Rank the level of Novak Djokovic's SF/F opponents in slam wins since 2020

fedfan24

Hall of Fame
Let’s be honest. Rune couldn’t even beat rublev. Who then Djokovic destroyed. It’s his fault he couldn’t make it and likely wouldn’t have threatened Novak much in AO in that form. Sinner couldn’t beat tsitsipas who Djokovic beat in 3. Even having them back to back wouldn’t make much difference.

Thiem was destroyed by rublev so Lol! Korda got beat by KK and 1 run at Adelaide wouldn’t have worried Novak much.

The only threat may have been alcaraz if he was fit. I will give you alcaraz but the rest it wouldn’t matter if he had to face them or in a row.
its about match ups , all the threats lost earlier or faced each other. They may not win but can put up some more resistance against the injured warrior than clowns like rublev or paul
 
its about match ups , all the threats lost earlier or faced each other. They may not win but can put up some more resistance against the injured warrior than clowns like rublev or paul
Fair enough they may have taken a set or did a bit better. You have point but still feel Djokovic would win quite comfortably
 

The_Order

G.O.A.T.
So what are all the ones you disagree with champ? Feel free to chip in with your own slam-by-slam assessment! Instead of throwing hen pecks from the sidelines.



Nadal was clearly the better outdoor HC player on the year and beat Djoko a few weeks prior. Yes, it would have been a tough match to call in real time...but what about RG 21? No doubt you'd have pencilled it in as a loss to Nadal there for Djoko considering he was riding a five-match losing streak to Nadal on clay. Same goes for W 11...Rafa had a 20-match Wimby win streak going into the final, so that's another one that would be tough to call in real time. I'm sure you'd have given the hypo-match to Nadal if Djoko lost before the final lol. I'd say it evens out in that regard.



Nadal was at prime-peak form for that entire six year period (I'd include '07, but as Fed won three majors that year I could see why Rafans want to be stingy), so how exactly is that surprising? Djokovic was in Martinville from 2009-10 and not quite at his peak in 08 either. Of course if you take a GOAT contender at his peak you'd expect him to trample over the other contenders unless there's a perfect overlap in prime, which there wasn't.

Even so, Djokovic was a respectable 15-16 against him in that time.




No? Not that I'd advocate doing so, but take out 2010 and Djokovic has the narrow H2H advantage, they're tied in Masters, YE #1's, Djoko leads 3-0 in YEC's and Nadal has a one-slam edge. Again I see no reason why we'd exclude it, but try to be a bit more precise with your statements mmkay? 8-B





Again you can feel free to opine on which ones you disagree with:

AO -

2008 - Djokovic
2009 - Nadal
2010 - Djokovic
2011 - Djokovic
2012 - Djokovic
2013 - N/A


RG -

2008 - Nadal
2009 - Nadal
2010 - Nadal
2011 - Inconclusive
2012 - Nadal
2013 - Nadal


W -

2008 - Nadal
2009 - N/A
2010 - Nadal
2011 - Djokovic
2012 - Djokovic
2013 - Djokovic

USO -

2008 - Djokovic
2009 - Djokovic
2010 - Nadal
2011 - Djokovic
2012 - N/A
2013 - Nadal


Anyway, I rushed and miscounted the first time, it's 10-10-1. Not too bad given that it's Nadal's literal best six year period...and that's just in slams they both competed in.


:)

Nadal's best 6 years as an argument against him...

Ridiculous! The fact his best six years were during the strong era speaks volumes to the fact he was the most successful when you consider who his rivals were...

What's Djok's best 6 year period? 2015-2021 if we exclude 2017? Lol who were his rivals during that time?

Yes you take out 2010 they're equal with masters and YE#1... but you're wrong about h2h, Nadal still leads 4-3 ... regardless, Nadal still has this very significant edge... it's called more slams! Even it is only by 1, the fact we're taking out 3 that Nadal won during that time.. it's quite clear Rafa was the better player. So he's still ahead on the success counter mmmmmkay Mr Garrison?

I wonder what Nadal's success rate from 08-13 would have been if Twitter gen were his main rivals... lol it'd be an absolute blood bath...
 

