Megafanoftennis100
Hall of Fame
Like the title says, it makes no sense to me why so many Fedal fans suddenly turned into Sinner fans.
I get that you guys are delighted about the rise of a young ATG who can finally routinely beat Djokovic to prevent the Serb from winning more Slams and accumulating more weeks at #1.
And to be honest, given his progress and his level relative to the field so far, it seems very likely that he will eventually break all of Djokovic's statistical records. Sounds great to you Fedal fans, right? After years of seeing Djokovic defeat your idols in the biggest matches many times and even take away their most precious records, it feels justified to want to see Djokovic get the taste of his own medicine. I get it.
But then, you should also consider: what if Sinner ends up breaking nearly all of Federer's and Nadal's records too?
The only significant record that I do not see him breaking is Nadal's RG title record (although to be fair, anything related to clay has never been what really bothered Nadal fans over the years).
Other than that, all the other major Fedal records seems to be well within reach.
8 Wimbledon titles? Seems quite doable.
5 USO titles? Even more doable and Sinner may even break Bill Tilden's all-time title record at the USO.
237 consecutive weeks at #1? This one is definitely the toughest, but given that the only one in the world so far who can challenge Sinner is Alcaraz, whose level is surprisingly prone to fluctuating, I would not count on Alcaraz stealing the #1 spot from Sinner anytime soon unless the latter suffers MAJOR illnesses or injuries (which is unlikely, given his access to top-notch physiotherapists and medical staff).
6 ATP Finals? Seems to be the easiest of them all by far, as even Alcaraz is hardly a threat to Sinner on indoor HC.
103 ATP titles? If Sinner maintains his current winning rate over the next 10 years, he might pass 103 ATP titles comfortably, especially if he is motivated enough to play more additional smaller tournaments like 250s and 500s (which he is almost sure to steamroll).
And the list goes on and on.
The point is, Sinner is not just threatening Djokovic's records, but also those of Federer and Nadal. The Big 3 are all under the threat of having their spotlight in history books overtaken by Sinner.
And above all else, here is arguably THE most significant reason why the legacy of Fedal is under threat if Sinner ends up breaking their records: Sinner and Fedal never had to face each other in their primes.
Not even close.
Federer never played a single match against Sinner. And Nadal only played three times against Sinner, but all those matches took place during 2020-2021 (when Sinner was FAR from his prime).
This can really strengthen the argument by Sinner fans that "prime Sinner played at a far higher level than prime Fedal."
It's basically No Limits Fallacy. If prime Fedal have never demonstrated how well they would do against prime Sinner, but if Sinner ends up with better statistics than Fedal, then the only entirely objective way we can compare prime Sinner's level to that of prime Fedal would be to simply compare their dominance in their best tennis seasons – which are measured by statistics. We will never have any data of Sinner's matches against prime Fedal.
Now, this is very different in the case of Djokovic, because even though he did end up statistically surpassing Fedal in the majority of the significant metrics, it is nearly impossible for his fans to reasonably argue that he played at a "far higher level" than prime Fedal – because the Big 3 all played each other in real life countless times and their primes have overlapped in one way or the other. For instance, Djokovic played prime/peak Federer many times and lost much more often than he won. And when Djokovic was in his prime while Federer was well past his, Federer still pushed him to very close matches and sometimes defeated him, even convincingly at times. There is therefore a very strong argument that Federer peaked higher than Djokovic. This is not hypothetical at all. We have those matches in history.
But what about if we were to compare prime Sinner to prime Federer? Oh wait, we can't, because their primes were never remotely close to overlapping. So that gives Sinner fans the luxury to argue all they want that Sinner's prime level is far higher than Federer's, and there really is no objective way for Fedfans to argue against it.
And if Sinner really does end up breaking Fedal's records, there won't be anything stopping him from being unanimously considered better than Fedal. "Matches played against prime Fedal" can never be used against him, unlike Djokovic's case.
Sinner fans have the ultimate No Limits Fallacy card.
Unfortunately, you guys are not helping your idols' legacy at all by siding with Sinner.
