Who is the true goat in Tennis ?

[Vdubs]

Fed was nearly my all time sporting hero, and still love him, but he seemed to mentally disintegrate in several Nadal matches.
He was physically and mentally not able to match the peak prowess of Novak.
I'm fortunate enough to have witnessed the best of Laver, Rosewall, Hoad, Newcombe, Borg, McEnroe, Connors, Lendl, Edberg, Sampras, Agassi, Fed, Nadal, and Djokovic, etc, and my favourite to watch was Federer, but GOAT just has to be Djokovic

 

[bullish23]

I’m in awe of Novak. He appears at 36 to be hitting as hard as he ever has. Add to his goat defence it’s hard to see what stops him the next 12 months.

 

[Kangapirate]

Forgot that wimbledon 2020 was cancelled as well, another he most likely would have won.

 

[magpies42]

There is no argument from me, even though Fed is probably my favourite when on song. The argument that he won against players that weren't close to level could probably apply to Djokovic, except he's doing at the end of his career instead of the start.

I think the appropriate way to measure difficulty of winning a slam is the caliber of player they come up against. How many of them have one a slam or two…I’d say probably not too many early days for Fed.

 

[Vdubs]

I think the appropriate way to measure difficulty of winning a slam is the caliber of player they come up against. How many of them have one a slam or two…I’d say probably not too many early days for Fed.

Fed came up against Sampras, Agassi, Hewitt but then had to contend with Nadal, Murray and Novak.
No arguments, Fed was and is an absolute champion player and person, a superb ambassador for tennis, but Novak a worthy GOAT

 

[BobbyMorri]

Now the goat race is over, whereto for men's tennis?

We start counting Carlos Alcaraz tally...........

I dont really get into the whole GOAT discussion. Never had, never will. I will say that Novak mental strength is as good, if not better than his backhand. Such an underrated part of his game. As A-rod said, first he takes your legs, then he takes your soul.

It is the thing with the big 3, especially in best of 5 matches. Half the time, they have already won by the time they step on the court. they just had that presence that intimidated the average player. It is what separated them from Murray and Stanimal especially.

 

[pepsi]

Fed came up against Sampras, Agassi, Hewitt but then had to contend with Nadal, Murray and Novak.
No arguments, Fed was and is an absolute champion player and person, a superb ambassador for tennis, but Novak a worthy GOAT

Sampras and Agassi were at the very end of their careers when Federer started to get to the top and Hewitt was a similar type to ferrer.

Interesting stat I saw today:
Titles won by defeating TWO or more Top 5 players:
Djokovic - 24x
Federer - 13x
Nadal - 13x

Titles won by defeating TWO or more Top 10 players:
Djokovic - 58x
Federer - 39x
Nadal - 37x

Many things make Djokovic great, the absolute desire to be the best, to keep improving, working on his game, his mental strength, his conditioning. Such a phenomenal athlete. Has to go down as one of the great athletes of all time, not just in tennis but in sport.

His surface versatility is another key attribute that sets him above Rafa and fed. The only player to have won all masters (two times over at that) as well as all slams at least three times.

 

[magpies42]

Fed came up against Sampras, Agassi, Hewitt but then had to contend with Nadal, Murray and Novak.
No arguments, Fed was and is an absolute champion player and person, a superb ambassador for tennis, but Novak a worthy GOAT

That’s kind of my point, Sampras and Agassi were at the end of their careers, and Hewitt wouldn’t make it in the top 20 these days with his game. Federer took the game to an entirely different level when he began to perform…Novak and Rafa took it even further though.

 

[magpies42]

We start counting Carlos Alcaraz tally...........

I dont really get into the whole GOAT discussion. Never had, never will. I will say that Novak mental strength is as good, if not better than his backhand. Such an underrated part of his game. As A-rod said, first he takes your legs, then he takes your soul.

It is the thing with the big 3, especially in best of 5 matches. Half the time, they have already won by the time they step on the court. they just had that presence that intimidated the average player. It is what separated them from Murray and Stanimal especially.

Stan I think is one of the most underrated. Never lost in a final, freakish ability. Murray was just cannon fodder

 

[Vdubs]

Stan I think is one of the most underrated. Never lost in a final, freakish ability. Murray was just cannon fodder

Not relevant, but player whose racquet mastery I loved was Mc Enroe

 

[HODGEYROAD]

I love it how Djokovic makes so many people's blood boil, yet he'll retire being the undisputed GOAT.

 

[SSSSSS]

It's not even close.

 

[interestedoz1]

I think in the goat discussions it's always important to remember Nadal's achievemets.

