If Djokovic wins 21 at USO21 / AO22..

BrooklynNY

Hall of Fame
I have a feeling if he wins CYGS, or even just gets 21 in the next 3-4 slams - he will continue/start another run of excellence. I think he might just start playing freely and swinging out more, and we'll see less nervous starts like FO21 final and Wimbledon21 - where it took falling behind for him to really 'fight or flight' and start playing well

Yes, Djokovic is known for handling pressure better than anyone, but if he gets 21 - he will essentially be playing with house money (even though Nadal can continue to win more slams) from here out in his career, with the only major pressure being holding off Nadal from passing the slam record.

Even Djokovic has said himself recently that when he fell behind in those 2 recent slam finals, he felt a sense of relief and could start playing more freely/relaxed. If he gets 21 in the very near future, the pressure to pass some benchmark is gone, and it's like a stock breaking out to new highs.

Thoughts?
 

bnjkn

Professional
Oh yes, this run right now will look pitiful compared to his next one. We simply have no idea what he's capable of. He hasn't even begun his domination of the sport yet. There is still pressure, you know, when all this pressure is finally gone, everything will be perfect. At nirvana things will just happen more naturally.
 

daggerman

Hall of Fame
I don't foresee a sustained run of dominance beyond 2021, but frankly I'm not inclined to bet against Novak Djokovic. We'll see. I do think that, if he wins the US Open this year, his motivation to win AO 2022 won't diminish. Getting to 10 AOs is probably something he'll be targeting either way. If he gets it, though, I think there could be a dip in motivation thereafter.

The interesting question to me is how many slams, if any, he'll win when he's no longer among the favorites at slams. Can he add one or two slams when he's merely a solid top 8-10 player? Surely the top tier of players won't beat that version of Novak every time. Or maybe they will. Again, we'll see!
 

BrooklynNY

Hall of Fame
I don't foresee a sustained run of dominance beyond 2021, but frankly I'm not inclined to bet against Novak Djokovic. We'll see. I do think that, if he wins the US Open this year, his motivation to win AO 2022 won't diminish. Getting to 10 AOs is probably something he'll be targeting either way. If he gets it, though, I think there could be a dip in motivation thereafter.

The interesting question to me is how many slams, if any, he'll win when he's no longer among the favorites at slams. Can he add one or two slams when he's merely a solid top 8-10 player? Surely the top tier of players won't beat that version of Novak every time. Or maybe they will. Again, we'll see!

Agreed, actually. For sure, it's going to be interesting to see how Nadal and Djokovic do when they come back to earth a bit, and are just in the mix with the pack and maybe more reliant on the draw opening up as opposed to mostly being the favorite everywhere
 

Fedeonic

Hall of Fame
Actually, I think the opposite, since Djokovic will be in a new territory where winning is considered "more icing to the cake" and not searching for a particular target, Nole will be even more pressured to keep raising the bar, proving that Nadal doesn't have a final good run. Just look what happened to Federer after reaching 15, and Roger was 6 years younger.
 

Midaso240

Legend
I don't think so, he has had great runs before but he was a lot younger then. From '18 Wimbledon it has been his longest run of sustained dominance in his career arguably and I think he's so motivated because he knows if he has the drop off like after AO '12 or FO '16 he will struggle to come back again at his age...
 

Jonesy

Legend
I'm telling people here just never learn.

It isn't by a stroke of luck Djokovic is winning all the slams once again. He is the best damn player of the world by far.

And he is better than Federer for sure, you like it or not. So at worse, take every slam old Fed won post 35 and double it.
 

Djokodal Fan

Hall of Fame
I think it will be the opposite. I feel like he will lose motivation like what happened after RG2016. He will feel like he climbed a mount Everest only to see Rafa raking up French open titles. Djokovic is no lock for any title, but has a good chance to win 3/4 slams. But Rafa is a sure shot lock for French open (pretty much, unless beast mode Djokovic takes him out).

If he doesn't win US open, I feel like he will go into lock down mode and make life miserable for youngsters for next year. Not sure what I want from him as a fan.
 
I think it will be the opposite. I feel like he will lose motivation like what happened after RG2016. He will feel like he climbed a mount Everest only to see Rafa raking up French open titles. Djokovic is no lock for any title, but has a good chance to win 3/4 slams. But Rafa is a sure shot lock for French open (pretty much, unless beast mode Djokovic takes him out).
This is basically a once in a lifetime achievement.
What comes after becomes a bonus by comparison.
 

beard

Legend
Agreed, actually. For sure, it's going to be interesting to see how Nadal and Djokovic do when they come back to earth a bit, and are just in the mix with the pack and maybe more reliant on the draw opening up as opposed to mostly being the favorite everywhere
You can already watch Nadal cope in mentioned situation... It's not easy...

On topic... I thought of op conclusions, and certainly I hope he starts playing freely and it does good for him... My fear is he will go to Pepe mode, but I doubt it, he seems like a man in a mission to brake slams record badly... His statements are in that direction, when he said after winning at FO and W he is gonna come back for more years, and I don't think he will be there as non slam contender...
 

Oceans II

Professional
I agree. Something that gets underestimated is that it's much harder to win when you're so close to the record with all the pressure hence a potential drop in level, than say earlier victories except the very first where you could swing and think more freely. We have seen this previously with Federer at RG09, W09 and Nadal at USO19.
 

vex

Legend
Lmao, only 2-3? Out of the next 9 slams, up until the end of 2023 he will win at least 6-7 of them. Mark my words.
I guess we’ll see. If he can’t play more aggressively on command I think he’s in for some upsets.
 

martinezownsclay

Hall of Fame
I think once he gets to 22-23 he will lose any motivation. Even if Nadal possibly has another mini run in him, it won't matter, at that point, particularly when Nadal is leap years behind him in time at #1, and has such a RG heavy record.
 
Top