#rafa had two RGs

[little-miss-lover]

I think of this constantly and I'm not even old enough to remember this

[nancywheeeler]

anytime i see a post calling art donaldson a mediocre tennis player, i cry in "but he has two french open titles in the era of rafael nadal"

[fritzes]

time for the olympics! this draw is already very cursed but here are my thoughts:

wta:

in the first quarter, we obviously have the heavy favorite to win this in iga. her projected quarterfinal opponent is danielle, but I don't think she can challenge iga on clay. that being said, two of iga's usual nemeses are in her quarter: noskova and, of course, ostapenko. however, this is basically just roland garros part 2 and it takes the match of someone's life and then some to beat iga, and even then that might not be enough. to beat her here would be an insane achievement and I'd be forever impressed with any player if they did it

the second quarter doesn't have a top four seed because of elena's late withdrawl, so this is really open. the highest seed is qinwen who is coming off of a clay title. caroline garcia has home court advantage. naomi did play the aforementioned match of her life against iga at roland garros and came so close to winning it, so if she can carry that here she can absolutely make a deep run. leylah, emma navarro, and karolina muchova are also in this quarter and could definitely be dark horses to make a deep run. this is definitely the least predictable quarter and could potentially have some really good matches

the third quarter is really stacked. jasmine is the top seed, and she absolutely proved herself at roland garros and could really be a force here. the projected quarterfinalist is jess, who has had a really up and down season and has kind of lost all her consistency. she could absolutely make a deep run, but she could also very easily lose to elina in the second round. krejcikova, fresh off of her wimbledon win, is also in this quarter and we could see a rematch of the wimbledon final. the change to clay could honestly favor both of them, and that's a rematch that would be interesting to see. there is also a potential rg semifinal rematch between jasmine and mirra in the second round

and finally, coco has what seems to me a very clear path to the semis. her first round opponent is ajla, and clay is her worst surface by a lot. maria sakkari is the projected quarterfinalist, but I've really lost all faith in maria at big tournaments, everything kind of fell apart after miami. I think a likely quarterfinalist is kostyuk, who has given coco a lot of trouble in the past. that being said, I think coco is really locked in for this. also, kostyuk is very erratic and could potentially lose early to putintseva or siniakova. it's coco's quarter to lose.

interesting r1 matches: ostapenko/osorio, garcia/cristian, osaka/kerber, muchova/fernandez, putintseva/kostyuk, andreescu/tauson

atp:

well. this top quarter sure is something! we don't even know if rafa is actually playing singles, but if he does, we could have a rafa/novak match in the second round. which is insane. I don't think rafa has any chance of winning, but still. this draw shouldn't be too hard for novak. the seeds in his quarter just aren't people who can really challenge him, and I highly doubt the projected quarterfinalist of tsitsipas could beat him right now

the second quarter, aka taylor's wimbledon draw in reverse. there's the potential for a rematch with musetti in the fourth round, which could be interesting. musetti has been a problem for him all year, and the wimbledon qf will definitely be lingering in taylor's head. whoever wins that (if it happens) unfortunately probably has to play zverev, although I could see him potentially losing to jarry. I'm not really certain in any prediction about this quarter (mostly because I'm way to biased towards taylor) so we'll see how it goes

this third quarter is the one I'm the most excited for, because the idea of a casper/daniil clay olympics quarterfinal is just so fun. based on the rest of the players in this draw, they should both be able to get there unless felix randomly decides to peak. if that match did happen, casper would of course be the favorite but you never know when clayvedev will emerge (we all remember rome...)

much like the wta draw, this last quarter seems straightforward for the second seed. carlos is in incredible form right now, and it's hard to see anyone in this quarter challenging him. his quarterfinal opponent could be adm or tommy paul; adm has never beaten him and he just beat tommy paul at wimbledon. like I said with the wta fourth quarter, this is his quarter to lose

interesting r1 matches: arnaldi/fils, machac/zhang, musetti/monfils, bublik/fritz, auger-aliassime/giron, de minaur/struff