If anything, you are only weakening it.
I get that you guys are delighted about the rise of a young ATG who can finally routinely beat Djokovic to prevent the Serb from winning more Slams and accumulating more weeks at #1.
And to be honest, given his progress and his level relative to the field so far, it seems very likely that he will eventually break all of Djokovic's statistical records. Sounds great to you Fedal fans, right? After years of seeing Djokovic defeat your idols in the biggest matches many times and even take away their most precious records, it feels justified to want to see Djokovic get the taste of his own medicine. I get it.
But then, you should also consider: what if Sinner ends up breaking nearly all of Federer's and Nadal's records too?
The only significant record that I do not see him breaking is Nadal's RG title record (although to be fair, anything related to clay has never been what really bothered Nadal fans over the years).
Other than that, all the other major Fedal records seems to be well within reach.
8 Wimbledon titles? Seems quite doable.
5 USO titles? Even more doable and Sinner may even break Bill Tilden's all-time title record at the USO.
237 consecutive weeks at #1? This one is definitely the toughest, but given that the only one in the world so far who can challenge Sinner is Alcaraz, whose level is surprisingly prone to fluctuating, I would not count on Alcaraz stealing the #1 spot from Sinner anytime soon unless the latter suffers MAJOR illnesses or injuries (which is unlikely, given his access to top-notch physiotherapists and medical staff).
6 ATP Finals? Seems to be the easiest of them all by far, as even Alcaraz is hardly a threat to Sinner on indoor HC.
103 ATP titles? If Sinner maintains his current winning rate over the next 10 years, he might pass 103 ATP titles comfortably, especially if he is motivated enough to play more additional smaller tournaments like 250s and 500s (which he is almost sure to steamroll).
And the list goes on and on.
The point is, Sinner is not just threatening Djokovic's records, but also those of Federer and Nadal. The Big 3 are all under the threat of having their spotlight in history books overtaken by Sinner.
And above all else, here is arguably THE most significant reason why the legacy of Fedal is under threat if Sinner ends up breaking their records: Sinner and Fedal never had to face each other in their primes.
Not even close.
Federer never played a single match against Sinner. And Nadal only played three times against Sinner, but all those matches took place during 2020-2021 (when Sinner was FAR from his prime).
This can really strengthen the argument by Sinner fans that "prime Sinner played at a far higher level than prime Fedal."
It's basically No Limits Fallacy. If prime Fedal have never demonstrated how well they would do against prime Sinner, but if Sinner ends up with better statistics than Fedal, then the only entirely objective way we can compare prime Sinner's level to that of prime Fedal would be to simply compare their dominance in their best tennis seasons – which are measured by statistics. We will never have any data of Sinner's matches against prime Fedal.
Now, this is very different in the case of Djokovic, because even though he did end up statistically surpassing Fedal in the majority of the significant metrics, it is nearly impossible for his fans to reasonably argue that he played at a "far higher level" than prime Fedal – because the Big 3 all played each other in real life countless times and their primes have overlapped in one way or the other. For instance, Djokovic played prime/peak Federer many times and lost much more often than he won. And when Djokovic was in his prime while Federer was well past his, Federer still pushed him to very close matches and sometimes defeated him, even convincingly at times. There is therefore a very strong argument that Federer peaked higher than Djokovic. This is not hypothetical at all. We have those matches in history.
But what about if we were to compare prime Sinner to prime Federer? Oh wait, we can't, because their primes were never remotely close to overlapping. So that gives Sinner fans the luxury to argue all they want that Sinner's prime level is far higher than Federer's, and there really is no objective way for Fedfans to argue against it.
And if Sinner really does end up breaking Fedal's records, there won't be anything stopping him from being unanimously considered better than Fedal. "Matches played against prime Fedal" can never be used against him, unlike Djokovic's case.
Sinner fans have the ultimate No Limits Fallacy card.
Unfortunately, you guys are not helping your idols' legacy at all by siding with Sinner.
If anything, you are only weakening it.