"Rafael Nadal has won 14 French Open titles which is a record for any player, male or female, in any major tournament. He also holds the record for the most consecutive wins in the Open Era, with five from 2010 to 2014."

List of French Open men's singles champions - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Which is not to say Novak is not the best candidate for overall goat, but for the greatest clay courter in tennis history, imo the undisputed candidate is Rafael Nadal.

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

Novak might be the GOAT. In fact, it is probably fair to say that he is.

But there are a dozen players that I have seen in my time following tennis that I would pay good money to see before I would see Novak play. I find what he does to be robotic and more than a little bit boring. He's magnificent at it but it puts me to sleep.

I am also of the opinion that there are a few, not many but a few players that had more natural talent. But for the most part they lacked Novak's incredible work ethic and fitness.

 

[Allezjuel]

View attachment 1711625

It's not even close.

Of the 3 statistics where Djokovic isn't in front:

-Expect him to overtake Fed for total ranking points by the end of his career

-Not suprsied Fed's record of consecutive weeks at No. 1, he won 11 grand slams out of 16 from 2004 to 2007. Djokovic on the other hand has had dominant years (won 3 slams in 2011, 2015 and 2021), but never dominant consecutive years. The one argument you could make for Fed as the GOAT was that his peak in this period was the highest of all the players, but then you could also argue he didn't have much competition until Djokovic came on to the scene and Nadal started playing well on non-clay surfaces in 2008. Fed will keep this record.

-Djokovic has a decent chance on improving upon his bronze at Paris 2024, but he has also had much better chances at Rio and Tokyo and hasn't capitalised. Being a best of 3 definitely hurts his chances.

 

[HODGEYROAD]

View attachment 1711625

It's not even close.

Consecutive weeks at World no 1 pretty much the only think Novak won't lead by the end. Also maybe overall win percentage if he plays until 40 and it fades a bit at the end.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Consecutive weeks at World no 1 pretty much the only think Novak won't lead by the end. Also maybe overall win percentage if he plays until 40 and it fades a bit at the end.

Lets be real it was over a long time ago just the total slams weren't the most, now they are. It's over. Who is the second, take your pick Fed/Nadal/ Laver/Connors, etc.

 

[Thrawn]

He was physically and mentally not able to match the peak prowess of Novak.

No.

Physically, he could go with him. Look at the '19 Wimb F for proof of that, and their epic SF at RG. It was his mental fragility that lost him many games vs Novak, especially when he was in a winning position.

 

[Shell]

Fed was nearly my all time sporting hero, and still love him, but he seemed to mentally disintegrate in several Nadal matches.
He was physically and mentally not able to match the peak prowess of Novak.
I'm fortunate enough to have witnessed the best of Laver, Rosewall, Hoad, Newcombe, Borg, McEnroe, Connors, Lendl, Edberg, Sampras, Agassi, Fed, Nadal, and Djokovic, etc, and my favourite to watch was Federer, but GOAT just has to be Djokovic

Seeing Edberg (v Rafter) on TV was what basically got me into tennis. Great era back then.

 

[Vdubs]

Seeing Edberg (v Rafter) on TV was what basically got me into tennis. Great era back then.

Edberg was great to watch. Saw him live at Kooyong and he was utterly dominant, with a perfect grass court game.He beat compatriot Wilander easily, but his career was very good anyway on all courts, though none of his 6 GS titles was at Roland Garros.

 

[NetworkNerd]

Djokovic will likely finish with between 30-35 slams. He ate when Nadal/Federer were around and now will win 3-4 slams for the next few years.

Lots of other players from the past I would like to watch over him.. but the cold hard facts are he is the goat.

 

[Drummond]

Djokovic will likely finish with between 30-35 slams. He ate when Nadal/Federer were around and now will win 3-4 slams for the next few years.

Lots of other players from the past I would like to watch over him.. but the cold hard facts are he is the goat.

Zero chance.

 

[Kangapirate]

Djokovic will likely finish with between 30-35 slams. He ate when Nadal/Federer were around and now will win 3-4 slams for the next few years.

Lots of other players from the past I would like to watch over him.. but the cold hard facts are he is the goat.

Nah no chance, the cliff will come very quickly for him. 25 max i'd say.

 

[yabsy]

Djokovic will likely finish with between 30-35 slams. He ate when Nadal/Federer were around and now will win 3-4 slams for the next few years.

Lots of other players from the past I would like to watch over him.. but the cold hard facts are he is the goat.

Less than zero chance.

On Redmi Note 8 Pro using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Vdubs]

Nah no chance, the cliff will come very quickly for him. 25 max i'd say.

He could retire as well if he gets THE GRAND SLAM