Who is the "greatest" among Raonic, Nishikori and Dimitrov?

[clout]

Ah the lost gen. Raonic, Nishikori and Dimitrov were all hyped as the heir's to Fedalovic, but they've all underachieved quite a bit over their careers. But who's the best out of the three and how would you rank them in terms of "greatness?"

Raonic and Nishikori both made a slam final, which is something Grigor never achieved, but Dimitrov has won a Masters Title and the WTF. Grigor and Raonic both made it to #3 in the world, while Nishikori's highest ranking is #4 in the world

 

[Lew II]

1.Nishikori, 2.Raonic, 3. Dimitrov

Based on performance against top players.

 

[BGod]

Raonic, Nishikori, Dimitrov.

I vote on consistency. Dimi has been for crap. 2014, 2017.

 

[Forehand_Slice]

Peak for peak , they are near equals. On average level, I'd rate Raonic and Nishikori higher than Grigor.
Though Dimitrov is the most well rounded of them in terms of gamestyle. Also the one with the biggest titles, and gets injured far less.

 

[CYGS]

Raonic because he's not a Baby Djokodaler and thus doesn't disappoint that much.

 

[cynical123]

Nishikori > Raonic > Dimitrov. Dimi’s fall from grace in 2018 is pretty tragica while Nishikori and Raonic are more consistent

 

[accidental]

None of them are ‘great’ at all

If they all retired today nobody would talk about them at all in 10 years time

People hardly talk about Davydenko, David Ferrer is still playing and barely is ever talked about. Ljubicic is virtually forgotten as if he wasn’t no.3 in the world

 

[Red Rick]

Nishikori>Raonic is out of question.

Dimitrov lacks the Slam final, but he has won the WTF, and a 1000, but is just less consistent.

I'd consider Dimi's peak level clearly higher than Nishikori's or Raonic's

 

[Djokodalerer31]

Nishikori strikes me as the most consistent of the three, staying in top-10 longer than both, while at the same time never winning anything substantial! I think consistency should be the main key comparing these before anything else (cuz lets face it, whether Dimitrov won that WTF or not it doesn't really help to improve his overall inconsistency! The dude reached top-10 like for one incomplete season and themn again pulled out? I mean thats not impressive at all...Raonic was more consistent, but unlike Dimitrov never won WTF nor masters tournament, so in my book he is the weakest link!

 

[Pheasant]

Dimitrov is dead-last by a long shot. I have a Raonic and Nishi quite close. Raonic has the recently bias since he has been more dangerous lately. But Nishi at his very peak was better. I still cannot believe that Nishi beat Raonic, Stan, and Djoker in 2014 USO.

 

[tennisaddict]

LOL.

Choose the cleanest amongst the dirty pigs ??

 

[daddy]

Basically it's not important since none of the above mentioned players are important in the big picture. If I had to choose it would be tough.

My question would be where is Marin Cilic compared to these guys ? Above or at the same level ( just lucky enough to have snatched the lone major over exhausted Nishi ).

 

[ChaelAZ]

Nish - Dim - Rao

I love, and am also frustrated with Nishikori. Follwed him since he was a junior and thought he would be one of te next GS champions, if not multiple GSs. He quickly became the often broken Ferrer 5th man of the top 10, having attacking weapons but being fragile.

Dimitrov is the poor man's Federer with more athletic ability but not enough of the court IQ and sense. He's like a focused Monfils.

Raonic is big man tennis without the ground game of an Anderson. He is very glitchy and has too many peaks and valleys, where the peaks aren't high enough, but the valleys are pretty low.

 

[BeatlesFan]

If they all retired today nobody would talk about them at all in 10 years time.

With attention spans being nanoseconds now, they will be forgotten 10 minutes after they retire. Ten years is far too generous.

 

[Sport]

Nishikori and it's not even close.

 

[Notirouswithag]

Dimi is rock bottom, its a tie between kei and milos.

Raonic has been pretty in form lately but kei had a good start to 2019 by winnning Hawaii and brisbane, albeit small.