Nadalgaenger

G.O.A.T.
2020 AO SF - Roger Federer
2020 AO F - Dominic Thiem
2021 AO SF - Aslan Karatsev
2021 AO F - Daniil Medvedev
2021 RG SF - Rafael Nadal
2021 RG F - Stefanos Tsitsipas
2021 W SF - Denis Shapovalov
2021 W F - Matteo Berrettini
2022 W SF - Cam Norrie
2022 W F - Nick Kyrgios
2023 AO SF - Tommy Paul
2023 AO F - Stefanos Tsitsipas


How would you rank the levels of these opponents from highest-to-lowest?


I think other than Thiem being the highest, it's pretty hazy.
Thiem at AO is a higher level than Nadal at RG????
 

Subway Tennis

G.O.A.T.
i wanna see djokovic earn his slams battling the best younger players. 23 ao draw completely sucked an fell apart. hoping rg and wimbledon will be better with nadal coming back into form :cool:

Agree. We want to see these players being challenged and having to produce their best tennis.
 

TheFifthSet

Legend
Nadal's best 6 years as an argument against him…

it’s not “against” him. It’s “against” the idea of taking any H2H at face value without inspecting the circumstances that led to it. If you have any issue with my slam-by-slam assessment of form, come up with your own instead of impotently chirping.


Ridiculous! The fact his best six years were during the strong era speaks volumes to the fact he was the most successful when you consider who his rivals were...
What's Djok's best 6 year period? 2015-2021 if we exclude 2017? Lol who were his rivals during that time?

In terms of form, clearly 2011-16.

Yes you take out 2010 they're equal with masters and YE#1...
Glad you admitted your error. Friendly reminder about Djoko’s 3 extra YEC’s. Regardless, I don’t care if you keep ‘10 in. Just don’t speak so loosely next time. :)
but you're wrong about h2h, Nadal still leads 4-3 ... regardless,

I was referring to their overall H2H.

Even it is only by 1, the fact we're taking out 3 that Nadal won during that time.. it's quite clear Rafa was the better player. So he's still ahead on the success counter mmmmmkay Mr Garrison?

I’ve said many times before that Nadal’s best run of form was from 08-13 (again, it’s actually 07-13, but papa’s being nice). Point is it makes sense that he’d be the most successful player from a period that directly overlaps with what’s basically the entirety of his peak. Or do you deny that Nadal spent more time in his prime from those years than Djokovic?

It’s equally odd that you treat that six year period as a monolith. 2010 was weak and Murray/Federer were almost completely absent from the equation in ‘13 in the period of the year that Nadal had success in. The strongest individual campaign was ‘11 from Djokovic, which was better than Nadal’s best year despite the competition being just as strong/stronger. You arbitrarily choose to start and finish from those years because they directly align with Nadal’s peak. The walls are closing in lol. Sad because I’m not even a Nadal fan yet I can acknowledge that he has a case as the better player (and I could make a better one than you, in my sleep) but this ain’t it lol.
 
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The_Order

G.O.A.T.
it’s not “against” him. It’s “against” the idea of taking any H2H at face value without inspecting the circumstances that led to it. If you have any issue with my slam-by-slam assessment of form, come up with your own instead of impotently chirping.




In terms of form, clearly 2011-16.


Glad you admitted your error. Friendly reminder about Djoko’s 3 extra YEC’s. Regardless, I don’t care if you keep ‘10 in. Just don’t speak so loosely next time. :)


I was referring to their overall H2H.



I’ve said many times before that Nadal’s best run of form was from 08-13 (again, it’s actually 07-13, but papa’s being nice). Point is it makes sense that he’d be the most successful player from a period that directly overlaps with what’s basically the entirety of his peak. Or do you deny that Nadal spent more time in his prime from those years than Djokovic?