[batsplat]

just read ur take on the big three rivalries/relationships and i wanted to know how much u know about djokovics and nadals history with the whole being friendly/sharing an manager/practising together until novak started dominating (the way rafa literally switched from calling him to nole to novak in 2011 specifically after the madrid incident lmao and novak deflecting when asked how their friendship was going at wimbledon that same year) i feel like those two have a lot of history and most people ignore it or just arent aware of it ig

they do have a lot of history! idt they were necessarily THAT friendly with each other pre 2011. nadal was always the wunderkind who djokovic (and murray) were chasing. you had classic young djokovic moments like saying that he was in control of his rg 2006 match with nadal until djokovic's back problems, that he realised he didn't have to do anything special to defeat nadal, that nadal's beatable (nadal won the first two sets 6-4 6-4 before djokovic retired). still one of the funniest things he's said fairs

but their relationship did clearly get worse in 2011, when djokovic had that phenomenal season and beat nadal all six times they faced each other (still a shame he lost his first match that year at the roland garros semis against federer, denying us the final with nadal everyone wanted to see). there's also obviously stuff like handshake compilations over the years lol

anyway, their relationship also seemingly took a turn for the worse in 2022 over the whole australia deportation drama. I should say that in their early years, big three rivalries were a little more exciting (well, maybe not federer/nadal, but the other two) - it's just that all three of them were increasingly committed to just being ultra respectful *cough* pr merchants *cough* and it limited how much they would even let themselves do anything interesting. nadal can be a bit of a prick who's a lot more amiable when he's winning and is generally more of a sore loser than djokovic, but what's the point if you've collectively taken a vow to not rock the boat? and djokovic, who became massively unpopular for absolutely no good reason, eventually responded to all the criticism and booing with this slightly desperate attempt to make himself loved - the boob throw celebration is obviously the most infamous example and thank god he dropped that a few years ago. which is compelling in itself, but unfortunately it's all considerably less compelling these days... whenever he's being a pantomime villain, it's now about The Establishment.... stuff like this wimbledon where he was being kinda delusional about what the fans were yelling, saying they were booing him when they were calling his opponent's name, which? I like that, I liked the interview, it was silly camp fun. and then it became discourse bloody piers morgan was speaking out on as some kind of grand statement about how djokovic wouldn't let himself be silenced any more. that's not fun!!

anyway, djokovic/nadal is still an all time great tennis rivalry, and I've enjoyed plenty of their matches over the years. just don't think they offered quite enough narrative tension to live up to *59 matches* and monopolising the sport + all the attention within it for like. a lot of years. idk they could've move more imo

[keepitmovinshawty]

Quite a few reasons actually.

Tennis fans have LOOOOONG memories. His introduction into the big time was rocky. He grew a reputation for allegedly faking injuries. Like the first big match he had against one of the other two was vs Rafa at RG where he retired after 2 sets he lost then went into press and said he had the match under control. A classic moment in Big 3 history 🥲

He was seen as a spoiler to the Fedal supremacy. Not his fault, but you know sports fans aren’t always rational.

His parents, especially his father. They talked so much shit about Fed for years. Again, not his fault but the sins of the father and all that jazz.

His fans. They aren’t all batshit crazy, but the ones who are, are the loudest. Big 3 fandoms all have weirdos but Djokovic’s are truly a different breed. And again, sports fans aren’t always rational so this dislike of his fans extends to him. I know ppl who cheer against him just to spite his fans.

His views are a turnoff to some. He’s said questionable things on various topics.

That Adria Tour during quarantine in 2020 was not a good look and then the Australia debacle… Yeah. That was rough.

On court behavior. Tbh I really don’t think he’s any worse than the average player who lets their frustration get the better of them sometimes. But he’s held to a higher standard because of the rare air he occupies. Is that fair? No but thems the breaks when you’re only going to ever be compared to Mr. Polite and Humble Pie.