On big slams i think i give the higher edge to raonic for consistency and deeper run

 

[Flash O'Groove]

I would say Nishikori but really I think none of them are especially great. Can someone tell me some exceptionnal matches they were part of? I remember Dimitrov-Nadal AO 2017, worth more than any of his winning WTF run, Nishikori-Djokovic USO 2014, Nishikori-Nadal at one of the clay master, before getting injured. Raonic's game is so unappealing that even his Wimbledon SF against Federer is already forgotten.

If you compare them with players who are in the same zone achievement wise and hovered in the top-10 like Davydenko, Nalbandian, Tsonga, Berdych, these guys are a all inferiors.

 

[lud]

Nishikori
Dimitrov
Raonic

 

[TearTheRoofOff]

This is like trying to pick my order of preference for the last three turds I laid in the khazi.

 

[George Turner]

Nishikori>Raonic is out of question.

Dimitrov lacks the Slam final, but he has won the WTF, and a 1000, but is just less consistent.

I'd consider Dimi's peak level clearly higher than Nishikori's or Raonic's

Dimis results have the highest peak (masters and WTF's) but that's not the same as having highest peak performance. He didn't beat any great players to win either of those titles. His peak performance was a match he lost against Nadal.

Raonic and Nishikoris results are remarkably similar, as is their track record of injuries. Nishikori has the highest peak level, 2014 us open and his moral win against Nadal in the madrid final that year. Raonic has not produced tennis of that standard at any time in his career. Between those two i'd give the tiniest edge to Nishikori, though i think Nishikori has seen his best days on a tennis court.

I'm going to be controversal and argue Dimitrov had the least potential of these three. Unlike the other two he hasn't suffered serious injuries until recently, yet he was still never good enough. Despite having the most "well rounded game" he also has the least firepower and if you take out 2017, his career would clearly lag behind the other two. He also has an even worse record against the big three than Raonic or Nishikori.

Peak performance level; Nishikori>Raonic>Dimitrov
Peak results; Dimitrov>Nishikori>Raonic
Consistency; Raonic>Nishikori>Dimitrov
Most Potential; Nishikori>Raonic>Dimitrov
Mental strength; Raonic>Nishikori>Dimitrov

 

[BHud]

I don't see anyone talking about "NishRaDimi"

 

[George Turner]

I don't see anyone talking about "NishRaDimi"

Rashirov

 

[ibbi]

None of these players are great. Using the word 'greatest' to refer to any of them actually makes me effing laugh. Nishikori is probably the most dangerous at his best, but the way he repeatedly bails out of tournaments physically treads the line between hilarious and pathetic.

Dimitrov clearly has something wrong with him in his head, when he's playing well he's magic to watch, his 2014 grass season, and the matches he's played with Nadal in Australia are bad ass, but the way he is repeatedly unable to keep himself from mentally melting down as Nishikori does physically is just embarrassing. The moment I saw that meltdown he had against Schwartzman in istanbul I knew this guy was a natural born loser.

So...

I generally try and avoid watching him play tennis because it's so boring, and up until this Australian Open I'd have classified Raonic as a clown who if you get his serve back into play has absolutely no clue what to do next other than hammer a forehand at you, but he played a really smart tactical match against Zverev. i know it was just one match and against a man historically incapable of playing best of 5 set tennis, but it was still something to admire.

Not sure it's enough to call him the best of the three, but he's the one I'm most interested in watching right now because he's the only one who looks like he might have any more upside to his career.

 

[Mainad]

This is one of those peculiar ones to consider. Nishikori and Raonic both made a Slam final each and beat a Big 3 player to get there. Dimitrov has only 2 Slam semis to his name but has won far more important titles than the other 2: a WTF in which he beat a Big 3 player (2017) and a Masters 1000 (2017 Cincinnati). Nishikori and Raonic have never won anything higher than 500 level events.

