Who is the true goat in Tennis ?

Jun 24, 2009
22,513
19,043
In your dreams
AFL Club
West Coast
Hard to go past Novak now.
Equal with majors, beats Federer in Masters tournaments won, has the most weeks at no 1 (and should take Laver's record at some point), 5 ATP finals wins and has a winning head-to-head against both Federer and Nadal.
The Golden Slam would be an exclamation point on his credentials.
 
Sep 22, 2011
29,795
29,042
Perth
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
Liverpool FC, Washington Wizards
Hard to go past Novak now.
Equal with majors, beats Federer in Masters tournaments won, has the most weeks at no 1 (and should take Laver's record at some point), 5 ATP finals wins and has a winning head-to-head against both Federer and Nadal.
The Golden Slam would be an exclamation point on his credentials.
Toughest generation and he’s the king. Undisputed. 8 of his majors against both Nadal and Federer.
 
Dec 2, 2003
9,763
4,175
AFL Club
Sydney
He was the GOAT at 15 majors.

In an era where two other players already had more Slams than him, Nole had already beaten his opponent in a final before they were on the court. Since his return from elbow injury hiatus, his record in finals has been outstanding.

There's an aura about him. Nadal had that at the french but Nole wiped that out.

He's made it clear that Slams are his focus now and all the Nadal & Fed fanbois here and everywhere have always said that the total number of slams is the defining statistic, despite all the records he already held, and his record against both Nadal and Fed in finals. Well, that defining stat will be his too.

An upstart will beat him in a Masters tourny or the end of year finals, but there is no contest in slams. He's already beaten everyone before the tournament begins. The only thing in his way is himself, such as US Open 2020.
 
Jan 13, 2015
1,519
904
AFL Club
Sydney
GRAND SLAMS: 20 DJOKOVIC 20 FEDERER 20 NADAL

LAST 72 SLAMS : 60 TO THE ABOVE, 12 OTHER (3 MURRAY, 3 WAWRINKA, 1 RODDICK, 1 GAUDIO, 1 SAFIN, 1 DEL POTRO, 1 CILIC, 1 THIEM)

WIMBLEDON: 8 FEDERER 6 DJOKOVIC 2 NADAL
FRENCH OPEN: 13 NADAL 2 DJOKOVIC 1 FEDERER
AUSTRALIAN OPEN: 9 DJOKOVIC 6 FEDERER 1 NADAL
US OPEN: 5 FEDERER 4 NADAL 3 DJOKOVIC

CAREER TITLES:
103 FEDERER
88 NADAL
85 DJOKOVIC

OVERALL WIN/LOSS RATIO:
FEDERER P: 1526 W: 1251 L: 275 @ 81.98%
NADAL P: 1235 W: 1027 L: 208 @ 83.16%
DJOKOVIC P: 1163 W: 968 L: 195 @ 83.23%

WIN/LOSS RATIO @ GRAND SLAMS:
FEDERER 81 SLAMS P: 429 W: 369 L: 60 @ 86.01%
NADAL 62 SLAMS P: 332 W: 291 L: 41 @ 87.65%
DJOKOVIC 65 SLAMS P: 362 W: 317 L: 45 @ 87.57%

HEAD TO HEAD:
NADAL 24, FEDERER 16
DJOKOVIC 27, FEDERER 23
DJOKOVIC 30, NADAL 28

FEDERER v NADAL/DJOKOVIC 39/51
NADAL v FEDERER/DJOKOVIC 52/46
DJOKOVIC v FEDERER/NADAL 57/51

TOP 10 - WIN/LOSS RATIOS:
*DJOKOVIC 83.23%
*NADAL 83.16%
BORG 82.37%
*FEDERER 81.98%
CONNORS 81.82%
McENROE 81.68%
LENDL 81.53%
LAVER 79.78%
SAMPRAS 77.44%
BECKER 76.91%

Still a case for all 3 as the GOAT, depending on your preference.

