Tennis: Wimbledon 2021

[Novak Djokovic]

Too many people in this world are Federer fans and not real tennis fans because it shows...

I'm hoping history will be looked at a bit differently when all is said and done, and that with time, people will start to accept it.

 

[kihei]

All 4 slams in a year has been done before. All 4 slams plus an Olympic gold has never been done. Novak wants to make history.

The gods have a tendency to knock down the greedy. A Calendar Slam would be such an absolutely awesome achievement, that I would do nothing to jeopardize it.

 

[Beau Knows]

I think in a normal year Novak would go to the Olympics and try for the golden slam. But with no fans in Tokyo and the entire situation there being a mess...yeah he might just focus on the US Open.

 

[Hadoop]

Novak FINALLY gets GS number 20, and all eyes will be on him at both Tokyo as he aims to capture the elusive gold medal and the US Open as he goes for the tie-breaking 21st slam to propel him as the GOAT of GOATs.

 

[kihei]

Novak FINALLY gets GS number 20, and all eyes will be on him at both Tokyo as he aims to capture the elusive gold medal and the US Open as he goes for the tie-braking 21st slam to propel him as the GOAT of GOATs.

I say this as a huge Federer and Nadal fan: Novak doesn't need the tie breaker. He is the GOAT as surely as Roger ever was, which was, haters aside, pretty damn "surely" for a very long time. Here's some reasons why Novak is the GOAT:

--20 Grand Slams (tied with you-know-who and you-know-who)
--36 1000 titles (tied with Rafa)
--329 weeks at #1 ranking (he and Roger (310) are the only two players over 300)
--Only player to win all nine of the 1000 tournaments and he has done so twice
--Only player in the Open Era to win the career Grand Slam twice (only Laver and Emerson are his equals in male tennis history)
--He has won 5 ATP finals
--He holds winning head-to-head records over both Federer and Nadal.

If we are going by strictly tennis standards, excluding things like aesthetics and international influence, support and reknown, he is unquestionably the greatest tennis player in history.

 

[Streetsamurai]

Agrees. I'm more of a Nadal fan, but Djokovic is undisputably the goat. And he'll make it even clearer in the next few years

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

Too many people in this world are Federer fans and not real tennis fans because it shows...

I'm hoping history will be looked at a bit differently when all is said and done, and that with time, people will start to accept it.

Nole is definitely the GOAT in on court tennis terms. Which to tennis purists is what really matters.

For the rest of the world, he is a bit unlikeable (no-vax?), and was the heel coming up to spoil the Fed/Nadal rivalry. He will never be looked at with the same admiration as Fed imo, even though he was the better tennis player.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Who has the best chance of beating Djokovic in the US Open?

 

[Fantomas]

Have you seen the new Rolex commercial?

Downright pathetic from Federer.

The man needs to feed his children.

 

[Fantomas]

I say this as a huge Federer and Nadal fan: Novak doesn't need the tie breaker. He is the GOAT as surely as Roger ever was, which was, haters aside, pretty damn "surely" for a very long time. Here's some reasons why Novak is the GOAT:

--20 Grand Slams (tied with you-know-who and you-know-who)
--36 1000 titles (tied with Rafa)
--329 weeks at #1 ranking (he and Roger (310) are the only two players over 300)
--Only player to win all nine of the 1000 tournaments and he has done so twice
--Only player in the Open Era to win the career Grand Slam twice (only Laver and Emerson are his equals in male tennis history)
--He has won 5 ATP finals
--He holds winning head-to-head records over both Federer and Nadal.

If we are going by strictly tennis standards, excluding things like aesthetics and international influence, support and reknown, he is unquestionably the greatest tennis player in history.

You're saying this very confidently, I assume having studied the accomplishments of professional tennis players before the open era who did not participate in the grand slam?

(I'm guessing no)

 

[kihei]

You're saying this very confidently, I assume having studied the accomplishments of professional tennis players before the open era who did not participate in the grand slam?

(I'm guessing no)

Oh, Fantomas, with these always confident but usually badly misinformed commentary, you are almost close to becoming an endearing nincompoop.

Okay. The first tennis match I remember seeing was on TV between Pancho Gonzalez and Tony Trabert. That's a ways back, no, well before the dawn of the ATP. The first meaningful match that I remember was in 1956 when Lew Hoad went for the Calendar Slam against Ken Rosewall at the US Open and cracked under the immense pressure, losing in four sets. Which is one big reason why I am suspicious of Nole's chances this year. I wasn't around to see them but at one time I read extensively about Bill Tilden, Gottfried von Cramm, Donald Budge, Bobby Riggs, Jack Kramer, and France's famous Four Musketeers, Cochet, Lacoste, Borotra, and Brugnon. I have followed the game ever since I was a child and have played it nearly as long. So, yeah, I am fairly confident of my pronouncemets which I like to think are carefully measured and reasonably informed. I mean, I could just blurt out whatever comes to my little pea brain at the moment without reading it over or thinking about it, but I choose not to do so. Works for some people, I guess.

 

[kihei]

Who has the best chance of beating Djokovic in the US Open?

A lot more guys than on grass, for sure. Thiem would be the obvious pick but who knows how derailed he is and how long it will take him to recover. But Tsitsipas, Zverev, Medvedev come in for long looks, and players like Rublev, Nadal, Berrettini, maybe Shapovalov are dangeous and can't be dismissed entirely. A lot depends on his draw. If I had to pick one guy right now, though, I would guess Tsitsipas.

 

[MXD]

A lot more guys than on grass, for sure. Thiem would be the obvious pick but who knows how derailed he is and how long it will take him to recover. But Tsitsipas, Zverev, Medvedev come in for long looks, and players like Rublev, Nadal, Berrettini, maybe Shapovalov are dangeous and can't be dismissed entirely. A lot depends on his draw. If I had to pick one guy right now, though, I would guess Tsitsipas.

Medvedev, amongst predictable options.

I mean, someone like Taylor Fritz could beat him if playing very well and Djokovic being very off.
Problem is, Djokovic's very off days tend to be very few and far between.

 

[The Abusement Park]

Props to Nole. The mans consistency over basically the last decade is absolutely unreal. This was one of the worst finals I’ve seen him play and the game never really seemed in doubt. It’s been awesome to really cement his legacy as the one of the GOATs(the best ever to me personally) .