Out of the big three, is Djokovic the one who wasted the most slam titles?

Who missed the most slam wins which could have been won?

  • Federer

    Votes: 57 57.0%

  • Nadal

    Votes: 14 14.0%

  • Djokovic

    Votes: 29 29.0%
  • Total voters
    100
If not for very late resurgence, Federer would have even lost ao17 final despite playing better. He has the most close final losses. To Nole Rafa and 1 to Delpo. Mps up loss to Safin. He had the chance to remain the GOAT but he was not clutch.
 
Aside from RG, where Nadal was 14 out of 14 finals, he underperformed at the 3 non-clay slams, 8 slams out of 16 finals.
 
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BorgTheGOAT said:
He has three times as many AOs as Nadal and nevertheless trails him 1-3 in H2H. At the USO he is merely 5-4 in titles. The idea to assume per default he would have won both 2010/11 finals is laughable given that this was peak/prime Nadal and Fed’s mental block against him was on an all-time high.
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Federer never had a mental blockade against Nadal, it was his weaker backhand side that Rafa exploited so many times.
 
Hyde said:
Injuries are bad luck. It’s not your own fault. Djokovic missing several slams (that he should have won) due to not being vaccinated wasn’t bad luck. So these are wasted opportunities, while being injured isn’t a wasted opportunity.
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Game style and body endurance more so than, bad luck.
 
Genie Of the Bank said:
Federer never had a mental blockade against Nadal, it was his weaker backhand side that Rafa exploited so many times.
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Of course he had, but even if he hadn’t, it does not change much. During 2010/2011 the rivalry was pretty lopsided in favor of Nadal who would be a clear favourite in a potential 2010 final. In 2011 I give Federer chances but even this is not a given. To boldly assume Fed has both those slams in his bag is way too optimistic.
 
It’s obviously Fed for faltering the most in slams, which is why he’s in last place right a
Now at 24-22-20.

2008 Wimbledon was a major bummer. Fed started out scared in the first 2 sets, but then roared back to level the match. This match is still the most painful one that I’ve seen from Fed, mainly because I think that this loss turned everything around. Not converting that tiebreak in the 2005 AO semi was also a major bummer. The Delpo loss at the 2009 USO hurt as well. I guess I could go on and on. But at the end of the day, Federer smashed all expectations by bagging 10 slam titles. I can’t complain. After the 2008 Wimbledon final, I thought he would be lucky to win 2 more to get to 14. 20 is way more than I ever expected. So I have to be grateful for that
 
I still don't understand what happened to Roger Federer in that 2018 SF. He had a match point in third set and he totally collapsed from there.. kinda unbelievable.. on his fav turf
 
Fed only lost to Nadal, Djokovic and that one to DelPo.

Djokovic has lost to Wawa, Murray, Medvedev and Alcaraz in Slam finals now.
 
BauerAlmeida said:
There's not much difference in losing to non-ATG in the final or before.
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Federer/Nadal/Sampras/Borg all lost to non-ATGs before the final, but rarely in the more pressured-filled slam final where the ATG has the clear advantage. Those few slam finals lost to non-ATGs were to strong NextGens and/or happened when they were past-prime.
 
Hyde said:
Djokovic has won the most slams, but did he also wasted the most slams due to own fault/responsibility?
He has the worst finals win percentage out of the big three (so maybe he choked the most), and he also missed probably a few easy slam wins due to his own fault (being disqualified at 2020 USO, missing 2022 USO and 2022 AO due to not being vaccinated).
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Wasted?
The guy is having the time of his life since 2020 in the face of insipid competition, full of buffoons and defenseless puppies.
:sick:
 
Djokovic_is_the_best#1 said:
I agree. I forgot to ask were you a Federer fan? Just couldn’t remember who you supported before.
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Murray - been a fan since he Let Us All Down by losing to ARod at Wimbledon in 2009. Then out of the Big 3 it’s Nadal, but he is neither my GOAT (Djoker) nor the guy I enjoy watching most (Fed) nor the guy I think is BOAT (Fed) :D. Deep down I think it’s actually because he’s been the least dominant (I never really believed he would keep the slam lead in 2022). I just love going after the dudes on top… if I’d joined this forum in early 2018 I would have been ripping into Fed daily instead of Nole
 
jl809 said:
Murray - been a fan since he Let Us All Down by losing to ARod at Wimbledon in 2009. Then out of the Big 3 it’s Nadal, but he is neither my GOAT (Djoker) nor the guy I enjoy watching most (Fed) nor the guy I think is BOAT (Fed) :D. Deep down I think it’s actually because he’s been the least dominant (I never really believed he would keep the slam lead in 2022). I just love going after the dudes on top… if I’d joined this forum in early 2018 I would have been ripping into Fed daily instead of Nole
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That’s fair enough. Thanks for the comment.
 
duaneeo said:
Federer/Nadal/Sampras/Borg all lost to non-ATGs before the final, but rarely in the more pressured-filled slam final where the ATG has the clear advantage. Those few slam finals lost to non-ATGs were to strong NextGens and/or happened when they were past-prime.
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Djokovic reached more finals than anyone else, so he had more chances to have those extra losses. And frankly, the only weak loss was Medvedev when he was going for the slam record and the CYGS simultaneously. Murray on grass is not a bad loss, on HC, it is not so bad either. He's reached tons of SF and F, how many times did Djokovic face him at slams? Losing one or two is expectable. And Wawrinka also beat Nadal and is a more accomplished player than Delpo who beat Federer.
 
