Nadal: "Don't give an Extra Slam to Novak!"
- Thread starter Tennis_Freak99
- Start date
FrontHeadlock
Hall of Fame
Always the unscrupulous Nole fans...
Djokovic_is_the_best#1
G.O.A.T.
Haha hilarious. Rafa is a cool and funny guy 
StrongRule
G.O.A.T.
He skipped USO, you know. Can't ever imagine Djokovic skipping a slam unless he has a real injury.
Tennis_Freak99
Hall of Fame
To be fair, the debate was always between Fedal since the beginning. They captivated the tennis world back then and even now.
It is a surprise that Novak managed to reach where he is. Nobody in the right mind thought he'll win even 7 slams let alone 17. Novak knows this and is dealing with the pressures of actually being in reach of the slam record among many records. That is the 'angst' you are talking about.
Fedal were always in the 'GOAT' debate since there early 20s, they are used to it. Plus being close friends helps
NoleFam
Talk Tennis Guru
Yea look at the head start they had. In January 2011, Federer had a 15 Slam lead and Rafa had an 8 Slam lead. What Djokovic has done, while they were capable of still playing extremely high level (look what Rafa did yesterday), is astonishing.
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
Djo very well may end up with the stats GOAT, but they will always be framed within the FEDAL era, and I think that really does bother him. And the media/fans will always perpetuate it. I always say he is the third wheel in the Fed/Nadal relationship. And totally agree @Tennis_Freak99 that the shadowing has done well to drive Djo to push past them and that is the angst. But the reality will continue to be he will never stand on his own. As also mentioned, Fed and Nadal accepted they are part of an amazing era with each other, and Djo unfortunately has not been allowed to.
Djo is an amazing player for sure.
NoleFam
Talk Tennis Guru
With all due respect, you have always come off like a Djokovic hater to me so of course this is your point of view. That last line is probably the nicest thing I have ever seen you write about him. The fact is, he has been standing on his own for a long time now and he has his own era. You are in his era. The Fedal era ended a while ago. We may can debate this a bit and say maybe we are in Djokodal era the last couple of years but Djokovic is above the other 2 in the last 10 years and has dominated them in the head to head. So it seems you may be still in 2009.
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
Lol. Like when the Pete/Agassi relationship finally broke at the exhibition. I dunno...maybe FEDAL has that undercurrent, but it doesn’t feel like it.
merwy
G.O.A.T.
.. what? You see a video of a goofy Nadal joking around about the slam race and what comes to your mind is: “I hope this kills all talk about how he never cared about the slam record”.
I’m not sure who said that because I think they all care somewhat about the record but in fact this video shows that Nadal isn’t caught up in it and can talk about it in a relaxed way. Basically what @ChaelAZ said
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
I have always said Djo is an amazing tennis talent. What I don’t like about him has always been the chip on the shoulder and attitude he demonstrates. Even more so his camp and family. I never liked JMac either for exactly the same reason. Or talking about Kygrios.
FEDAL is still the era, but I understand where Djo fans want to insert him more and call it his. That is the crux of it for me. It is, as you mention, just my point of view, exactly as yours is a point of view.
NoleFam
Talk Tennis Guru
He wants that record man. Look at his face when they are talking about it. He's always wanted it. At least that's what I always felt. To me, Toni Nadal always gave it away with his comments when Rafa would play it down publicly.
NoleFam
Talk Tennis Guru
Ok fair enough. I just never got that vibe from you or saw you say anything positive about him or his game.
This is not the Fedal era. They are not dominating anymore. They haven't dominated since 2017, with Djokovic struggling, and before that it was like 2010 or something.
The last 10 years Djokovic has won 16 Slams, Nadal has won 11 Slams, and Federer has won 4 Slams. He won more Slams than them combined. In that timeframe he is 22-11 against Nadal and 21-10 against Federer. So, you are mistaken in thinking this is not his era.
Sephiroth
Hall of Fame
Djokovic's gonna be pissed constantly having to hear Fed and Nadal are on 20 each while he's 3 behind next year, dynamics gonna be interesting going forward cuz you know the media's gonna do their damn best to keep reminding him that his 2 rivals are equally ahead of him lol
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
Well, a lot of times I play the devils advocate against the Djo brigade. And I do it in a trolly way as much as anyone. So I get ya and you are spot on.
TennisHockey
Rookie
I don't think anyone thinks that Nadal doesn't care about the record at all (even just a tiny bit). But his goal in tennis is not to simply attain the record and be known as GOAT the way it is for Djokovic.
NoleFam
Talk Tennis Guru
Well yea this is probably true.
duaneeo
Legend
Djokovic won the Australian Open in 2008. No one told him to take a 3-year vacation afterwards.
NoleFam
Talk Tennis Guru
No one told Sampras either.
Djokovic shared an era/decade with Nadal. Between 2010 to 2019, Djokovic won 15 slams, while Nadal won 13 slams (despite missing far more slams than Djokovic through injury). Novak never had an era of his own, as Nadal won so much as well during his best years.
