On Sunday, Novak Djokovic beat defending champion Andy Murray 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the final of the Madrid Open, thereby winning his fifth tournament this year. It was also his record 29th Masters title, one-upping Rafael Nadal’s 28.
The victory capped a bewildering run of wins. The Serb has now won 15 straight matches against the 10 top-ranked players in the world. He has also won ten of the last 14 Masters titles, and four of the last five Grand Slams.
And yet he isn't greater in most fans' eyes than Roger Federer, and, in many fans' eyes, than Nadal.
What more does he have to do to get there?
In 2015, Djokovic had one of the most spectacular seasons there has ever been in the open era of tennis, since 1968. He won 82 of the 88 matches he played last year, a win percentage of 93%. Imagine playing 88 matches and losing just six.
These wins included three Grand Slam titles, and 11 tournament triumphs in all. This was even better than his breakthrough 2011 season, when he had won 43 matches in a row and smashed through the glass ceiling created by Nadal and Federer.
In fact, Djokovic’s 2015 season was comparable to Federer’s 2006, which the Swiss had finished with a 92-5 win-loss record, including three Grand Slams and 12 tournament wins in total.
Federer, the golden boy of tennis in the last decade, often finds a mention in the GOAT, or Greatest of all Time, discussions. With a record 17 Grand Slam titles and 302 weeks as World No 1, it’s difficult to argue against it.
Nadal, with 14 Grand Slam wins and a 23-11 dominance over Federer, has also featured as GOAT candidate. But Djokovic, in spite of ending four of the last five years as World No 1, in spite of having a 23-22 win-loss record against Federer and 25-23 against Nadal, is still left out of these discussions.
And this is at a time when the gap between the 28-year-old and the No. 2 player, Federer, is more than the gap between Federer and the player at the bottom.
Get this. Djokovic currently has 16,550 points in the Association of Tennis Professionals, or ATP, rankings. The second-ranked Federer has 7,525 – that’s a difference of 9,025 points. The last-ranked player, who is 2,222 spots below Federer, has one point, a difference of 7,524 points.
The ATP Rankings system has its fair share of critics, but for what it’s worth, the gap that Djokovic has left between him and the rest of the pack is unprecedented.
Let’s move away from the statistics
Prior to 2011, Djokovic was known more for his impersonations of fellow tennis players than for his game. He used to play an odd great game or two, but could never really break through to the class of Federer and Nadal. He finished the 2010 season with a defeat to Federer in the semifinals of the year-end ATP Tour Finals, marking his fourth successive year ranked No. 3 in the world.
His eventual surge to the pinnacle of the sport had its roots in a dietary change he made at the end of the 2010 season. In his book Serve to Win, the Serb wrote that he switched to a gluten-free diet and dropped 10 pounds (around 4.5 kg), which caused a lot of concern among his family and friends. However, the Djokovic that emerged on the tennis court in 2011 was a lean, mean, fighting machine.
From someone who was infamous for dropping flat on the court with breathing problems – in 2006, Federer had called Djokovic “a joke” because of his alleged tendency to fake injuries during matches – the Djoker emerged a beast, with an endless tank of stamina and the ability to chase down balls hit at any angle or pace. There’s hardly an inch of space on the court that Djokovic hasn’t covered by the time he’s done with the game.
Even today, while he may not have the style and elegance of a one-handed Federer back-hand or the bamboozling top-spin generated by Nadal, he has the ability to turn what looks like a lost cause around in a matter of minutes. He uses his superlative stamina and endurance to get through difficult periods and dig himself out of a ditch. His near-unbreakable defence and his outstanding return game enables him to wear his opponents out of the match.
Nick Bolletieri, one of the most renowned tennis coaches in the world, told The Independent, “He serves well, returns brilliantly, hits great ground strokes, has unbelievable defence and has also become a very good attacking player. He’s also incredibly strong mentally. Nothing seems to throw him.” Nadal, who lost to Djokovic in the final of the Qatar Open earlier this year, said, “I played against a player who did everything perfectly. I have never known anybody play tennis like that.”
So, what’s stopping Djokovic from being considered the GOAT? Here are the four (more) things he must achieve:
The Career Slam
The Coupe des Mousquetaires, awarded to the winner of the men’s singles competition in the French Open, is the one trophy that’s missing from Djokovic’s cabinet. The Serb has played in three finals at Roland Garros, but has never been able to get his hands on the trophy yet. Federer and Nadal, on the other hand, have both won the Career Slam – all four Grand Slam titles. With the French Open coming up at the end of May, the target will be clear.
Federer’s Grand Slam record
Fans of Federer will always say that unless anyone surpasses the Swiss’s record of 17 Grand Slam titles, they cannot be considered the greatest. Others will point out that a majority of Federer’s Grand Slam wins came in an era where he was unchallenged. Between 2003 and 2007, the Swiss won 12 Grand Slams, which came against final opponents such as Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt Mark Philippoussis, Marat Safin and Marcos Baghdatis.
In comparison, all but one of Djokovic’s Grand Slam wins have come against the three other players that make up the current Big Four of tennis – Federer, Nadal and Andy Murray. Seventeen of his 19 finals have been against one of the three as well.
Wins after 29
At 28, Djokovic appears to be at his peak and already has 11 Grand Slams under his belt. You would think that getting seven more – considering Federer doesn’t win any more – in the next five years would be child’s play. However, by 2009, when Federer was 28, he had already won 15 of his 17 majors. He would go on to win just two in the following seven years. Nadal hasn’t won a single Grand Slam since he turned 27 in 2014. Will Djokovic also flounder as he nears the end of his twenties?
Even if Djokovic wins just two Grand Slams a season for the next four years, he will surpass Federer’s record. On current form, it certainly looks like he’ll win many more. And he would have done it in a much more difficult era of tennis than the other candidates on the GOAT list.
Kingslayer no more
Djokovic comes across as a nice guy. He’s jovial, smart and has a good sense of humour. He is humble in victory and gracious in defeat. Yet, for some reason, he just doesn’t get as much love as Federer or Nadal.
One of the reasons for this could be his Kingslayer history. His superior record over Federer and Nadal, especially in the last five years, would not have gone down to well with die-hard fans of the two players. He has often had to play in near-hostile environments, with the entire stadium rooting for the Swiss or the Spaniard, or for Murray at Wimbledon.
“...I was observed as a rebel, somebody who comes in the mix and starts to challenge the two guys that were so dominant,” Djokovic told The New York Times in an interview last year. “‘Who is this guy from Serbia, small country, comes from nowhere and starts saying he can beat the top guys and become No 1?’ Obviously, I understand the people’s reaction to that, but I felt that the only way for me to get out there was to show that I deserved to be there... Because of Nadal and Federer, I became a better player, and I became who I am today. But I had to earn it, and I still have to earn it.”
The Kingslayer tag no longer holds for Djokovic. At the moment, he is the king. In the last five years, especially in the last 18 months, he has ruled over men's tennis with a record unparalleled. It's now no longer the Big Four. It's just the Big One. It's unlikely that this GOAT debate will be bothering him even the slightest as he prepares for Roland Garros. If he keeps going at the rate of knots he is, the debate will be over very soon.
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