BauerAlmeida said:
Murray on grass is not a bad loss, on HC, it is not so bad either. He's reached tons of SF and F, how many times did Djokovic face him at slams? Losing one or two is expectable. And Wawrinka also beat Nadal and is a more accomplished player than Delpo who beat Federer.
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LOL! Neither peak/prime Federer nor peak/prime Nadal would ever suffer a slam final loss to Murray or Wawrinka...let alone two slam final losses to both players.
 
Novak has lost finals to murrays stans medvedevs alcarazs but still i will say fedrer wasted more . Del petro final was winnable. Loosing to nadal outside clay is not acceptable from player like fedrer and that 40 15 wimbeldon final. Fedrer atleast lost 4 slams.
 
Sudacafan said:
Just curious about why Djokovic has so many votes.
Which slams were the ones Djokovic should have won and didn't?
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370
 
Sudacafan said:
Just curious about why Djokovic has so many votes.
Which slams were the ones Djokovic should have won and didn't?
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USO 2020, USO 2021, AO 2022, USO 2022, W 2023, AO 2024...and these are only for the last 5 years alone...then you have the entire stretch between late 2016 and late 2018, which he was basically sitting out, looking how his two biggest rivals co-vulture...did you really have to ask?...
 
MichaelNadal said:
He had no business beating Alcaraz or Sinner over 5 sets in the past year and that's exactly why he didn't.
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He had no bussiness losing that 3rd set tie-break more like and this is exactly what happened...do you want me to remind you about the flow of that match up until he screwed up on a few key points on that cursed tie-break?...The one, who had no bussiness winning was Alcaraz, for whom it was first Wimbledon final ever...
 
Djokodalerer31 said:
He had no bussiness losing that 3rd set tie-break more like and this is exactly what happened...do you want me to remind you about the flow of that match up until he screwed up on a few key points on that cursed tie-break?...The one, who had no bussiness winning was Alcaraz, for whom it was first Wimbledon final ever final...
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We could be talking about Wimbledon 2018 too then :whistle::whistle::whistle:
 
Djokodalerer31 said:
USO 2020, USO 2021, AO 2022, USO 2022, W 2023, AO 2024...and these are only for the last 5 years alone...then you have the entire stretch between late 2016 and late 2018, which he was basically sitting out, looking how his two biggest rivals co-vulture...did you really have to ask?...
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I think you are exaggerating a bit
 
Surely it's Bernard Tomic. He's the only one with the serve of Goran Ivanisevic, the mind of Pete Sampras, the groundstrokes of Federer and the heart of Hewitt. 40 Slam Titles wasted.

images
 
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duaneeo said:
LOL! Neither peak/prime Federer nor peak/prime Nadal would ever suffer a slam final loss to Murray or Wawrinka...let alone two slam final losses to both players.
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Yet Djokovic had higher win percentages at all four slams than Federer and at three non-RG slams than Nadal!

Federer suffered a 2-9 slam record after '11 against Djokovic, including a 0-6 streak. I don't know his slam record against Nadal, but it must include a similar losing streak!
 
Hyde said:
Injuries are bad luck. It’s not your own fault. Djokovic missing several slams (that he should have won) due to not being vaccinated wasn’t bad luck. So these are wasted opportunities, while being injured isn’t a wasted opportunity.
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IMO, injuries are partly bad luck and game style.
 
Would Nadal have won 30 slams without injuries?

Well, Nadal had a 113-4 record there, so there was precious little room to improve there!

At US, Djokovic and Nadal had 90 and 67 wins there, and yet each had 4 overall victories. So it could be argued that Nadal overachieved at US.

At AO & WB, Nadal had early victories over Federer. But then Djokovic took over! So the overall answer is NO!
 
TheGoldenEra1990’s said:
Nadal seems like he missed damn near half the slams his entire career. Fed didn’t miss many. Djoker missed a few but nearly as many as Nadal
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Well, that's wrong! At the end of '22, Nadal had 66 slam entries, and Djokovic had 68! Nadal had two fewer than Djokovic! Since then, Nadal had two more ('23 AO & '24 RG), and Djokovic had eight more!
 
