Tennis 2020
- Thread starter Mrs Smoker
- Start date
In theory, he could be one behind Rafa next time he’s on court.
Well currently Nadal and Djokovic are not happy with the plans for US open. Both are thinking of skipping it. Probably won’t happen as organisers will end up bowing to demands.
Also not sure about Rafa being a shoe in for French. The conditions this year will be a lot different, so best time for someone to beat him.
Well bit extraordinary
And hey
And hey
I can't see Djokovic losing any slams for a while. He could very well catch up with Rafa at which point we can see a 2021 with all three of them within a slam of one another.
It's ok, they are multitasking with some protesting on the side.
US open going ahead apparently.
Even Kyrgios is concerned about going.
Even Kyrgios is concerned about going.
Most people consider Federer the GOAT, myself included. But what would it take for Nadal or Djokovic to surpass him in your opinion?
In the case of Nadal, I feel that it's not enough to just catch up to Federer in number of slams. The reason is simple: too many wins on sand. Right now, 12 out of his 19 slams were on sand. He needs many more wins on hard-court or grass, imo.
Djokovic is not a "specialist" like Nadal, though. He's good on both grass and hard-court. If he gets more slams than Federer, then is he not also the GOAT?
In the case of Nadal, I feel that it's not enough to just catch up to Federer in number of slams. The reason is simple: too many wins on sand. Right now, 12 out of his 19 slams were on sand. He needs many more wins on hard-court or grass, imo.
Djokovic is not a "specialist" like Nadal, though. He's good on both grass and hard-court. If he gets more slams than Federer, then is he not also the GOAT?
For me its pretty simple - the player with the most slams will be the GOAT. If more than one finish with the same slam count, then head to head matchups will come into play, as well as other factors like overall tournament victories and various less talked about achievements.
If all three finish with the same amount of slams, Djokovic will come out looking slightly better since he has a better head to head against both. If its Nadal and Fed - then Rafa will look slightly better due to the head to heads, although as you say, the clay court issue may come into focus. If by chance it ends up with Novak and Rafa tied above Roger, then Novak would probably edge it.
As things stand, it looks like we may end up in a situation where no one agrees who the actual GOAT is because good arguments can easily be made for all three.
But let's say that a player wins 18 French Open,1 US Open, 1 Australian Open and 1 Wimbledon, bringing his total up to 21. Would that player really be regarded as the GOAT despite having 18 out of 21 wins on sand? It's an extreme example, but you get my point.
Era also matters a lot(though not in the Federer vs Nadal vs Djokovic debate). The current era must be considered the golden age(so far). 3 players looking like the'll reach 20 slams, all of whom have surpassed Sampras. It will probably take a while before something similar happens again. There may be someone who makes 25 slams in the future without facing a consistent worthy opponent along the way. That will surely not be nearly as impressive as what our current 3 greats have done.
That's obviously not what happened with Rafa though - he has won enough of the other tournaments to be considered the best of all time.
63% of his slam wins are on sand. It will be 65% if his next slam is French Open. That's pretty damn significant. Federer and Djokovic have more than twice as many slams on hard-court. That means that both of them are significantly better than Nadal on 2 out of 3 court types. Surely this must count for something?
I just came up with another tie-breaker in favor of Federer(should things be very even): his impressive comeback in 2017 and 2018. If the tables were turned: would Nadal and Djokovic in their mid 30's best a 30/31 year old Federer?
If it was 80 or 90% then that would be significant. If its in the 60s, then he would've won quite a few on other surfaces.
Why did Djokovic organise a tennis event which with stuadums full of supporters not maintaining any social diatancing norms?
5 on hard, 2 on grass. Obviously not insignificant, but over the course of 14 years(if we start the clock from his first slam) it's not GOAT level stuff, imo. At least not when his competitors have 11 on hard-court(I use hard-court as the tie breaker, as the grass vs sand thing cancels itself out with both Djokovic and Federer being very weak on sand and Nadal being weak on grass).
I'd be fine with 60-70% wins on hard-court, as that makes up for 2 out of 4 slams. But on sand or grass it's way too much, imo.
I think Fed's best quality is that he has continued playing world class Tennis into his late 30s, which is an age where most of his contemporaries are long retired.
Probably, Federer was his weakest in his early 30's.... plus he hardly "best" Djokovic, he's beat him once since 2015, in an ATP Finals Group game. He did however manage to find some form over Nadal - though massively helped by the fact he just avoided him mostly on clay. I'm almost certain if he decided to skip clay his whole career.... he probably wouldn't have lost to him all that much, and almost certainly not at Wimbledon, his head was well and truly wobbled by his obsession for the Grand Slam diminishing to him in 2008.