He’s a bit of a try-hard. He can come off fake. I personally think he should’ve just embraced the role of “villain” like Lendl did and just not gaf about what the crowd thinks. I think that’s worn on him over the years because he’s a gregarious guy and why he gets more frustrated these days.

Ppl find his game boring. I’ve heard the words robotic and bland thrown around. His rivalry with Rafa is the most times any duo has played but it will always come in second to Fedal. Why? Their matches have been more competitive as a whole, but it’s focused so much on their insane athleticism. They’re too similar. Whereas Fedal has two very contrasting styles going against one another. Begs the question why his rivalry with Fed isn’t held in such regard, but I think that has to do with their relationship. They’re both clearly friendlier with Rafa than they are with each other. Again, the tenseness should make for good theater but idk.

Well, that’s my assessment.

totally not surprised by the result but I really want to understand why Novak is not liked even after winning the most slams so please answer in the reply section.

I'm tagging some people I know who have tennis options but others are welcome to discuss too.

@tam-is-blogging @rafaelnadalfans @rafa-nadal-blog @rafamybelovednadal @rafasbiscuits @fedalheadbands @fedaltennistv

[geminitraveller]

Rafa Nadal’s 13th Win at Roland Garros

It was 2005 when Rafael Nadal won his first French Open Grand Slam trophy against Mariano Puerta of Argentina.  I have been watching tennis for two years then rooting for the American Andy Roddick. I had been hearing about Rafa but had not really seen him play yet before now.  Who is this Rafa?  And why the buzz about how good he is?  In answer to that question, Rafa wins the French Open on his first attempt at the age of 19.  He beat Federer then ranked no. 1 at the semi finals of the said event on the way to the finals.

The first of many trophies at Roland Garros as displayed at the Rafa Nadal Museum in Manacor.

This year, amidst the pandemic turmoil, Rafa won his 13th French Open trophy, a record that may never be surpassed in the years to come.  That is one ridiculous record in all tennis events.  Winning 13 times in a single event simply  boggles the mind.  100 match wins against only 2 losses from 2005 to the present.  How can anybody beat that?  

I thought La Decima was the ultimate for a tennis player to win a single events.  In 2017, I was at Manacor in Mallorca, Nadal’s birthplace and residence to visit the newly opened Rafa Nadal Academy and  Museum.  I have seen all his past achievements.  Ten trophies in Barcelona, Monte Carlo and Roland Garros with a separate trophy of RG’s La Decima.  Truly a proud experience for any Rafa Nadal fan.

La Decima Trophy

Three years later, Rafa has added three more trophies from Roland Garros.  The King of Clay is more like a God of Clay, sitting on the highest level of clay tennis world.  Absolutely no one can ever question his achievements on clay.  Not now.  Not in the many years to come.

[fritzes]

rank the m1000s 👀🙏

ooh okay, I’m not gonna do the ones that keep changing around (I’m sorry maria I love you but your 1000 isn’t getting on the list):

indian wells. for non taylor fritz related reasons I SWEAR (okay maybe a little bit). I mean, it's literally tennis paradise. no other masters can really compare to this in my opinion, there's something really magical about it. it's the first combined 1000 of the year, it is absolutely carrying the "sunshine" in sunshine double (we'll get to miami later), and did any other 1000 get its very own maya edit? I don't think so

monte carlo (don't kill me!). ok picking something to be #2 made me realize that the drop-off from indian wells is real, I had a hard time with this one. and as much as I dislike monte carlo as a place... that court has off the charts vibes. the 2023 edition might be one of my favorite tournaments ever, and I like the way it kicks off clay season. the vibes guys, the vibes!