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Jimmy left a lot due to wtt
John due to racket changes
Ivan I think maximized but hit hard with new gen of youngest ever winners (Stefan, Mats, Boris, Chang)
Pete left AO titles
Fed left due to anti clutchness
Nole due to COVID
 
Of course Djokovic blew a few 90% on vaccines and disqualifications, but Federer was literally the master of stupid losses.
 
Djokodalerer31 said:
He had no bussiness losing that 3rd set tie-break more like and this is exactly what happened...do you want me to remind you about the flow of that match up until he screwed up on a few key points on that cursed tie-break?...The one, who had no bussiness winning was Alcaraz, for whom it was first Wimbledon final ever...
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And yet he lost. Sometimes upsets happen. Those don't count as slams you should've won. The player that wins a match is the one that deserves to win it. You don't base a competition on who people think will win before a single point is played.

Case in point, no one expected Cilic would win the 2014 USO, but he deserved to. Few expected Delpo's 2009 USO even as the match was happening. Those players won fair and square.

The ones you can make excuses for are the 2022 AO deportation, 2020 USO DQ (the DQ was a judgement call, it could've easily gone the other way with a different umpire or supervisor or line judge), and 2020 Wimbledon (it wasn't played). The other slams people missed out on are injuries and lord knows that Nadal would come out ahead on total slams missed due to injury.
 
For me, certain retroactive reasoning doesn't make much sense, for a specific reason;

For example, Djokovic, it is rightly said that he lost all of 2017 and half of 2018 due to an elbow problem as well as being a bit saturated after the binge of 2015 and the first half of 2016.
Or from 2020 to 2022 he lost several slams due to various side effects caused by the pandemic.

After the first crisis in 2017 and the first half of 2018, he won 12 slams.
After covid 2020-2022 he won 3 slams in 2023.

Here... who says that without those forced breaks or not, therefore continuing to reap successes, he would have continued to win as he actually did?

I read one of the first comments that mentioned the case of Jordan's first retirement in '93.
That retirement served Jordan precisely to regenerate, if he had decided to continue without stopping are we really sure that between '96 and '98 with his Bulls he would have won those 3 titles?

If Djokovic had not had that crisis after Roland Garros 2016 that lasted two years are we really sure that he would have won 12 slams between 2018 and 2023?

If there had not been covid between 2020 and 2022 are we really sure that in 2023 he would still have had the strength to win 3 slams?

And with this I do not mean that without those events Djokovic could not have had even more slams than he actually has, I simply say that when you try to do this type of retroactive analysis you should take into consideration not only the possible benefits of cause and effect but also the possible evils.

In short, to say that without the post-RG 2016 crisis and without Covid 2020-2022 Djokovic could have added further slams to his 24 effective, it doesn't work like that, he could have added more but it doesn't mean that those 24 effective slams would have actually been effective.
 
For example, as a Sinner fan, if immediately after the match with Alcaraz at the US Open 2022 I was very disappointed by that outcome, seen in hindsight it doesn't cause me any type of annoyance, precisely because I am aware that if Sinner had converted that matchpoint, therefore with good possibility of winning that edition of the US Open, this could have turned out to be more counterproductive than productive for him in the short-medium term, precisely because he was not yet ready to withstand that type of pressure generated by a possible slam triumph (cause let's remember, conjunctions astral).

I mentioned Djokovic before, but I could say the same thing with Federer.
Who tells us that if between post Australian Open 2010 and pre Australian Open 2017, in that long period of time he had achieved more than just the slam (Wimbledon 2012) then in 2017 we would have seen his resurrection to allow him to win 3 more slams over the age of 35 ?

Therefore, it is right in this thread to analyze the individual occasions or individual periods in which the big three were unable to capitalize on the various tempting opportunities, but if this reasoning then leads to "he could have won 30 slams", the discussion falls away right from the start .

People underestimate destiny too much and what individual events can determine about it.
What you perhaps capitalize more in the present you can pay with interest in the long term, or vice versa.
 
TripleATeam said:
And yet he lost. Sometimes upsets happen. Those don't count as slams you should've won. The player that wins a match is the one that deserves to win it. You don't base a competition on who people think will win before a single point is played.

Case in point, no one expected Cilic would win the 2014 USO, but he deserved to. Few expected Delpo's 2009 USO even as the match was happening. Those players won fair and square.

The ones you can make excuses for are the 2022 AO deportation, 2020 USO DQ (the DQ was a judgement call, it could've easily gone the other way with a different umpire or supervisor or line judge), and 2020 Wimbledon (it wasn't played). The other slams people missed out on are injuries and lord knows that Nadal would come out ahead on total slams missed due to injury.
Click to expand...

When you put it this way, then Federer has even less reasons to be concerned about "lost opporunities", he is the one to suffer the least from the same setbacks, that Novak has recently suffered, most of his big achievements are a thing of the distant past and many of the slams he didn't manage to win where his own losses to other players (Several of them NOT to Djokodal), so using that logic what exactly are the slams, that Federer should have won but didn't?...LOL
 
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