I truly thought 20-20-20 would last into eternity.

[FiddlerDog]

I simply can't grasp we are at 22-20-20.
I would never have thought this would be the outcome.
Never in a dozen years.

I was 100% certain Fed was done at 20
I was 100% certain Rafa was done at 20

I felt Novak had a monster 2021, but it still felt too much to ask from a 35 year old to win a GS.

I truly thought 20-20-20 would last into eternity.

 

[Deleted member 629564]

It still can be 22-22-22.

 

[SonicNirvana]

20-20-20 would have been fun

endless debate. and even then...

 

[TheNachoMan]

I hope Nadal (and even Novak, honestly) don’t pull too far ahead. I think Djokovic and Nadal are better than Federer but it’s extremely close. They aren’t 3+ slams better than him. Anyone who says one of the big 3 is vastly superior to the other two is just a fanboy.

 

[Sampras-Bruguera 1993]

Would have been good for future discussions here if they stayed tied at 20 since no one will be watching the men's game in a few years. LOL Casper Ruud-Medvedev/Rune finals?

 

[pj80]

If you told me in November 2021, we'd be at 22-20-20 going into Wimbledon...I'd be cool, Djoker won AO and RG combo again...going for another CYGS

 

[DSH]

I simply can't grasp we are at 22-20-20.
I would never have thought this would be the outcome.
Never in a dozen years.

I was 100% certain Fed was done at 20
I was 100% certain Rafa was done at 20

I felt Novak had a monster 2021, but it still felt too much to ask from a 35 year old to win a GS.

I truly thought 20-20-20 would last into eternity.

Never bet against 'UnstopaBull' or else you will regret forever.

 

[DSH]

I hope Nadal (and even Novak, honestly) don’t pull too far ahead. I think Djokovic and Nadal are better than Federer but it’s extremely close. They aren’t 3+ slams better than him. Anyone who says one of the big 3 is vastly superior to the other two is just a fanboy.

Rafael Nadal agrees with you, only his job is to remain competitive and seek to win the big trophies until his legendary career is over.

 

[helterskelter]

I simply can't grasp we are at 22-20-20.
I would never have thought this would be the outcome.
Never in a dozen years.

I was 100% certain Fed was done at 20
I was 100% certain Rafa was done at 20

I felt Novak had a monster 2021, but it still felt too much to ask from a 35 year old to win a GS.

I truly thought 20-20-20 would last into eternity.

Federer won three slams after turning 35.

I don't really get why you thought it would end at 20-20-20. At no point was that a probable end point.

 

[darthrafa]

I simply can't grasp we are at 22-20-20.
I would never have thought this would be the outcome.
Never in a dozen years.

I was 100% certain Fed was done at 20
I was 100% certain Rafa was done at 20

I felt Novak had a monster 2021, but it still felt too much to ask from a 35 year old to win a GS.

I truly thought 20-20-20 would last into eternity.

slam race is just one of indicators of measuring greatness
once they retire, the debate over goat wont stop until they become history like laver
do u think laver is GOAT now?
who would care how many they won in the future?

 

[Chopin]

I hope Nadal (and even Novak, honestly) don’t pull too far ahead. I think Djokovic and Nadal are better than Federer but it’s extremely close. They aren’t 3+ slams better than him. Anyone who says one of the big 3 is vastly superior to the other two is just a fanboy.

I agree that they're all extremely close. I also don't think there is a GOAT; all of these players do different things the best and Federer has had different competition because of his older age. Nadal has 14 of his slams on clay; he's the best there, by far, obviously. Off of clay, Federer and Djokovic are superior in my view (and in terms of results). I know some posters might not like this comparison but Nadal and Agassi are closer to each off of clay than Nadal is to Federer and Djokovic off of clay. I'd pick Nadal over Laver in a hypothetical match with modern racquets on any surface, but how can you compare the wood era to the modern game? Laver is a legend...