cincinnati. tbh I'm surprising myself with this one because I've never reeeeeally been able to take cincy seriously because like. it's in ohio. it's known for having players hang out at an applebees. but jokes aside, I kinda love it. the place on the calendar is good, it's a nice warmup for the us open. also influenced by recency bias because the 2023 edition, both wta and atp, were so good. I don't know, I really like its place in the tour, it's just so solid

rome. if you thought cincy had recency bias, let me introduce you to the daniil-incudced overrating of rome. this kinda occupies the same space as cincy, being the real warmup tournament for rg, and same as cincy, I like its place in the calendar and the tour. except, unlike cincy, this is clay season so insanity galore. iga double bageling pliskova in the final that one time will always be iconic and of course, the hard court specialist himself winning this tournament will elevate it forever

miami. "but maya! miami is cursed! it's always raining! how can you put it so high?" two words: jannik sinner. yeah the jannik miami narratives strike a chord in my brain like few other player + tournament pairings do and it makes me so insane that I kind of learned to make gifs just because I had a jannik miami gifset idea. other than jannik, despite the nature of it being very much cursed, it does usually produce some really good tennis in the last few rounds

madrid. ah, madrid. if we were going off of tennis alone, this would be top 3 easily. back to back amazing igaryna finals, carlos' magical 2022 run, andy murray beating rafa in the final in straight sets somehow, ons' win in 2022. alas, there is more that just the tennis, and the organization of this tournament is genuinely horrible and so fucking sexist. a tournament like this does not deserve the quality of tennis it gets

doha/dubai. yes I know they're two separate 1000s this year but they've always flip-flopped in the past so as a 1000, it's always been one entity to me (and there's nothing that would put one above or below the other). there's always really good matches, obviously iga consistently sweeps doha and it's amazing, but dubai also gave us krejcikova's absolutely ridiculous 2023 run and this year's final was amazing. always a solid tournament with some great tennis

montreal/toronto. I feel bad for putting it so low, but it's always been kinda meh to me. 2023's chaos aside, this is the tournament where top players find their feet on hardcourts after wimbledon, and... I don't know. it's perfectly fine, but there's nothing really remarkable about it

shanghai/beijing. another one that I feel really bad for putting low, but there's something about that post-us open big tournament that just feels so bleh. the season is so long already and the players are just so exhausted. it doesn't usually take away from the quality of the tennis, it just doesn't have the same feeling as the stuff above it. I would say it feels a bit tacked on, but there's only one tournament I really think that about and that's...

paris. good god. there is something wrong with this tournament. I don't think an indoor 1000 is a bad idea, but the court and the lighting is just so bland, especially when compared to turin which is just two weeks later. at this point in the season, the top players want to be at the finals and anyone who isn't a top player just wants to be home and it just feels like an exhausted tournament. casper was right about one thing in his yap session the uts dinner: paris is easily the worst masters 1000

[liamhaydn-blog]

Why Roger Federer isn’t the GOAT

Roger Federer is not the GOAT. He wasn’t the Greatest Men’s player of all time before Rafael Nadal tied him on 20 Grand Slams this past Sunday and he isn’t now. Nor has he been for a long time. I realise this opening will upset alot of people who have already angrily closed down this link, but for the rest of you willing to stick around, I will explore in this blog why that is. 

Slams

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have been competing against each other for such a long time, and the race going on for so long, as the men either look to chase down or pull clear of each other that it can be easy to think it has always been like this, and forget the time before Nadal won his first non-Roland Garros slam at Wimbledon in 2008, forget the time before Djokovic won his first slam period earlier in the same year. A time in which Roger was playing and winning with huge regularity. 

In fact this time period was when Federer won the majority of his slams. Of his first 10 slams, 8 came against six opponents who won a combined 5 slams in their careers.  Mark Philippoussis,   Marcos Baghdatis and  Fernando González never lifted a slam and for the latter two, facing Federer was the only final they played. The other 2 of Roger’s first 10 came against 35-year old Andre Agassi, who would appear in just 2 more slams after this final, winning four more matches and a just turned 20-year old Rafael Nadal, playing in his first non-RG final. 

This era coincided with Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi coming to the end of their glittering careers, Federer won his final 8 meetings with Agassi in the final years of his career and only faced Pete Sampras once in 2001, he retired the next year. 

