What if Djokovic had surgery after IW/Miami 2017

[nolefam_2024]

In 2017, Djokovic level was still pretty high. He beat Andy Murray in Qatar before Australian open. It was very close 3 setter. Won Eastbourne grass 250. Reached finals of Rome by thrashing Thiem. And showed some brilliance in between like his match vs Del Potro in Acapulco.

At the same time he parted with Boris Becker and Andre Agassi joined his team and he kept begging Djokovic to have surgery. Eventually Djokovic had it after Australia in 2018. It took him 2/3 months to come back to same level.

What if Djokovic had done the surgery post IW 2017? How would 2017 looked like with Djokovic 2018 in the next 3 slams?

 

[helterskelter]

Novak reaching the levels of Hypothetical Uninjured Bull and Hypothetical Peak Feddy in some recent posts.

 

[nolefam_2024]

Novak reaching the levels of Hypothetical Uninjured Bull and Hypothetical Peak Feddy in some recent posts.

Novak is virtually number 1 each year except 2017 so it's valid.

 

[rigged]

No more USO for Nadal and no more AO and, possibly, record-breaking 8th Wimbledon for Federer.

 

[junior74]

Thanks, Andre!

 

[RS]

Peak Djokovic vs Peak Hewitt 20 match series at each slam?

 

[Sport]

No more USO for Nadal and no more AO and, possibly, record-breaking 8th Wimbledon for Federer.

What is the correlation between a surgery in 2017 and the USO in late 2019 and the AO in 2022? Djokovic was fully recovered by mid-2018.

 

[Pheasant]

The Butterfly effect isn't always a good one. Maybe, Djoker comes in rusty and loses 2017 Wimbledon to Fed and 2017 USO to Nadal, which then gives those two huge confidence against Djoker moving forward. We simply don't know what would have happened.

And I'm not saying this to slam Djoker. I've sometimes thought that Fed's blown out knee in 2016 was a blessing in disquise. Because of that, he came back in 2017 with 0 expectations and a revamped backhand, which allowed him to be quite clutch that year. He played quite freely, since he had nothing to lose in his own mind. There's no way in hell that he would have come back from 3-1 down in the 5th set vs Nadal at the AO without the freedom of having 0 expectations from the knee surgery a year earlier. Fed went from a slightly-above .500 guy in the 5th set to bagging 6 consecutive 5th set victories. Impossible. Once 2018 rolled around, he expected to win. And he caved with double-championship point vs Delpo on his own damn serve in the 2018 IW final. That to me was the beginning of the end of Federer, which was a massive bummer.

 

[helterskelter]

Novak is virtually number 1 each year except 2017 so it's valid.

A mere #1 is nowhere near on a par with Hypothetical Peak Feddy or with Hypothetical Uninjured Bull. What marks those two great ideas is not merely being primus inter pares, but being absolutely unbeatable. Indeed, Feddy has never lost if it weren't because he was at an age disadvantage, and Bull has never lost unless his injuries went from being severe to being life-threatening. So, unless you wish to tell us that, had Novak gotten surgery earlier in 2017, he wouldn't have lost a match thereafter, you are a long way shy of telling us that he is the equal of HPF or HUB.

 

[SpinWizard]

The Butterfly effect isn't always a good one. Maybe, Djoker comes in rusty and loses 2017 Wimbledon to Fed and 2017 USO to Nadal, which then gives those two huge confidence against Djoker moving forward. We simply don't know what would have happened.

And I'm not saying this to slam Djoker. I've sometimes thought that Fed's blown out knee in 2016 was a blessing in disquise. Because of that, he came back in 2017 with 0 expectations and a revamped backhand, which allowed him to be quite clutch that year. He played quite freely, since he had nothing to lose in his own mind. There's no way in hell that he would have come back from 3-1 down in the 5th set vs Nadal at the AO without the freedom of having 0 expectations from the knee surgery a year earlier. Fed went from a slightly-above .500 guy in the 5th set to bagging 6 consecutive 5th set victories. Impossible. Once 2018 rolled around, he expected to win. And he caved with double-championship point vs Delpo on his own damn serve in the 2018 IW final. That to me was the beginning of the end of Federer, which was a massive bummer.

Don't try to lecture them about it. Every time they fail to understand it somehow. Therefore we have been reading this kind of posts almost every month for the last 10 years...

 

[TMF]

What if Federer and Nadal never had injuries and surgeries?
What if the tour never became homogenous environment?
What if the NextGen were decent enough to compete rather than being so helpless?
What if peak Federer had a chance against OLD Nadal on clay?
What if peak Nadal had a chance against OLD Federer on grass?

 

[Jonesy]

I'd take what happened in reality, reaching that low probably motivated Novak more than ever to renew his beliefs and set more goals to the future.

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

 

[pirhaksar]

If if if doesn’t exist

 

[DSH]

No more USO for Nadal and no more AO and, possibly, record-breaking 8th Wimbledon for Federer.

Your idol is beatable at the US Open, unlike his performances at the Australian Open, where he is still the player to beat.
There is no need to create false equivalences.

 

[junior74]

If if if doesn’t exist

Without if if if, no Talk Tennis, no?

 

[nolefam_2024]

Nole doesn't need hypotheticals. This question may have hurt some sentiments.

 

[aldeayeah]

In 2017, Djokovic level was still pretty high. He beat Andy Murray in Qatar before Australian open. It was very close 3 setter. Won Eastbourne grass 250. Reached finals of Rome by thrashing Thiem. And showed some brilliance in between like his match vs Del Potro in Acapulco.

At the same time he parted with Boris Becker and Andre Agassi joined his team and he kept begging Djokovic to have surgery. Eventually Djokovic had it after Australia in 2018. It took him 2/3 months to come back to same level.

What if Djokovic had done the surgery post IW 2017? How would 2017 looked like with Djokovic 2018 in the next 3 slams?

USO 2017 and AO 2018 might have been less boring, but I don't think there would be big changes otherwise (I don't think he'd have time to be in winning shape in time for Wimby 2017)

 

[rigged]

What is the correlation between a surgery in 2017 and the USO in late 2019 and the AO in 2022? Djokovic was fully recovered by mid-2018.

I misspoke that. Wanted to say no more USO17 for Nadal and no more AO18 and, possibly, W17 for Fed.

 

[Phoenix*]

Fedal would be seen as even lesser players than they are today.