Goat sauce

congrats to ESPN's 11th best athlete of the 21st century on further solidifying his status as the GOAT athlete.

Never been a Novak fan, but I'd say he's top 3 this century amongst the sports that really matter.

He’s completed tennis. Got to hand it to him incredible player.

Such a knob head though.

Crazy that he’s can still slap everyone around after a knee injury at 37, shows just how poor the field is. Alcaraz yesterday was brilliant in the first set but just didn’t take his chance as soon as it went 1-0 you got the feeling that it was going to be 2-0 and good night.

i guess that the difference between federer and him.
federer at the same age was reaching grand slam finals but had 2 other goats to go through in their prime shrug.

It all goes back to the 2019 Wimbledon final, for me. Fed nearly pulled it out, but couldn't. If he had won that, you could have held tried to hold the argument until the end of time. Federer's mini renaissance in his mid thirties looked to have tilted the conversation, but Novak has clearly done more in the same age range.

As is, Novak is clearly the greatest tennis player to ever walk the earth and, as a ~40 year old, it is unlikely I ever see a better one before I die.

Which is clearly a pretty unfortunate reality to live in given his personal qualities, but it is what it is nonetheless.

The interesting question is going to be whether future players can have this level of productivity late into their thirties that the 'big three' have managed. I have my doubts on this. It appears players can hold up much better now physically than they could a quarter century ago, but it remains to be seen whether players will want this as they age.

This thread is in keeping with the tradition of 2+2 GOAT threads, where a decade rolls on and the answer in the end is crystal clear. #novakGOAT

Federer won a GS when he was 36 and reached a final when he was 37.

Djokovic has won 2 titles at 36, reached a final he didn't win and also has reached a final at 37, plus won his gold medal.

And Roger's competition when he won at 36 was weak. Super easy draw and best player he played was Cilic as the 6th seed in the final.

The difference between Federer and him is Federer isn't as good at tennis, which isn't debatable by any rational person. If you're trying to make the argument that Djokovic's numbers are better because his competition is weaker, you're way off. Federer won 12 of his 20 grand slams by 2007 at which point Djokovic had zero and Nadal had 3 (all at the French open). He dominated a historically soft era and then two better players started reaching their prime. Both have more slams vs. tougher average competition and both have winning records vs Federer.

I was talking which era was stronger when Federer was 35+ compare to the joker at 35+ ….

At near 38 , federar beat prime nadal in semi final and lost in the longest match in the final vs prime djoker at Wimbledon .
That’s incredible.

Ps: people should stop saying Federer had it easy early on .
Sampras and Agassi were no joke ….

Stop it .
Many times he lost vs nadal or the djoker in semi or final .
And djoker didn’t always win only vs Federer or nadal either …

Who goat in their prime djoker has to beat ?
I’m not saying djoker isn’t the goat but I’m not sure federer wasn’t as great as the djoker today with similar age .

If Fed had not choked against Djokovic (who tried to lose himself) in 2019 Wimbledon final, the GOAT conversation may have taken a different route. But he did choke, and that's that.

Not quite as bad w/ Nadal losing to Djokovic in 2012 AO, which arguably was the most evenly contested GS final with two players at their peak ever (even though Djokovic was a slight fave going in, real time fave fluctuated throughout the match). If Nadal wins the match, he is likely seen as GOAT. But he lost, and that's that.