Left to challenge Federer in this era was Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt and in another early final, Marat Safin. In these 4 finals, Roger dropped a total of 2 sets and bagelled Hewitt in 2 of their 3 sets. These men were slam winners so all fine players, but Federer boasts a career head to head record of 21-3 over Andy Roddick, 10-2 over Marat Safin and 19-8 (8-0 in slams) over Lleyton Hewitt. 

Federer won 12 of his first 14 slam finals, the only defeats coming to Nadal on the clay. He notched his 12th slam title at the 2007 Australian Open in teenager Novak Djokovic’s first slam final, and by the time Novak had won just his 2nd slam at the 2011 Australian Open, Roger was sitting on 16. That 2nd slam win of Djokovic truly marked his arrival at the top table of men’s tennis and he was joined by the runner-up in that final, Andy Murray. These two players firmly establishing themselves in what had become the big 4 of men’s tennis would make for the hardest and most barren years of Roger’s slam career. Federer played 22 finals before Djokovic won his 2nd slam and has appeared in 9 since. After beating Murray in the 2010 Australian Open final, Federer would make 5 more finals by the end of 2016, winning 1. Andy would make 9 finals in that time period and win 3. 

18 of Roger’s 31 slam finals came in a period between Wimbledon 2005 and Australian Open 2010. His record in non-final slam matches in that period was 113-1. The sole loss coming against a 19-year old Djokovic, the match before he won his first ever slam. Federer had won 69 of his last 71 slam matches going into that semi final and won 52 of his next 56 after it. This highlights just how hard it was for Djokovic to win his first slam. 

Between Wimbledon 2012 and the Australian Open 2017, there was 17 grand slams that Roger didn’t win, Novak won 7 of them. Roger finally ended his drought in the first slam final of 2017 against Nadal, who was playing in his first slam final since 2014. Due to injuries, Nadal had gone 2 years in a row without reaching a final, after 10 years in a row winning one. So if ever there was a good time to face Nadal in a slam final, this was as close to it as you could realistically get. 

Since that win, Roger’s 19th and 20th slams came against Marin Cilic, a player who has only reached 5 semi finals since his slam debut in 2007. After winning 12 of his first 14 slam finals, he is 8-9 in finals since. In that time he is 1-7 against the other members of the big 3, his only win coming against Rafa in Australia. His slam final record stands at 20 won 11 lost (64.5%), with 3 final wins against Rafa and 1 against Djokovic in his slam final debut. 6 of his final losses have come against Nadal and 4 against Djokovic. 

7 of Nadal’s first 8 finals were against 5 years older, Roger Federer. Rafa won 5 of the 7, and 6 of his first 8 finals in total. Nadal won 6 slams before Djokovic won his 2nd and became a fellow contender for every slam. Since then Nadal is 14-6 in finals. 11 slams without a win is the longest slam drought of his career. He boasts the joint most slam wins with 20 and fewest slam final defeats inside the big 3, with 8 (71% win rate in finals). He has the best final record against other members of the Big 3, leading Federer 6-3 and Djokovic 5-4.  

4 of the first 7 slams Djokovic won were against Rafa and Roger and two others came against Andy Murray, who would prove what a top player he was by beating Novak in slam finals in 2012 and 2013 and reaching more finals between 2011 and 2016 than any other player bar Djokovic. Novak leads Federer 4-1 in finals and 8 tournaments is his longest drought without winning one since established at the top. He has won 17 of his 27 slam finals (63%).

Best Slam

Federer’s best slam in terms of most titles is Wimbledon where he has won 8, aswell as losing 4 finals. He leads Nadal 3-1 at Wimbledon but trails Novak 3-1. His best slam for final wins is the Australian Open, where he has won 6 and lost 1. Of those 6 wins only 1 was against another member of the big 3, Rafa Nadal, who his 1 defeat also came against. He trails Nadal 3-1 at the Australian and Djokovic 4-1. Fed’s best slam for match win % is Wimbledon where he boasts 101 wins for 13 defeats (89%). The slam where he has the most wins however is the Aussie Open where he has 102 wins for 15 defeats (87%). Federer’s worst slam is ofcourse the French, the only slam he has won less than 5 times, winning just once against Robin Soderling in 2009. His record there stands at 70 wins and 17 losses (70%).