 

[GabeT]

slam race is just one of indicators of measuring greatness
once they retire, the debate over goat wont stop until they become history like laver
do u think laver is GOAT now?
who would care how many they won in the future?

Pretty soon all 3 will have retired and we will move to the Former Pros forum and trash the place. It is my solemn vow

 

[Bender]

20-20-20 would have been fun

endless debate. and even then...

I hope Nadal (and even Novak, honestly) don’t pull too far ahead. I think Djokovic and Nadal are better than Federer but it’s extremely close. They aren’t 3+ slams better than him. Anyone who says one of the big 3 is vastly superior to the other two is just a fanboy.

To me, 22-20-20 helps with some of the weaknesses in Nadal's resume.

Can't say the same if Djokovic pulled ahead of Federer by even one slam to be honest--at least not without resorting to the weak era card.

 

[NeutralFan]

slam race is just one of indicators of measuring greatness
once they retire, the debate over goat wont stop until they become history like laver
do u think laver is GOAT now?
who would care how many they won in the future?

Anyone who think there can be a GOAT or debate GOAT should be deemed crazy or a troll. There can't be a GOAT. We can debate about Big 2 being better of their generation but can never know for sure if they are greater than Laver ,Pete and all other past greats. It's impossible to know.

 

[Nadal's Universe]

It still can be 22-22-22.

Really?? HOW??

 

[Tommy Haas]

I predict it’ll be 22, 21, 20 soon. The USO is the most neutral surface of the four slams, so it’ll depend on Djoko’s outcome at WC and if Russians are allowed to play.

 

[dr325i]

Really?? HOW??

Alcaraz?

 

[dr325i]

I predict it’ll be 22, 21, 20 soon. The USO is the most neutral surface of the four slams, so it’ll depend on Djoko’s outcome at WC and if Russians are allowed to play.

As of right now, US still requires entry vaccination for non-US citizens. And USO is only 2.5 months away...

 

[Nadal - GOAT]

To me, 22-20-20 helps with some of the weaknesses in Nadal's resume.

Can't say the same if Djokovic pulled ahead of Federer by even one slam to be honest--at least not without resorting to the weak era card.

For me even at 20-20-20 the fact that Rafa was at par with Novak and Fed in slam count despite having only 1 out of 4 slams in his favored surface made up for any other weakness in his resume.

There is 1 clay slam and 3 clay masters as opposed to 3 Grass/HC slams and 9 HC masters. To add to it the ATP Finals is indoor hard. So Rafa was always battling against the odds to match up to Novak's numbers.

The fact that he leads the slam race now and has just 2 masters less than Novak truly shows the champion he is. Like may have said before, imagine if there were 2 clay slams; we wouldn't be even having a GOAT debate then.

 

[Silverbullet96]

I felt Novak had a monster 2021, but it still felt too much to ask from a 35 year old to win a GS.

But it's not too much for a 34 year old to win 2 GS ? (Novak 2021)

 

[D.Nalby12]

Then you underestimated vacuum era.

 

[Hitman]

There was no way that no more big 3 slam wins were not coming.

 

[FiddlerDog]

Would have been good for future discussions here if they stayed tied at 20 since no one will be watching the men's game in a few years. LOL Casper Ruud-Medvedev/Rune finals?

You've got it backwards.
Big 3 killed tennis.
Tennis peaked in the 70s and 80s.
It's been dead ever since robot Sampras killed it.
Now, there are real personalities emerging again.
Tennis is finally saved.
Good riddance to Big 3

 

[helterskelter]

Pretty soon all 3 will have retired and we will move to the Former Pros forum and trash the place. It is my solemn vow

What a bore

 

[Deleted member 629564]

Really?? HOW??

2022 Wimbledon Djokovic 22-21-20
2022 US Open (Next Gen) 22-21-20
2023 AO Federer 22-21-21
2023 RG Djokovic 22-22-21
2023 Wimbledon Federer 22-22-22