Weeks 35 & 36 - US Open - Flushing Meadows, New York City (hard) - main draw

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Weeks 35 & 36 - US Open - Flushing Meadows, New York City (hard) - main draw

Rich2310 · County player

What a nice guy Medvedev is. I really hope this can be his moment to claim a second slam.

Neil Gee · Club Coach

I didn't see that coming at all. I had Carlos down not just to reach the final but to win it too.

Neil Gee · Club Coach

Novak Djokovich wins 24th Grand Slam. GOAT? Methodical rather than exciting to watch but you can't argue with his achievements. If I were going to choose an era of tennis to write a book about it would have to be this one right here for the sheer gravitas of it all. Well done Novak.

Crispy · Strong Club Player

Im not a Djok fan, but I can't deny his absolute brilliance on the court. He looks like he could do this for another 4-5 years at this level. Begrudgingly, I do think he is the greatest...

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

I listened to the last two sets on the radio, admittedly half asleep. It sounded as if he was on his last legs towards the end of the second, but was he playing his usual tricks? I'm not a fan either but do recognise that he's a definite GOAT contender.

indiana · Tennis legend

I just do not like the guy for various reasons and ability to give nice wee post match speeches certainly doesn't change that.

But yes, I would say he is the GOAT.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Yes, me too.

I was very impressed by his level, by his smarts, by his whole tennis performance - it was magistral

And Medvedev was a complete moron at the end of the second set - he had the level in pure terms but had rings run round him

So Novak most certainly deserved it and he is a truly exceptional tennis player

But am I pleased Djoko won? No

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
Yes, me too.

I was very impressed by his level, by his smarts, by his whole tennis performance - it was magistral

And Medvedev was a complete moron at the end of the second set - he had the level in pure terms but had rings run round him

So Novak most certainly deserved it and he is a truly exceptional tennis player

But am I pleased Djoko won? No

Feels like how I feel about him as well. Which is a shame that the best ever, probably, isnt an icon or hero to many of us

RainDelay · Pro player

I don't believe he's the best ever. Most successful sure. But all surfaces are practically the same nowadays, doesn't have to change his game at all. If he was winning them all on ultra slow clay courts and ultra fast grass courts I would be more convinced.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

RainDelay wrote:
I don't believe he's the best ever. Most successful sure. But all surfaces are practically the same nowadays, doesn't have to change his game at all. If he was winning them all on ultra slow clay courts and ultra fast grass courts I would be more convinced.

Jeff Sackman of the fabulous Tennis Abstract resource created a well researched and analysed list last year

https://www.tennisabstract.com/blog/2022/02/01/introducing-the-tennis-128/

Rod Laver came out top, Djoko was 4th (men and women). With 3 more slams now , I wonder how this might have changed if Jeff re ran his numbers . I might ask him!

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

And this was our thread that followed it and commented

britishtennis.activeboard.com/t68268483/greatest-players-of-all-time-according-to-tennis-abstract/

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

I asked Jeff about Djoko and whether he would have now moved up the GOAT list he created since end of 2021 when he calculated it all through - answer is not #1 but maybe ahead of Court and Serena...

Hi Jon,

He's still behind Laver. You might remember that I used three general metrics -- peak, best 5 years, and career. The last two seasons have moved Djokovic up to #1 in the career category (he was #4 before), but he's never going to get close to Laver's peak. Laver's peak (by comparison with other peaks) is better than Djokovic's longevity (relative to other players).

Unfortunately, I can't find the excel sheet that I used to work out the percentile rankings to compare men to women. It's possible that Djokovic should move up to #2 or #3, but I'll need to work that out again.

Jeff