Nadal’s best slam might be the French where he is 13-0 in finals and 26-0 when he reaches the semis. He leads Federer 6-0 at RG and Djokovic 7-1. His record there is 100-2, a 98% win percentage, which is reasonably healthy. His worst slam is Wimbledon for amount of matches won. Despite winning one more title there than his 1 at the Aussie Open, Nadal has won 53 matches at Wimbledon for 12 defeats (82%) which is 4 less victories than fellow two-time Champion Andy Murray (57-10). Some will argue that Nadal winning 13 of his 20 slams at RG makes him too reliant on one slam, one surface to be the GOAT. But he has made 15 finals off the clay, winning 7 and losing 8. Noone argues that Djokovic is too reliant on the Australian Open for his legacy and his non-AO final record stands at 9-10.

Novak’s best slam is the Australian Open where he is 8-0 in finals and 16-0 from semis onwards. He leads Nadal 2-0 at the Australian and Federer 4-1. He has a 90% win rate there, with 75 wins for 8 losses. Djokovic is the most consistent player across all slams, given he boasts a very similar number of wins at all slams. He has 75 wins each at the Australian and the US and Wimbledon with 72 is his lowest for wins. For win % his worst slam is the French at 83% (74-15), despite reaching atleast the semi finals on 10 occasions. Novak is the only man to have held all four slams on all three surfaces.    

Rafa Nadal has the highest win % at slams with 88%, winning 282 matches and losing 39. Djokovic is 2nd at 87% with 296 wins for 45 defeats and Roger is 3rd with 86%, 362 wins and 59 defeats. All 3 men hold the record for most slam wins at their respective best slam, though unlike the other two Roger does not have the all-time best final record at that slam also, that’s Pete Sampras who won 7 Wimbledon finals without defeat. Nadal has won a record four slams without losing a set, Federer twice and Djokovic never. 

Head to Head

Nadal leads Federer 24-16 overall. He leads him 10-4 at slams, 14-10 in finals and 14-2 on clay. Roger leads 3-1 on grass and 11-7 on hard court. Nadal beat Federer in the final at his best slam, Wimbledon in 2008, whereas Roger has never won more than 1 set in 4 Roland Garros finals against Rafa. 

Djokovic leads Federer 27-23 overall. He leads 11-6 at slams, 13-6 in finals, 3-1 on grass and 20-18 on hard court. They are tied 4-4 on clay. Djokovic leads 3-1 in finals at Roger’s best slam.

Djokovic leads Nadal 29-27 overall. He leads 16-12 in finals and 20-7 on hard court. Nadal leads 10-6 at slams and 18-7 on clay.

Of his 20 slam wins, Nadal beat Federer 9 times and Djokovic 9 times on the path to the title. Of his 20 slam wins, Federer beat Nadal 3 times and Novak 4 times. Of his 17 slam wins, Djokovic beat Federer on the way 9 times and Nadal 5 times. On three occasions, Nadal beat both Federer and Djokovic to win a slam, Djokovic had to beat the other two once to win a slam, and Federer never has. 

Nadal has recorded straight sets wins at slams 3 times against Djokovic, and on another occasion was 2 games from the same until one of Djokovic’s many retirements in that time. He also has 3 straight sets wins over Federer. Federer has 3 straight sets wins over Djokovic, but has never beaten Nadal in straight sets at a slam. Djokovic has beaten Nadal in straight sets twice and Federer 4 times.

Federer has gone 8 years without a slam win against Djokovic, he is 0-6 against him since beating him at Wimbledon 2012. He went 10 years without a slam win against Nadal from beating him in the 2007 Wimbledon final to the 2017 Australian Open final, where he also went 0-6.

