to win all those wimbledon finals that Grandpa Fed lost to Djokovic. Djokovic would much rather play the inferior athlete than Fed in his absolute peak.
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What about the HC slams? a lot of Federer slams could also vanish if he had to play Djokovic on HCs. Federer's aus opens titles will all vanish, it evens out.

Roger fans need not be upset about wimbledons because that is compensated by a lot of the HC slams.
 
Razer said:
What about the HC slams? a lot of Federer slams could also vanish if he had to play Djokovic on HCs. Federer's aus opens titles will all vanish, it evens out.

Roger fans need not be upset about wimbledons because that is compensated by a lot of the HC slams.
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sorry but I just don't see it that way. Young Fed matches up well with Djokovic. The slice, transition game, and most importantly, the forehand would give him an overall edge in the match ups. Old Fed had no running forehand which Djokovic brutally exposed (much the same way Fed exposed old Agassi's movement). Every time Djokovic had Fed on the run, it was very difficult for him to change the dynamic of the rally because his transition game was nowhere near as good as it was in the past matches let alone his peak. At least in 2011 and 2012 Fed still had the running forehand which enabled him to score some big wins. So now give Fed back his speed and forehand and I dont see anything that Djokovic does that will hurt peak Fed's game. Only Nadal had the game and ability to execute against that version of Fed.
 
Razer said:
Thanks to the legendary Boris Becker for converting an ATG into a GOAT player.

140115162615-becker-djokovic.jpg
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That's true, but without Murray's hip injury Novak wouldn't have won 7 Wimbledon titles either. Andy was the only one he hadn't figured out yet on grass.
images
 
Backspin1183 said:
That's true, but without Murray's hip injury Novak wouldn't have won 7 Wimbledon titles either. Andy was the only one he hadn't figured out yet on grass.
images
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Who gave Andy the hip surgery. It was Nole. Andy tried to take number 1 ranking away from peakest Djokovic and got badly injured playing low tier events to vulture.
 
robthai said:
sorry but I just don't see it that way. Young Fed matches up well with Djokovic. The slice, transition game, and most importantly, the forehand would give him an overall edge in the match ups. Old Fed had no running forehand which Djokovic brutally exposed (much the same way Fed exposed old Agassi's movement). Every time Djokovic had Fed on the run, it was very difficult for him to change the dynamic of the rally because his transition game was nowhere near as good as it was in the past matches let alone his peak. At least in 2011 and 2012 Fed still had the running forehand which enabled him to score some big wins. So now give Fed back his speed and forehand and I dont see anything that Djokovic does that will hurt peak Fed's game. Only Nadal had the game and ability to execute against that version of Fed.
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Federer was too dependent on his forehand in his peak, it worked against bums but against equals that is not the case, his weak backhand cost him matches against Djokovic too, not just Nadal. Novak has a much better stamina and also Novak's precision is also higher, once the rally begin he can put the ball back in play endlessly and eventually it is Federer's backhand side which will crack. No way is Federer beating Novak in medium pace or slower conditions on HCs.

Grass favors Federer and HCs will favor Novak more times it will favor Federer, on clay it doesn't matter cause the bull will humiliate them both, so doesnt matter.
 
nachiket nolefam said:
Who gave Andy the hip surgery. It was Nole. Andy tried to take number 1 ranking away from peakest Djokovic and got badly injured playing low tier events to vulture.
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Thats right ..... Tennis became a game of attrition in the 21st century and the bodies broke ..... the strongest of them all stood tall.

Federer's peers Hewitt/Nalbandian/Safin/JCF etc etc all got injured and left
Bull's body was broken by Novak at Madrid
Murray's body was broken by Novak when Murray went all in for world number 1
Federer's body is the one which took on Djokovic's fitness the most and even there his knees broke

So in the end Novak stands tall .... supreme stamina ....supreme endurance....supreme strength..... :-D
 
Razer said:
Thats right ..... Tennis became a game of attrition in the 21st century and the bodies broke ..... the strongest of them all stood tall.

Federer's peers Hewitt/Nalbandian/Safin/JCF etc etc all got injured and left
Bull's body was broken by Novak at Madrid
Murray's body was broken by Novak when Murray went all in for world number 1
Federer's body is the one which took on Djokovic's fitness the most and even there his knees broke

So in the end Novak stands tall .... supreme stamina ....supreme endurance....supreme strength..... :-D
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I think Federer's knee issue started after he was 35 so Nole couldn't break him.
Fed and Nole are just superior to almost anyone I have seen before.
 
nachiket nolefam said:
I think Federer's knee issue started after he was 35 so Nole couldn't break him.
Fed and Nole are just superior to almost anyone I have seen before.
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Yes Federer and Nole are superior in endurance to the field.

Nole has more stamina, thats it, Federer has super quick reflexes, apart from this they are evenly matched.
 
