Djokovic about to pass Nadal on the GOAT rankings

[Front242]

What makes Nadal so amazing and his fans so proud
1. He defended his own turf, defeated numerous attacks from Nole and Fed in FO.
2. He conquered Fed's turf in WIMBLEDON08, AO09, Nole's turf in USO13.

Splash of brilliance goes to Nadal and consistency goes to Nole. Fed has both.

Even IF Nole can break Fed records in slams and #1 weeks, his first 10 slam didn't have convincing dominance through the whole tournament, so different from Fedal.

Of course the bad comes with the good and Nadal has never even once defended a title off clay. That's a major mark against ever being considered for GOAT.

 

[Mile]

When I saw colored table on other topic its obvious Nadal had red in so thin space - RG. While Djokers blue is pretty everywhere much. Except RG. So here it comes that density - Djoker spreaded blue tells he is more perfect player than Nadal.

But yes, RG is a must for him to dismiss any doubts about being better than Nadal. I would say with 11 slams, 11th to be RG, he would exceed Nadal.

 

[nehmeth]

When I saw colored table on other topic its obvious Nadal had red in so thin space - RG. While Djokers blue is pretty everywhere much. Except RG. So here it comes that density - Djoker spreaded blue tells he is more perfect player than Nadal.

But yes, RG is a must for him to dismiss any doubts about being better than Nadal. I would say with 11 slams, 11th to be RG, he would exceed Nadal.

You know I'm a fan Mile, but (imo), Novak still needs to tie Nadal in slam count and win the French before the conversation begins.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Great Statistics, However At this point only one thing matters, #17 &18... That's is the primary unit of measures, the Grand Slam totals..

By the way, you left out Career GS, Rafa is only on AO title from making that accomplishment twice :clap

Making the loss to Stan in 14' final all the more frustrating.

Very True, the loss to Stan was very similar to Federer's loss JMDP at US 09.,Very tough to recover from a match that you were expected to win , IMO

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

But he recovered very well by defending Wimbledon and finally winning the US Open again. I am sure Novak will either get the French or Olympic Gold next year, but I am not sure he will get both.

 

[Carol]

But he recovered very well by defending Wimbledon and finally winning the US Open again. I am sure Novak will either get the French or Olympic Gold next year, but I am not sure he will get both.

Recovery very well? I'd like to know his loss in the USO 09 when Federer has won that title again or another GS......besides he never had any injury like Nadal playing the AO 14 and later the appendicitis surgery the same year which YES!! it affected him a lot to recovery as we have seen. Nothing to compare

 

[Kirijax]

But he recovered very well by defending Wimbledon and finally winning the US Open again. I am sure Novak will either get the French or Olympic Gold next year, but I am not sure he will get both.

Recovery very well? I'd like to know his loss in the USO 09 when Federer has won that title again or another GS......besides he never had any injury like Nadal playing the AO 14 and later the appendicitis surgery the same year which YES!! it affected him a lot to recovery as we have seen. Nothing to compare

Except that Federer and Djokovic have stronger bodies with far, far less injuries. That does count when you consider a player's career.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

Yeah but you can't hold another player's injury against another player. Novak's game is just as physical as Nadal's at times. I just think players like Federer and Novak have probably been more efficient at how they use their bodies, so their injuries are minor or fewer than say Nadal.

 

[herios]

Yeah but you can't hold another player's injury against another player. Novak's game is just as physical as Nadal's at times. I just think players like Federer and Novak have probably been more efficient at how they use their bodies, so their injuries are minor or fewer than say Nadal.

There is no question that how they manage their bodies makes a big difference. Novak with his flexibility and how he takes care of it, with the stretching sets him apart, that is why he does not get injured, despite his style. And while the stretching is available for anyone, the flexibility is something you get in your genes.
Novak is at a mature player who now knows hot to manage everything off-court and plus his balance in his life, the happiness in his family life, all helps to be able to focus down on his goals on court.
Since his son was born, he got new motivation and he raised the bar higher.
He will have lapses here and there, as there is no such thing you can win it all, but as long as there are no changes in his health, no injuries or no other outside things to affect him mentally, he will continue his rampage for a few more years until mother nature will slow him down.
I will be watching him next year especially, because he will come to the age when both Roger and Rafa started to be less successful than before.
I hope Novak will follow a different curve of descent, more delayed and less steep.

 

[Carol]

Yeah but you can't hold another player's injury against another player. Novak's game is just as physical as Nadal's at times. I just think players like Federer and Novak have probably been more efficient at how they use their bodies, so their injuries are minor or fewer than say Nadal.

Wrong, if you watch the way that Novak plays it's a miracle that he is not getting more injuries and Federer makes so much effort like anyone but the structure of his body has helped him a lot
Maybe you don't know that Rafa has a congenital problem in one of his foot which was broken when he was 16 years old and since then he has to wear a special insole in his tennis shoes and because that foot later he had problems in his knee. And appendicitis? anyone can get it and also the risk to get injuries but many times depending the good or bad luck too

 

[Great Hands]

The thing is, Novak seems to have similar build as Roger, in the sense that they are both slender but muscular - i.e. wiry. This is perfect for tennis, you are athletic but light so you don't strain so much. Both have been the least injury-prone of the top guys. So Novak may have a similar physical trajectory to Roger as he gets older.

Bearing this in mind, when Federer was in late 20s into 30s, he was still better than everyone except prime Novak and Rafa, two all-time greats in the next generation. But there are no all-time greats in the generation after Novak, so I think he will continue to dominate the tour at an older age than Federer did. I mean, who can stop him? In isolated moments, yes, but year in, year out, he not only has no challenger now, but no challenger for the forseeable future.