Nadal has never lost 2 slam matches in a row against Federer, he has lost 3 slam matches in a row against Djokovic twice. Djokovic has lost 4 slam matches in a row against Nadal twice, including their first 4 slam meetings. His longest slam losing streak in a row against Federer is 2, their first 2 slam meetings. 

The Tour

Federer’s atp tour record stands at 1,242 wins against 271 defeats (82.1% win %), Nadal’s stands at 999 wins v 201 defeats (83.3%) and Djokovic’s stands at 930 wins v 189 losses (83.1%). Federer has won 103 tour titles and lost 54 finals, Nadal has won 86 finals and lost 37 and Novak has won 81 and lost 35. 

Of Federer’s 103 titles, 28 are Masters 1000 titles (27%), where his final record stands at 28-22 (56%). 35 of Nadal’s 86 titles are Masters 1000 events (41%) and his final record is 35-16 (69%). 36 of Djokovic’s 81 titles are Masters 1000 events (44%) and his final record is 36-16 (69%). In 2018 Djokovic became the first player ever to win all 9 Masters 1000 tournaments and 2 years later he became the first to win them all twice which is a remarkable achievement given noone else has yet won them all once. 

Federer has won 49 ATP Tour 500 or 250 events for the loss of just 16 finals. As the number suggests, these are usually easier to win than 1000 events.  Djokovic has won 23 500 or 250 events with 7 final defeats and Nadal has won a combined 30 of them with 11 final losses.  

Of the 49 Federer won, 25 were 250 events, which is 7 more than Novak and Rafa won combined, these 2 evidently deciding more often than Roger that 250  tournaments were not challenging enough to be worth their time.

Rafael Nadal has 1 Olympic Gold Medal in the singles, one more than the other two. He has never won the ATP Tour Finals, losing one time each in the final against Federer and Djokovic. Federer has won it 6 times, beating Agassi, Hewitt, James Blake, David Ferrer, Nadal and Jo Tsonga in the finals. Djokovic has won 5 beating Federer 3 times (once in a walkover), Nikolay Davydenko and Nadal.

Up to this year all 3 men have been year end number 1 5 times. This year Djokovic will make it 6. Federer’s 5 years ending on top came between 2004 and 2009, Nadal’s between 2008 and 2019 and Djokovic’s between 2011 and soon to be 2020. Federer’s 237 consecutive weeks at number 1 will never be matched, though it looks certain Djokovic will beat his record of 310 total weeks. Nadal sits behind these guys on a total of 209 weeks at number 1, so it’s fair to say he hasn’t dominated the tour in the same way the other 2 have and that could be used against him in the argument for GOAT. 

Conclusion

 I believe Roger Federer to be the most fawned over sportsperson of all time, the media treat him as more God than man in my opinion. He reguarly tops GOAT tennis lists and also reguarly features near the top of lists for the greatest athletes ever, always above players such as Serena Williams, Rafa Nadal, Steffi Graff and Novak Djokovic. I have put these facts forward to counter these media opinions and also because there’s no chance of knowing these facts just following tennis in the media, as they love Roger too much. So I present facts here, so you don’t have to go to the trouble of searching yourself and of which I think present a fair picture of their careers.

The purpose of this piece is not to hate on Roger or play down his career, but fairly cover it. He’s been a fantastic player, undoubtedly one of the best careers and talents the sport has ever seen or will ever see. As a player I like him alot. But I think Nadal and Djokovic have been better and I believe the stats bare that out. 

Because they are not from the same era, with Roger being 5 & 6 years older respectively it is in some ways difficult to fairly compare them. But it is those who cover tennis in the media who never acknowledge that much of what Roger has won at slams came before this big 3 era. And though it is not fair to expect a late 30s Roger to beat an early 30s Nadal or Djokovic in a slam (though he had a brilliant go against Novak in the 2019 Wimbledon Final) for much of their careers, Roger being 5 and 6 years has been more of an advantage or atleast, certainly not a hindrance. And even then he has never dominated the pair, not even when he was mid-20s and they were just entering their 20s. 