Do 2 Slam semis equal a final? I will give the edge to Dimitrov on this basis and, more importantly, because of the greater importance of his titles. Therefore I will go: Dimitrov, Nishikori and Raonic (Nishikori winning many more 500 level events than Raonic although Raonic has another Slam semi in his resumé). But I fully respect the opinions of others who think otherwise.

 

[DSH]

 

[Terenigma]

Nishikori has decent titles and decent H2H record against the big names but he mentally collapses so often that i just can't put him higher than Raonic, also i feel like Nishikori hasn't improved at all over the years, he's the same player he was when he first came on the scene. Raonic on the other hand has had some decent slam runs, some big wins and his improvement in his game is obvious and impressive. Sadly he lacks the titles to back it all up.

As for Dimitrov... is an odd one in that he's won a couple of big titles but he lacks any sort of consistency and personally, i view him as the worst player of the three. None of them are bad players but all 3 of them should of achieved more, sadly they entered an era that hadn't quite got rid of the Big 4 yet. Either way, i rank them:
Raonic > Nishikori > Dimitrov.

 

[timnz]

Dimitrov has the biggest title in his resume - the WTF.

 

[Im(moral) Winner]

This is one of those peculiar ones to consider. Nishikori and Raonic both made a Slam final each and beat a Big 3 player to get there. Dimitrov has only 2 Slam semis to his name but has won far more important titles than the other 2: a WTF in which he beat a Big 3 player (2017) and a Masters 1000 (2017 Cincinnati). Nishikori and Raonic have never won anything higher than 500 level events.

Do 2 Slam semis equal a final? I will give the edge to Dimitrov on this basis and, more importantly, because of the greater importance of his titles. Therefore I will go: Dimitrov, Nishikori and Raonic (Nishikori winning many more 500 level events than Raonic although Raonic has another Slam semi in his resumé). But I fully respect the opinions of others who think otherwise.

Dimitrov didn't beat a big 3 player at the ATP Finals. That was Goffin. Dimug beat Goffin twice, PCB, Thiem and Sock.

 

[Deleted member 688153]

Has to be Dimitrov surely

 

[Jezza94]

1). Nishikori
2). Raonic
3). Dimitrov

Kei Nishikori

• 382-177 (68.64%)
• 12 Titles
• 26 Finals (12-14)
• 39-66 (37.14%) against top 10 players
• 1 Slam Final
• 4 Masters 1000 Finals
• 6 (500 Series) Titles
• 6 (250 Series) Titles
• W-L record against Raonic = 5-2
• W-L record against Dimitrov = 5-1
• Highest ranking = #4

Milos Raonic

• 327-150 (68.55%)
• 8 Titles
• 22 Finals (8-14)
• 28-59 (32.18%) against top 10 players
• 1 Slam Final
• 3 Masters 1000 Finals
• 1 (500 Series) Title
• 7 (250 Series) Titles
• W-L record against Nishikori = 2-5
• W-L record against Dimitrov = 2-3
• Highest ranking = #3

Grigor Dimitrov

• 286-181 (61.24%)
• 8 Titles
• 15 Finals (8-7)
• 23-57 (28.75%) against top 10 players
• No Slam Finals
• 1 WTF Title
• 1 Masters 1000 Title (1 final)
• 1 (500 Series) Title
• 5 (250 Series) Titles
• W-L record against Nishikori = 1-5
• W-L record against Raonic = 3-2
• Highest ranking = #3

 

[Jezza94]

My question would be where is Marin Cilic compared to these guys ? Above or at the same level ( just lucky enough to have snatched the lone major over exhausted Nishi ).

Above all three for mine.

 

[junior74]

Glassikori > > > Horace Horsecollar > fair Grigorgeous

 

[papertank]

Nishikori>Raonic>Dimitrov. Dimitrov only achieved more because he peaked during a much weaker field.

His draw in Cincy was laughably bad and he probably had the easiest WTF route in history. He beat two clay courters, someone who only got in because of a fluke M1000 win, and David Goffin twice.