Federer had 16 grand slams by the time he turned 30, has he got another one left in him ? Unlikely unless he has a little luck and/or Djokovic/Nadal miss a grand slam event. How many more grand slams will he even play - it must be close to the end of the road. He will be 40 come the US open. It will also be difficult with Djokovic still at the peak of his powers. I'm sure his win/loss ratio has dipped slightly in the last 8 or 9 years, but still a worthy GOAT.

Nadal, the king of clay what can you say. Still, he has 7 grand slams outside of the French open. At the age of 35 now and may find it difficult to win another, although write him off at your own peril when competing in the French. Only 2 players have won grand slams after the age of 35 (Federer & Rosewall both 3 times each). He may also end up with 20 slams like Federer.

Djokovic - well the stats are now pointing more favorably towards him. At the peak of his powers still and only player other than Laver & Emerson to win slams on 2 occasions or more at all 4 events. At age 34 and the youngest of the big 3, he certainly has the best chance of winning the most grand slams, keeping in mind that they are hard to win beyond the age of 35.
He leads in the head to heads with Federer & Nadal and leads in the all time win/loss ratio's - but play on too long and this could dip slightly.
Win another slam and it'll be harder to mount an argument against him.

Incredible that the big 3 have 3 of the best 4 win/loss ratios ever, along with the amount of games they have played and furthermore - against each other.
They've basically lost 50 matches when playing against each other.

If either of these 3, played in any other era, I'm sure they would each have more than 20 Grand Slams.
Sure there are good players in every era, but winning 20 each is just phenomenal.

Who will be the first to 21 grand slams ?
Will it happen?
You'd be a brave person at the moment to back against Djokovic.
 
Last edited:

PanzerMan

Cancelled
Jun 30, 2021
208
233
AFL Club
Collingwood
Saw this on Reddit:
0w47h97bgma71.jpg


Winning record against Federer and Nadal, one of the comments said Djokovic is 45-22 against both combined since 2011.

No question for me - it's Nole.
 
Jan 13, 2015
1,519
904
AFL Club
Sydney
you can paint stats anyways you like.

but you are picking out a point in time where roger was 30+.

impressive stats in panzerman's post !!!!!!!!!

hard to argue djokovic is the GOAT -based off that.
 
Last edited:
you can paint stats anyways you like.

impressive stats in panzerman's post !!!!!!!!!

but you are picking out a point in time where roger was 30+.

So? Federer had the benefit of reaping quite a few Slams before Novak and Nadal! Much easier facing Bagdatis, Gozalez and other muppets in Slam finals.
 
May 4, 2009
12,366
11,518
Tasmania
AFL Club
Sydney
Other Teams
Furth
So? Federer had the benefit of reaping quite a few Slams before Novak and Nadal! Much easier facing Bagdatis, Gozalez and other muppets in Slam finals.
and Novak greatest threat is a 35-year-old Spaniard on 1 good knee.

the argument works both ways, mainly because it is deeply flawed. I mean, you are dissing my GOAT Safin here. The draws nowadays in the ATP are a joke.
 

Flameboy

Norm Smith Medallist
Dec 1, 2010
6,341
4,396
Melbourne
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Other Teams
Chelsea
He was the GOAT at 15 majors.

In an era where two other players already had more Slams than him, Nole had already beaten his opponent in a final before they were on the court. Since his return from elbow injury hiatus, his record in finals has been outstanding.

There's an aura about him. Nadal had that at the french but Nole wiped that out.

He's made it clear that Slams are his focus now and all the Nadal & Fed fanbois here and everywhere have always said that the total number of slams is the defining statistic, despite all the records he already held, and his record against both Nadal and Fed in finals. Well, that defining stat will be his too.

An upstart will beat him in a Masters tourny or the end of year finals, but there is no contest in slams. He's already beaten everyone before the tournament begins. The only thing in his way is himself, such as US Open 2020.

Laughable (to say the least) to suggest that Djokovic has “wiped out” Nadal’s aura at the French.
 
How can anyone argue otherwise, given Djokovic has spent 328 weeks as world No 1 – 18 more than Federer and 119 ahead of Nadal? And when he has winning records against both his great rivals?


It is GOAT.
Not GWOAT. (W=winner)
Stats are only one part of it.
 
Back