Razer said:
Yes Federer and Nole are superior in endurance to the field.

Nole has more stamina, thats it, Federer has super quick reflexes at the net, apart from this they are evenly matched.
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But Fed starts stronger. And he has better serve. So that evens out the endurance.
 
robthai said:
not that impressive given how weak the field has been. It's not like Fed or Rafa wouldn't have done the same in his situation. Alcaraz is dominating the field at a similar rate to Novak and he just barely turned 20. Goes to show what a weak field it was that Djokovic vultures. Okay, maybe vulture is too harsh a word but it's not that impressive when you put everything into context.
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Fed did do the same in the 2000s and Nadal has had a very weak clay field to deal with his entire career. You know, we Djokovic fans used to hear 20>17 all the time, but now all you got it weak field. Weak argument is what it is. Maybe a weak field, but Nadal is only 11 months younger and could have done more than he has in dominating clay and Federer could have done more in the 2010s. Y'all are just whiny to be honest.
 
nachiket nolefam said:
But Fed starts stronger. And he has better serve. So that evens out the endurance.
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Stronger serve is nullified by a stronger return.
Stronger forehand is nullified by a stronger backhand

In the end mental toughness is what cost Fed the slams race, it is quite sad that Bull sneaked ahead of Roger.
Fed fans as busy taking out their anger on Novak but they fail to accept that it is Bull who did the maximum damage to Fed and the anger is misdirected on Novak.
 
Razer said:
Stronger serve is nullified by a stronger return.
Stronger forehand is nullified by a stronger backhand

In the end mental toughness is what cost Fed the slams race, it is quite sad that Bull sneaked ahead of Roger.
Fed fans as busy taking out their anger on Novak but they fail to accept that it is Bull who did the maximum damage to Fed and the anger is misdirected on Novak.
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Stronger serve is bigger than stronger return and stronger forehand is bigger than stronger backhand.
 
Razer said:
Federer was too dependent on his forehand in his peak, it worked against bums but against equals that is not the case, his weak backhand cost him matches against Djokovic too, not just Nadal. Novak has a much better stamina and also Novak's precision is also higher, once the rally begin he can put the ball back in play endlessly and eventually it is Federer's backhand side which will crack. No way is Federer beating Novak in medium pace or slower conditions on HCs.

Grass favors Federer and HCs will favor Novak more times it will favor Federer, on clay it doesn't matter cause the bull will humiliate them both, so doesnt matter.
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If you watched peak Fed, his agility was so much better that when he would cough up short balls on his tops spin backhand, his opponent still could not exploit that open court because his recovery speed made up for it. Fed's backhand will not crack because he can just use slice and bait Novak while playing high percentage tennis, something he couldn't afford to do in his 30s. We have already seen Fed beat Novak when he had the smaller racket and that was peak Novak. So why is it difficult to see that a younger Fed would have a much easier time against Novak? If you look at the rally dynamic of how Djokovic wins a lot of easy points against Old Fed, you will notice that Djokovic will camp on the deuce side of the court and target Fed's backhand keeping him pinned until Novak decides there is enough open court to go to the forehand of Fed, and Feds legs don't have the speed to make the recovery so Novak either ends up hitting a clean winner of Fed nets a forehand forced error or coughs up an easy short ball for Novak to punish him. But from 2008-2012 whenever Djokovic tried this tactic, Fed still had the speed and forehand to reach the ball and CRUSH it taking Novak off guard with either a forehand winner or putting Novak on defense. This was the biggest key in their match up during the latter years of their rivalry. Such a thing would never happen to Fed when he was a superior athlete in his 20s than 30s.
 
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nachiket nolefam said:
Stronger serve is bigger than stronger return and stronger forehand is bigger than stronger backhand.
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Yeah Serve is always an advantage, thats why I give Pete the nod over Roger if they are same aged. Pete's serve was somewhat unreturnable while Fed's is returnable but Fed's serve is significantly better than Novak's because Novak's serve was too average even in his peak years, at least I am glad he had the apptitude to develop a good serve later on, if we see the serve stats then Novak has constantly improved his serve until 2022, that is very impressive.... unlike the Bull who could never have a great serve.
 
Texas Tennis Fan said:
Fed did do the same in the 2000s and Nadal has had a very weak clay field to deal with his entire career. You know, we Djokovic fans used to hear 20>17 all the time, but now all you got it weak field. Weak argument is what it is. Maybe a weak field, but Nadal is only 11 months younger and could have done more than he has in dominating clay and Federer could have done more in the 2010s. Y'all are just whiny to be honest.
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AT most we have 2-4 weak years for Fed as opposed to nearly a decade for Djokovic (due to 2 successive weak generations). As if that's a fair comparison. You Djokovic fans are so much more hypocritical than Fed fans. You cannot say weak clay field for Nadal when he has literally dominated every generation on that surface from the time he was a teenager until now.
 
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