The only vague possibilty I can see is that another second-tier player in his mid-late 20s now 'does a Wawrinka' and suddenly improves enough to be a first-tier player. But who? It doesn't seem likely.

 

[Carol]

Come on, I see the hope of every Federer's fan about Nadal is not going to recovery his best anymore (anyone can do it but not him) and later they could say that when Novak or another player have beaten Federer or have been able to reach his numbers was because he was "old". That story is too old too :snicker
Nadal has beaten Federer when this one was on his prime and everybody knows that's why most of the Federer's fans are crazy/mad about it and became soooooo antis and that's also why I'm tired of their "wishes" so I hope Rafa can recovery his best been able to reach those "17" and one more even better

 

[nehmeth]

Yeah but you can't hold another player's injury against another player. Novak's game is just as physical as Nadal's at times. I just think players like Federer and Novak have probably been more efficient at how they use their bodies, so their injuries are minor or fewer than say Nadal.

Wrong, if you watch the way that Novak plays it's a miracle that he is not getting more injuries and Federer makes so much effort like anyone but the structure of his body has helped him a lot
Maybe you don't know that Rafa has a congenital problem in one of his foot which was broken when he was 16 years old and since then he has to wear a special insole in his tennis shoes and because that foot later he had problems in his knee. And appendicitis? anyone can get it and also the risk to get injuries but many times depending the good or bad luck too

Ancic, Soderling, DelPotro all had promising careers cut short due to illness or injury. That Rafa could do as well as he did in between his timeouts is exemplary.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

My point was that you can't blame Roger or Novak for how Nadal plays the game. He certainly had it in him to adjust to make the game less physical and taxing on his body. Roger and Novak have made adjustments in their game as needed for matters of preservation.

 

[Carol]

My point was that you can't blame Roger or Novak for how Nadal plays the game. He certainly had it in him to adjust to make the game less physical and taxing on his body. Roger and Novak have made adjustments in their game as needed for matters of preservation.

And my point is that nobody is blaming Roger or Novak for how Nadal plays the game like nobody should to blame Nadal for how many times has beaten Roger :nono. And by the way according to what Novak said he has had problems in his back, shoulder, knee, wrist, ankle and a cronic arm injury.....what else? :huh: nobody blames him how he plays the game but just saying he is lucky (and it nothing to do with adjustments) that he is not getting more serious injuries

 

[Busted]

Damn. Why not just throw Nadal under the bus? I'm no Nadal fan, but even I think that without the French Open title Nole can't seriously be part of the GOAT conversation. I'm not even sure I'd put him in the Top 5 let alone the Top 2-3.

 

[Busted]

Come on, I see the hope of every Federer's fan about Nadal is not going to recovery his best anymore (anyone can do it but not him) and later they could say that when Novak or another player have beaten Federer or have been able to reach his numbers was because he was "old". That story is too old too :snicker
Nadal has beaten Federer when this one was on his prime and everybody knows that's why most of the Federer's fans are crazy/mad about it and became soooooo antis and that's also why I'm tired of their "wishes" so I hope Rafa can recovery his best been able to reach those "17" and one more even better

Take a chill pill. :snicker Roger himself has said he thinks Nadal will be back to his best or close to it. Personally - I don't see it happening simply because he'll be 30 next year and he's got more physical ailments than most people's grandmother. All those years of grinding away on dirt have worn him down mentally as well as physically. If he can shorten the points and come to net more he may be able to win a few more non-clay tournaments. He's top 4 at worst...cuz, ya know...I like Stan but Stan's like a place marker because mentally he ain't in it week in and week out. He's very French...even if he is from Switzerland.

 

[Carol]

Come on, I see the hope of every Federer's fan about Nadal is not going to recovery his best anymore (anyone can do it but not him) and later they could say that when Novak or another player have beaten Federer or have been able to reach his numbers was because he was "old". That story is too old too :snicker
Nadal has beaten Federer when this one was on his prime and everybody knows that's why most of the Federer's fans are crazy/mad about it and became soooooo antis and that's also why I'm tired of their "wishes" so I hope Rafa can recovery his best been able to reach those "17" and one more even better

Take a chill pill. :snicker Roger himself has said he thinks Nadal will be back to his best or close to it. Personally - I don't see it happening simply because he'll be 30 next year and he's got more physical ailments than most people's grandmother. All those years of grinding away on dirt have worn him down mentally as well as physically. If he can shorten the points and come to net more he may be able to win a few more non-clay tournaments. He's top 4 at worst...cuz, ya know...I like Stan but Stan's like a place
marker because mentally he ain't in it week in and week out. He's very French...even if he is from Switzerland.

Who has to take a chill pill? :lolz:

 

[herios]

. He's top 4 at worst...cuz, ya know...I like Stan but Stan's like a place marker because mentally he ain't in it week in and week out. He's very French...even if he is from Switzerland.

At the end of the day. rankings major contributors are than majors. And in the last 2 years, Wawrinka won more slams than Roger and Rafa together, that is why he is now a top 4 player.
I know Rafa will try to get back into the winning circle as far as slams is concerned, but will alone will not do it. It will depend on his body also if it will be up to it.
If he will push himself too hard, injuries could creep in again. It is a fine balance.

 

[Carol]

Everyone has to work hard to be competitive, no doubts about it.
But besides to work hard they try different tactics too. I saw Rafa going to net more than usually and also more aggressive, his weak shot? still the serve :s