Also even in his best year of 2017, he only played like 4 good tournaments. The vast majority of his points came from the AO, Cincy, and WTF.

 

[Steve0904]

No disrespect to the thread itself, but honestly, who the hell cares?

 

[Steve0904]

To actually attempt to answer this question, maybe it's recency bias but Dimi is irrelevant to me now regardless of winning a WTF and a Masters title. Both of those titles were mostly luck of the draw type scenarios, especially the WTF. It could've been anyone that benefited from that hilariously good fortune, it just happened to be Dimitrov.

Nishi is probably the best of the 3 when he's on, but nobody cares if he's fragile and pulls the rip cord every 2nd tournament or so, and especially if he can't handle the GS. Raonic's track record with injuries isn't much better, but at least he withdraws before tournaments. There's something about knowing that Nishikori is going to retire from a match (especially BO5) eventually that just makes me not like him at all. I've stopped being frustrated with him, I just don't care anymore. I'd rather watch Raonic try to be consistent and sometimes fail than watch Nishikori and wonder when he's going to break a fingernail and retire.

Objectively on results and regardless of other factors like draws the answer is probably 1. Dimi, 2. Nishi, 3. Raonic, but I don't care about objectivity anymore in regards to this question.

Raonic > Nishi > Dimi

 

[Mainad]

Dimitrov didn't beat a big 3 player at the ATP Finals. That was Goffin. Dimug beat Goffin twice, PCB, Thiem and Sock.

Oops, thanks for the correction. I got the 2017 and 2018 losing opponents the wrong way round!

 

[daddy]

Above all three for mine.

I know I may be asking a lot but could you do a stats analysis like above just for Marin? I'd be very grateful if you can however if you can't I'd understand - I have a crazy schedule or I'd do it myself.

 

[Jezza94]

I know I may be asking a lot but could you do a stats analysis like above just for Marin? I'd be very grateful if you can however if you can't I'd understand - I have a crazy schedule or I'd do it myself.

Happy to do it.

Marin Cilic

• 482-253 (65.58%)
• 18 Titles
• 32 Finals (18-14)
• 32-78 (29.09%) against top 10 players
• 1 Slam Title (3 Slam Finals)
• 1 Masters 1000 Title (1 Final)
• 2 (500 Series) Titles
• 14 (250 Series) Titles
• W-L record against Nishikori = 6-9
• W-L record against Raonic = 2-1
• W-L record against Dimitrov = 4-1
• Highest ranking = #3

 

[SecondServeAce]

Its like comparing smelly turds on what the least smelly one is

 

[daddy]

Happy to do it.

Marin Cilic

• 482-253 (65.58%)
• 18 Titles
• 32 Finals (18-14)
• 32-78 (29.09%) against top 10 players
• 1 Slam Title (3 Slam Finals)
• 1 Masters 1000 Title (1 Final)
• 2 (500 Series) Titles
• 14 (250 Series) Titles
• W-L record against Nishikori = 6-9
• W-L record against Raonic = 2-1
• W-L record against Dimitrov = 4-1
• Highest ranking = #3

Thank you ! Great job.

Anyways I am still not 100% sold on Marin being miles better than Kei. He just made the most of his opportunities ( 2 big finals, 2 wins ) while all the other stats suggest that he struggles agains Kei, struggles against top 10 and most of his trophies are 250 events. Kei has better H2H, far better percentage vs top 10, 5 big finals though no wins and 6 ATP500 trophies. Had he won just one of the 5 it would have been a no brainer. Had he won in that infamous USO final in 2014 Marin would not be in this conversation.

 

[Soul_Evisceration]

Based on achievements thus far: Dimitrov, Nishihori, Raonic is my order.

Of course Dimitrov got extremely lucky to win Cincinnati and WTF while Nishikori should of won Madrid if he had not choked vs Nadal and Raonic the fact that he only has 1 500 title and hasn't won a title in 3 years is laughable.

But overall level of playing: probably Raonic has the best chance to win something big if his game clicks, then followed with Nishikori and Dimitrov being last.