Essentially, when it comes to Slams, Nadal has more or less taken almost all his oppurtunities with the exception of Stan beating him that time. Federer and Djokovic have squandered a fair few slams. I don't think of Nadal and squandering in the same sentence.... he's forced the other two into losses they shouldn't have lost on their favoured surfaces, Djokovic should of done the same to him in the legit GOAT match between the two, but Nadal somehow won. Miraculous.
The US Open confirmed as going ahead. The tournament for Cincinnati will also be in New York too. I wonder how many players, if any will refuse to turn to go, given some of the recent comments.
Why are Djokovic's parents such uber cnuts? Couple of weeks back his mother I believe took a jab at Federer and this week it's the father's turn. Strange individuals the pair of them.
Dimitrov tests positive for Covid-19. Djokovic vs Rublev match cancelled.
This why Djokovic disliked by some. I don’t dislike the guy, but can see why some do.
Borna Coric has tested positive. Djokovic is not taking the test for some reason.
A lot of smaller players will not be happy with Djokovic. As this could potentially stop the tour for much longer. Djokovic should definitely resign from ATP council.
A lot of smaller players will not be happy with Djokovic. As this could potentially stop the tour for much longer. Djokovic should definitely resign from ATP council.
He's not taking the test? 
Yikes, he really is a moron.
I think he only has good intentions and is probably a likeable guy but he has come out with so many dumb statements/positions over the years, it's incredible.
Also, he's still in the ATP council? Thought he had stepped down from that after getting heat for not speaking out against some women beating tennis player who's a pal of him.
Yikes, he really is a moron.I think he only has good intentions and is probably a likeable guy but he has come out with so many dumb statements/positions over the years, it's incredible.
Also, he's still in the ATP council? Thought he had stepped down from that after getting heat for not speaking out against some women beating tennis player who's a pal of him.
Apart not taking the test, I'm not sure what's wrong here? Countries where the tour is taking place have no restrictions I would guess?
What you mean what’s wrong? Every other sport is taking pre cautions. Whilst Djokovic and co were busy dancing after matches. Even Kyrgios called it boneheaded. With no real restrictions in place for that tournament, all they are doing is giving tennis bad press and the start of tournaments who have proper restrictions in place might not even happen because of this.
Djokovic is the only one who failed to take the test even though his own fitness coach got it. His wife apparently was posting 5g conspiracy theories. Zverev, Thiem, Coric and the rest of the players queued up last night to take the test.
In fairness, this isn’t solely down to Djokovic, even if he and his people haven’t exactly helped matters. The Serbian health measures meant they could put on events like this, even if I would argue that they shouldn’t have done so, even if only in terms of optics (albeit it has turned out to be more serious than that).
Isn’t he an anti vaccer? Or have I made that up?
Maybe Novak thinks he won't test positive if he avoids taking the test.
You got people flying all over the world. What did they expect? If it was a Serbian only tournament then fair enough. But Dimitrov flew from Florida. UK are doing their own tournament but it’s only players based here.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/53131665
Just look at the pics in the bottom for that article. Just crazy.
Djokovic flied to Belgrade and took the test immediately (he is waiting for his results). It was a very dumb decision and people in this part of the region got too relaxed. Tbf, they were relaxed for a good month, even more, as the things were looking like coming back to normal.
Not taking into account that it is a massive event from people all around the world coming is really stupid though. And there was zero, absolutely zero rules and precautions from organizers.
Not taking into account that it is a massive event from people all around the world coming is really stupid though. And there was zero, absolutely zero rules and precautions from organizers.
Djokovic tests positive for Covid-19.
Just to point out that it was also hosted in Croatia and should have been hosted in two other countries from this part of Europe.
My point being is that it is not just Serbian officials; officials from the entire ex-Yu region are completely insane.
Oh, and Djokovic is absolutely at fault; with this entire event showing why a society where athletes are treated as Gods is problematic.
Djokovic is more respected than pretty much any other public person over here and is a big part of why my fellow countrymen have been acting the way they have in regards to this virus.
Dearie me. At least they have a ready made vaccine available*
*Magic water
Fair point. That passed me by entirely.
I think the tournament itself was a good idea and seemed to be pretty well received, even if I didn't watch it myself.
That being said, the tournament had little to no measures in place for social distancing or ensuring everyone is safe. Viewing everything that went on, you'd have though COVID-19 was non-existent. My initial view was that they should have had some restrictions in place, if only for optics and to minimise criticism.
Cnut. His behavior has been despicable. Lost a lot of respect for him after this shit.
It was a good idea if they didn’t fly over from the other side of the world.
Zverev apparently is walking without a mask in Monaco. Whilst Thiem is playing in France rather than self isolating. Also Thiems comment about lower ranked players soured me on him.
This virus is really showing some of the cnutish nature from some players. Even Kyrgios is taking it seriously.