I believe currently that Rafael Nadal is the GOAT, and his victory on Sunday to put himself 3 clear of the man who I believe is in 2nd place on the men’s all time great list, Novak Djokovic, was an extremely significant one. Had Djokovic closed the gap to just one behind Nadal by beating him on his best surface, becoming the first man to beat Nadal in either a final or a semi final there, I believe the gap between them for GOAT would have been undoubtedly the smallest it’s ever been. But Nadal’s dominant victory gives him more breathing room for now. 

The best slam years of Roger’s career were between 2006 and 2009, where he reached 15 finals and won 9. In that period, Nadal reached 7 finals and won 5. Novak reached 2 finals and won 1. The best slam years of Novak’s career were between 2011 and 2015. Identical to Roger’s best years, he reached 15 finals and won 9. Nadal reached 9 finals and won 5. Roger reached 5 and won 1. Nadal’s best years were 2010 to 2014 where he reached 12 finals and won 8. Novak in this time also reached 12 finals, winning 6. Roger reached 4 finals, winning 2. This highlights that Nadal is the only one of the big 3 to keep winning plenty of slams during his rivals best years. 

Nadal has also come closest to being the first man to win all 4 slams atleast twice. He first had the opportunity to do it back in 2012, and he has twice been one set away from doing it. Since winning RG in 2009 and 2016 respectively, and needing one more to become the first man to win every slam twice, Roger and Novak have reached one final each and won one set between them. Though in fairness, Djokovic’s victory over Nadal in the 2019 Australian Open final shows it is only marginally more likely that Djokovic’s grip over it will slip before Nadal’s does at the French, it is still more likely all the same. If one of Rafa or Novak can become the first man to do that, they will strike a huge blow for themselves in the argument for Greatest of All Time.

Nadal has not won a set against Novak on hard court since beating him in the 2013 US Open final, Novak has won 19 consecutive sets and the 9 consecutive matches played between the pair on the surface since. This is a run that Nadal certainly could do with ending as soon as possible as the key slam in the race to retire on top could be the US Open. Rafa will always be the big favourite to win RG and the same for Djokovic at the Australian and at Wimbledon. Given Rafa’s current lead of 3, who is able to pick up more US Open’s in the future could be significant. Nadal has so far won 4 and Djokovic 3. Djokovic is 3-5 in US Open finals, whilst being the only man to beat Nadal in the final there. They haven’t met at Flushing Meadows for 7 years with Nadal leading the H2H 2-1. Nadal won the title in 2017 and 2019, Djokovic was champion in the middle of that and runner-up in 2016. He was also the overwhelming favourite to the take the 2020 title, due to winning all 29 of his matches that year until he was disqualified for whacking a line judge in the throat with the ball.

Instead Dominic Thiem picked up the title and there was finally a new slam champion from the younger generation. As Nadal and Djokovic get older, there have been some signs that some younger players, in particular Thiem might also be able to have some influence over the final number of these two phenomenal champions. At this years Australian Open, he dumped Nadal out in the Quarters and led Djokovic 2 sets to 1 in the final before succumbing. Thiem has won 4 of his last 6 matches against Djokovic and 4 of his last 9 v Nadal, and as a slam champion he is certainly the man currently best placed to challenge them, though not the only one. Daniil Medvedev came from 2 sets down against Rafa in last years US Open final to lose in the 5th and Stefanos Tsitsipas did the same against Novak in the semis of this years French. As these younger players continue to improve, and Nadal and Djokovic move into their mid-30s, perhaps they will be able to go to that next step and win a slam semi or final against these guys, as it finally starts to become a little more conceivable that they could lose a semi or final against someone from that younger generation.  

As for Federer who turns 40 next year, its a big ask for him to reach 21 but to write him off completely from doing so would be premature, in his last 4 slams he has reached a Quarter, two semis and a final. At Wimbledon especially he still has a chance, there is only one name he needs to avoid there: Novak Djokovic. Aside from him, on the grass Roger can still beat anyone.