It’s equally odd that you treat that six year period as a monolith. 2010 was weak and Murray/Federer were almost completely absent from the equation in ‘13 in the period of the year that Nadal had success in. The strongest individual campaign was ‘11 from Djokovic, which was better than Nadal’s best year despite the competition being just as strong/stronger. You arbitrarily choose to start and finish from those years because they directly align with Nadal’s peak. The walls are closing in lol. Sad because I’m not even a Nadal fan yet I can acknowledge that he has a case as the better player (and I could make a better one than you, in my sleep) but this ain’t it lol.

It's not an error to say Nadal was the most successful given he has the extra slam. Djok's 3 YEC then we should count Nadal's OSG - especially given he beat Djok on the way to that gold, so yeah he's not clipping Nadal anyway. Case closed.

2013 had Nadal and Djok both dominating the tour, both had over 20 top 10 wins, when is the last time that happened?

Not to mention a resurgent Del Potro and the almost "completely absent" Murray you speak of got to the AO final and won Wimbledon and LOL

It's not arbitrary... by 2008 Djok won his first major and Murray started to emerge. 07 was pretty decent, Nadal's RG07 run was pretty tough had to beat a bunch of former/future slam champs, then Nadal at Wimbledon was a great win for Fed but Djok in his first slam final was a nervous mess choking so many set points and the AO had Fed in great form but Gonzo was a pretty meh final opponent.

You can dream up all you want in your sleep, the fact remains 08-13 was the strong era and Nadal was the most successful with the most epic slam wins to boot against his fellow big 3 rivals:

AO09: def Federer #2
RG12: def Djok #1
WIM08: def Federer #1
US13: def Djok #1

Djok must be said has a good case too

AO12: def Nadal #2
RG: N/A
WIM11: def Nadal #1
US11: def Nadal #1

But then again, the fact remains Nadal almost won the double career slam during that time frame as well... came up short v Djok in AO12.

Had the guy not been hampered with injuries he'd have had a very good chance at WIM09, US12 and US14... even AO13 he'd have been an outside shot as well.

He missed 4 slams during that era and still won more than Fed or Djok even if you take his most successful year out...
 

Third Serve

Talk Tennis Guru
Nadal was the most successful in the 2008-2013 “strong era” (which is itself misleading because it excludes a strong year like 2007 and includes a clearly worse one like 2010) not necessarily because he was the best at stamping out strong competition (he could be but not for this reason) but because that period overlaps almost perfectly with his prime. We all accept that Nadal’s prime years were 2008-2013, excluding parts of 2009 and 2012 of course. He was at his best for nearly the whole period, then. Fed’s, however, stopped after 2009 and Djokovic’s only started in 2011, so they did not have their entire prime periods covered by the “strong era.”

For an actual one-to-one comparison between these players’ primes, you would probably need to put both 2004-2009 Fed and 2011-2016 Djokovic in that 2008-2013 era.
 
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TheFifthSet

Legend
It's not an error to say Nadal was the most successful given he has the extra slam. Djok's 3 YEC then we should count Nadal's OSG - especially given he beat Djok on the way to that gold, so yeah he's not clipping Nadal anyway. Case closed.

The errors were the specific things that I bothered to correct. I’ve now probably told you 5-6 times spanning several threads that Nadal was the most successful player from 2008-2013, so of course that’s not an error. Do try keeping up lol.

2013 had Nadal and Djok both dominating the tour

So basically a weaker version of ‘07 then?

Not to mention a resurgent Del Potro and the almost "completely absent" Murray you speak of got to the AO final and won Wimbledon and LOL
Here is the thing I actually said:

“Murray/Federer were almost completely absent from the equation in ‘13 in the period of the year that Nadal had success in”

Highlighted, bolded and italicized for your benefit. Now let’s see how you misread that one.

It's not arbitrary... by 2008 Djok won his first major and Murray started to emerge. 07 was pretty decent, Nadal's RG07 run was pretty tough had to beat a bunch of former/future slam champs, then Nadal at Wimbledon was a great win for Fed but Djok in his first slam final was a nervous mess choking so many set points and the AO had Fed in great form but Gonzo was a pretty meh final opponent.