And when was Nadal era?
vive le beau jeu !
Talk Tennis Guru
clout
Hall of Fame
Pretty much this. Most casual tennis fans still view Djokovic as "that other guy" without actually realizing how close he is to Fedal statistically.
He was supposed to be the player who took turns with Murray and Del Potro vacuuming up any slams that Fedal leaves on the table. It's also worth noting that 10 years ago, you would've expected all of the big 4 to be long gone by 2020.
GabeT
Legend
Most casual fans don’t even know what a slam is and couldn‘t tell you who has more
clout
Hall of Fame
Well that would be the very casual fan. In my eyes, the casual fans are the ones who will watch majors every once in a while and only majors.
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
They call always fall back on the vacuous 40-15 rejoinder. It's simple for them to remember and repeat.
GabeT
Legend
I play tennis with different groups of people. Adding them all up maybe 60 to 70. I belong to a tennis club. The other day we were playing and I asked who was following the FO. Most did not even know it was on.
I’ve been to the USO many times. I’d talk people next to me and almost no one had any idea of which were the four slams or how the uSO was different from Indian Wells
we live in a bubble here at TTW
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
Are you happy Rafa won, or preferred Novak to?I like how Nadal is still saying "us" lol. He knows he'll beat 20, but he's happy being tied with Fed anyway. Just doesn't want Djokovic getting any closer, clearly.
onyxrose81
Hall of Fame
Both Fed and Nada cared about the slam race. What was different is that they didn’t broadcast it everywhere, which is something that I wish Novak would have done. But I guess he wouldn’t be Novak. But for people to say that Fedal didn’t care is ridiculous. Nadal especially is secure within himself is because he’ll be winning FO for the next few years, and knew it even before Sunday.
Steve0904
Talk Tennis Guru
I preferred Novak to win, but when Rafa puts on a performance like that you can only laugh, shake your head, and applaud. I also said after the match that the forum is probably in better shape thanks to a Nadal win. And especially in the fashion that it happened (straight sets beatdown). Humbled a lot of the extreme Djokovic fans. Nice for a change.
UnderratedSlam
Legend
Relaxed on the court?
Perhaps you focus too much on exhibitions.
Rafa is 100% intensity. Press conferences aren't the same as the tennis.
Legend of Borg
G.O.A.T.
these 3 months are going to be one of the quietest in a long time here on TT
this Christmas we'll see Fedal fans holding hands around the tree, singing kumbaya (with masks on of course)
then after the Gioco Open, all hell will break loose again
Legend of Borg
G.O.A.T.
if Djoker ends up 3rd wheel in the slam race, it's gonna be a very hollow statementThey call always fall back on the vacuous 40-15 rejoinder. It's simple for them to remember and repeat.
Throatgate ™ will have way more punch than 40-15 at that point
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
Hilarious post bc it's so true. It's like an exterminator came in here with Raid
till the next time Djokovic wins a slam lol
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
What's so crazy about Throatgate is how Novak was twice just 2mm from winning the set.
Legend of Borg
G.O.A.T.
this forum is like a library right nowHilarious post bc it's so true. It's like an exterminator came in here with Raid
damn Rafa, you done some miracle my man
DSH
G.O.A.T.
NoleFam
Talk Tennis Guru
Djokovic never had an era of his own?
Djokovic's era didn't start in 2010. It started in 2011 and he was dominant enough even counting 2010 that he was player of the decade by a pretty good margin.He won every Slam, 3 of them at least 3 times, and he held them all at once. Nadal only won 1 Wimbledon and 0 AOs in that decade.
Djokovic won every Masters tournament (won 9 more than Nadal who didn't win 3 of them at all that decade) and all except one of them multiple times.
He won the WTF 4 times in a row, a record.
His weeks at#1 dwarfed Nadal's: 275 vs. 159.
So this idea that he didn't have his own era is laughable considering it might be the most dominant decade in the Open Era. The only one who can make a claim and say it's debatable is Federer considering he won 15 Slams in the timeframe from 2000-2009 and was close in weeks at #1 in comparison with Djokovic. Biased is not even a strong enough word to describe some of you "fans" who have absolutely zero credibility.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
VB royalty will be very upset you found a family album photo to share.
The_Mental_Giant
Hall of Fame
I agree, Fedal is still the era because;
Djokovic needed to beat Federer in 2014,2015 and 2019 in order to earn 3/4 wimbledon titles.. all matches were quite close, specially the last one.
Djokovic needed to beat Nadal in 2018 in order to gain his winning motto, and to have the honor to demolish anderson in the final, and the match couldnt be any more dramatic and closer.
He Also has needed go through Fedal in F and SF the last two years in order to win Australian Open.
BackhandDTL
Hall of Fame
Well no ****, Nadal peaked earlier in his career and had greater mileage. Fed was getting older.
He beat up on two post prime guys since 2014, congratulations.
duaneeo
Legend
What does Sampras have to do with Fedal having a 'head start' over Nole because of his 3-year vacation?