Is Novak Djokovic's 2015 season the greatest individual season of the Open Era?

[eaglespremiers]

Novak Djokovic finished his season last night by winning his 4th ATP World Tour Championship in a row.
In 2015 Novak has a win-loss ratio of 82–6 (93.18%).
In 2015 Novak lost to Federer three times, Murray once, Wawrinka once and Ivo Karlovic once.
In 2015 Novak won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open only falling short at Roland Garros.
In 2015 Novak entered eight Masters tournaments and won six of them (a new record). Novak was runners up in the two he did not win.
In 2015 Novak won eleven tournaments in total: 3 Grand Slams, 6 Masters, 1 Year-end championship and a World Tour 500.
In 2015 Novak only failed to make the final of a tournament once (the Qatar Open).
In 2015 Novak accumulated 16,585 ranking points, a new record.
In 2015 Novak beat a player ranked in the top ten 31 times, a new record.
Novak now has four years (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015) where he has beaten players in the top ten at least twenty times. Only one other player (Nadal) has ever had more than twenty wins in a calendar year against top ten ranked players.
In 2015 Novak made US$21,646,145, breaking the calendar year record by about US$7m.
If you consider his year compared to other years dating back to 1968, how does his achievements stack up?
Is there another player's year you prefer?

 

[bato]

Djokovic. Enough said.

Won pretty much all the big titles bar French. No one has ever done that. Ever.

 

[eaglespremiers]

Roger Federer's 2006 warrants some consideration:
In 2006 Federer had a win-loss ratio of 92–5 (94.84%).
In 2006 Federer lost to Nadal four times and Murray once.
In 2006 Federer won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open only falling short at Roland Garros to the king of clay.
In 2006 Federer entered seven Masters tournaments and won four of them.
In 2006 Federer won twelve tournaments in total: 3 Grand Slams, 4 Masters, 1 Year-end championship, a ATP International Series Gold and 3 ATP International Series.
In 2006 Federer only failed to make the final of a tournament once (the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters).
In 2006 Federer accumulated 15,495 ranking points.
In 2006 Federer beat a player ranked in the top ten 19 times.
In 2006 Federer made US$8,343,885 (obviously increases over the years).

The other players who performed well in 2006:
Andy Roddick
Nikolay Davydenko
James Blake
Ivan Ljubičić
Tommy Robredo
David Nalbandian
Mario Ančić
Jonas Björkman

 

[eaglespremiers]

Another option could be Rod Laver's 1969:
In 1969 Laver had a win-loss ratio of 106-16 (86.89%).
Laver won 4 Grand slams - Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open.
Laver won 14 other titles including:
U.S. Professional Indoor;
Orlando Professional Championships;
Los Angeles Professional Championships;
South African Open;
Anaheim Professional Championships;
Madison Square Garden Invitational;
BBC2 World Professional Championship;
U.S. Pro Tennis Championships;
Saint Louis Professional Championships;
Fort Worth Professional Championships;
Binghamton Professional Championships;
Baltimore Professional Championships;
British Covered Court Championships; and
Madrid Professional Championships.

 

[matt_897]

McEnroe went 82-3 in 1984, that season would potentially be up there.

 

[Roobs321]

It is certainly the best I've seen since following tennis in the mid 90s. Fed was great in 2006, but Djokovic to me is a more seasoned and dominant no.1 than Fed was at the time. There is an inevitability to much of his 2015, and to not miss a final since Week 1 of the season is something rare.

Federer also failed to win a clay title in 2006, losing in the French Open and two clay Masters finals to Nadal, showing that a player still had his number on a particular surface, whereas Djokovic merely handed a few token victories to Federer, Murray and Wawrinka, with only one of those losses really hurting him.

I think the points record says it all really. Djokovic only played around 16 events, skipped a Masters and didn't really bother with 250s, yet still achieved a stunning points total. The victories over top 10 also illustrates his general dominance.

 

[Dipper]

McEnroe went 82-3 in 1984, that season would potentially be up there.

Was 2 sets and a break up against Lendl in the French Open final and lost, if he'd won that it would be hard to go past him.

 

[ozgamer]

Are we only talking Men's tennis here?

Navratilova and Graf had some pretty awesome seasons.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Are we only talking Men's tennis here?

Navratilova and Graf had some pretty awesome seasons.

Not to mention Margaret Court.

One year, Guillermo Vilas netted some 145 wins and 14 losses or something.

 

[Roobs321]

I guess you'd have to play virtually every week to have a chance at a wins total like that nowadays on the modern tour, and given the advanced athletic professionalism standards required nowadays to excel, it's not going to happen again. An 80-2 on the modern tour is arguably superior to something like 110-10 in previous eras. Kind of gone the way of Coleman tallies I guess, although a century is still much more in reach.

 

[eaglespremiers]

Are we only talking Men's tennis here?

Sorry, yes that should've been specified.
Couldn't care less about women's tennis.

 

[Hudu Gurusingha]

All your questions answered in this article:

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/11/rog...06-2015-john-mcenroe-rafael-nadal-grand-slams

 

[X_box_X]

I think it's a bit unfair to discount Federer's 2005 season, which had a superior win/loss record to his 2006 season and Nole's 2015 season. Sure, Federer only made two Grand Slam Finals (having won them both), but it's important to understand his QF loss at the Australian Open and SF loss at the French Open were to the eventual champions. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Federer was the second best performed player in those tournaments, which should theoretically stack up against someone finishing as the runner-up.

For mine, Federer's 2005 season is superior to Djokovic's 2015 season, which is superior to Federer's 2006 season, but there's nothing between them.

 

[Hudu Gurusingha]

I think it's a bit unfair to discount Federer's 2005 season, which had a superior win/loss record to his 2006 season and Nole's 2015 season. Sure, Federer only made two Grand Slam Finals (having won them both), but it's important to understand his QF loss at the Australian Open and SF loss at the French Open were to the eventual champions. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Federer was the second best performed player in those tournaments, which should theoretically stack up against someone finishing as the runner-up.

For mine, Federer's 2005 season is superior to Djokovic's 2015 season, which is superior to Federer's 2006 season, but there's nothing between them.

No way

 

[Brock Lesnar]

2nd greatest season IMO in the Open Era. Only Laver's grand slam is above it, because it's the holy grail of tennis to win all the majors in the one year. Connors 74' deserves a mention too, 99–4 record, won 3 majors and was banned from competing at the French that year.

 

[JackNah_8]

Are we only talking Men's tennis here?

Navratilova and Graf had some pretty awesome seasons.

what about Martina Hingis? I remember she had a pretty unbeatable season years ago but lost to Ivo Majic at the French Open.

 

[pepsi]

what about Martina Hingis? I remember she had a pretty unbeatable season years ago but lost to Ivo Majic at the French Open.

76-5 in 1997, with her first loss of the year coming in the French open final. And if I remember correctly, she fell off a horse and carried an injury into the French open that year.

 

[JackNah_8]

76-5 in 1997, with her first loss of the year coming in the French open final. And if I remember correctly, she fell off a horse and carried an injury into the French open that year.

She had an impressive record that year.

 

[Roysforever]

McEnroe went 82-3 in 1984, that season would potentially be up there.

McEnroe equally spent the whole of 1984 at either number 1 or 2 in doubles. Simply an outstanding year.

So in regards to McEnroe's year being the greatest of the Open Era I ask the OP to, 'Answer the question! The question, jerk!'

 

[JackNah_8]

Sampras also had a decent record during the 1990s


1993 85-16 (84.2%)
1994 77-12 (86.5%)

Plus he held the record the consecutive weeks as the number 1 player.