It is though. Djokovic and Murray took a step up in ‘08, but Federer took a huge step down, and the indoor season as a whole sucked compared to the previous year. No qualms with anyone calling ‘08 stronger, but the difference is marginal at best. The winner levels were higher in at least 2 of the 4 majors and comparable in another one. Hence it’s arbitrary as all hell considering ‘07 was stronger than ‘10 and ‘13 (incidentally the two years Nadal had his best results in).


the fact remains 08-13 was the strong era and Nadal was the most successful with the most epic slam wins to boot against his fellow big 3 rivals:

AO09: def Federer #2
RG12: def Djok #1
WIM08: def Federer #1
US13: def Djok #1

Djok must be said has a good case too

AO12: def Nadal #2
RG: N/A
WIM11: def Nadal #1
US11: def Nadal #1

But then again, the fact remains Nadal almost won the double career slam during that time frame as well... came up short v Djok in AO12.

Had the guy not been hampered with injuries he'd have had a very good chance at WIM09, US12 and US14... even AO13 he'd have been an outside shot as well.

Yes he’s a great player whose peak occurred almost entirely within those years, which was a factor in him being the most successful. If you don’t think it was a factor then you might as well just take their overall careers as-is, because nothing ever influences anything else.

(Until The_Order decides it does lol.)

He missed 4 slams during that era and still won more than Fed or Djok even if you take his most successful year out...

Yes Nadal was the most accomplished player from 08-13. Djokovic will have to settle for being the most accomplished player of the 2000’s, and more accomplished than Nadal. You can keep your slice of the pie.
 
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SamprasisGOAT

Hall of Fame
2020 AO SF - Roger Federer
2020 AO F - Dominic Thiem
2021 AO SF - Aslan Karatsev
2021 AO F - Daniil Medvedev
2021 RG SF - Rafael Nadal
2021 RG F - Stefanos Tsitsipas
2021 W SF - Denis Shapovalov
2021 W F - Matteo Berrettini
2022 W SF - Cam Norrie
2022 W F - Nick Kyrgios
2023 AO SF - Tommy Paul
2023 AO F - Stefanos Tsitsipas


How would you rank the levels of these opponents from highest-to-lowest?


I think other than Thiem being the highest, it's pretty hazy.
Worst era in tennis history?
 
2020 AO SF - Roger Federer 11. (level was frankly no worse than 5-8 guys, but his injury meant an almost auto-loss regardless)
2020 AO F - Dominic Thiem 1.
2021 AO SF - Aslan Karatsev 12.
2021 AO F - Daniil Medvedev 6.
2021 RG SF - Rafael Nadal 3.
2021 RG F - Stefanos Tsitsipas 4.
2021 W SF - Denis Shapovalov 10.
2021 W F - Matteo Berrettini 9.
2022 W SF - Cam Norrie 16.
2022 W F - Nick Kyrgios 2.
2023 AO SF - Tommy Paul 14.
2023 AO F - Stefanos Tsitsipas 7.
2023 RG SF - Carlos Alcaraz 13. (would be 2nd to 4th without cramping)
2023 RG F - Casper Ruud 8.
2023 USO SF - Ben Shelton 15.
2023 USO F - Daniiel Medvedev 5.
How would you rank the levels of these opponents from highest-to-lowest?


I think other than Thiem being the highest, it's pretty hazy.
Something like this. Accouting for both level of play as well as level of threat to Djoko in particular.
 
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jl809

Legend
Now that time has passed I am baffled at some of my old scores. Redoing below

2020 AO SF - Roger Federer - 5
2020 AO F - Dominic Thiem - 7.5
2021 AO SF - Aslan Karatsev - 2
2021 AO F - Daniil Medvedev - 5.5
2021 RG SF - Rafael Nadal - 6.75
2021 RG F - Stefanos Tsitsipas - 6.5
2021 W SF - Denis Shapovalov - minus 10000000
2021 W F - Matteo Berrettini - 5.25
2022 W SF - Cam Norrie - 2
2022 W F - Nick Kyrgios - 7
2023 AO SF - Tommy Paul - 3.75
2023 AO F - Stefanos Tsitsipas - 5
now we have

2023 RG SF - Carlos Alcaraz - 3
2023 RG F - Casper Ruud - 4.5
2023 USO SF - Ben Shelton - 4.75
2023 USO F - Daniil Medvedev - 5.5

Nadal's since US Open '19:

2019 USO SF - Matteo Berrettini 4
2019 USO F - Daniil Medvedev 7.25
2020 RG SF - Diego Schwartzman 4
2020 RG F - Novak Djokovic 6
2022 AO SF - Matteo Berrettini 5
2022 AO F - Daniil Medvedev 6.5
2022 RG SF - Alexander Zverev 5.75
2022 RG F - Casper Ruud 4
 

RS

Bionic Poster
Now that time has passed I am baffled at some of my old scores. Redoing below


now we have

2023 RG SF - Carlos Alcaraz - 3
2023 RG F - Casper Ruud - 4.5
2023 USO SF - Ben Shelton - 4.75
2023 USO F - Daniil Medvedev - 5.5
If only Alcaraz didn't cramp he would have probably been fairly high
 

Phenomenal

Hall of Fame
All i know is that Med is below 5 in both finals. Specially AO 21F is a horrible match from him. Tsitsipas was better in 23 F.

Edit: Maybe not in USO F which he was mostly stubborn but he was terrible in AO 2021F.
 

The Sinner

Semi-Pro
2020 AO SF - Roger Federer
2020 AO F - Dominic Thiem
2021 AO SF - Aslan Karatsev
2021 AO F - Daniil Medvedev
2021 RG SF - Rafael Nadal
2021 RG F - Stefanos Tsitsipas
2021 W SF - Denis Shapovalov
2021 W F - Matteo Berrettini
2022 W SF - Cam Norrie
2022 W F - Nick Kyrgios
2023 AO SF - Tommy Paul
2023 AO F - Stefanos Tsitsipas


How would you rank the levels of these opponents from highest-to-lowest?


I think other than Thiem being the highest, it's pretty hazy.
If Nadal RG 08 is 10/10, then:

2020 AO SF - Federer = 5/10, F - Thiem = 6/10
2021 AO SF - Karatsev = 2.5/10, F - Medvedev = 4/10
2021 RG SF - Nadal = 7/10, F - Tsitsipas = 5.5/10
2021 Wb SF - Shapo = 5/10, F - Berrettini = 4/10
2022 Wb SF - Norrie = 2/10, F - Kyrgios = 5.5/10
2023 AO SF - Paul = 3/10, F - Tsitsipas = 5/10.
 
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fedfan24

Hall of Fame
2020 AO SF - Roger Federer
2020 AO F - Dominic Thiem
2021 AO SF - Aslan Karatsev
2021 AO F - Daniil Medvedev
2021 RG SF - Rafael Nadal
2021 RG F - Stefanos Tsitsipas
2021 W SF - Denis Shapovalov
2021 W F - Matteo Berrettini
2022 W SF - Cam Norrie
2022 W F - Nick Kyrgios
2023 AO SF - Tommy Paul
2023 AO F - Stefanos Tsitsipas


How would you rank the levels of these opponents from highest-to-lowest?


I think other than Thiem being the highest, it's pretty hazy.
needs updating to add

Cramparaz
Ruud
Shelton
Medvedev
 

fedfan24

Hall of Fame
2020 AO SF - Roger Federer - 4/10
2020 AO F - Dominic Thiem - 7.5/10
2021 AO SF - Aslan Karatsev - 3/10
2021 AO F - Daniil Medvedev - 4/10
2021 RG SF - Rafael Nadal - 6/10
2021 RG F - Stefanos Tsitsipas - 6.5/10
2021 W SF - Denis Shapovalov - 0
2021 W F - Matteo Berrettini - 5/10
2022 W SF - Cam Norrie - 2/10
2022 W F - Nick Kyrgios - 5.5/10
2023 AO SF - Tommy Paul - 0
2023 AO F - Stefanos Tsitsipas - 2/10

2023 RG - Carlos Alcaraz - 3/10
2023 RG - Casper Ruud - 2/10
2023 USO - Ben Shelton - 3/10
2023 USO - Medvedev - 4/10
 
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