Yeah thanks. Are you really saying that it is impossible for the 100 players below him to win a match from him? Of course not. Vinci was #43 when she beat Serena in her slam bid. None of these matches are byes. He can lose. When the line comes out, Djoker vs. the Field in the Open, what will it be? 1/99 as somebody posted about him in the Wimbledon Final? No, maybe 1/3 tops if it gets bet up.

Who's gonna beat Rafa at the French Open? Soderling? Who's gonna beat peak Federer? Del Potro? Who's gonna beat Mike Tyson? Buster Douglas? Jack Fleck versus Ben Hogan? Come on! Who's gonna beat Secretariat? Who's gonna beat Dan Gable? Etc. etc.

Why such a change of heart if you once had him first?

Well it raged incomparable for a decade here, and triple dead heat by some reckoning ain't bad. But I think it's two horses. Affirmed and Alydar, and the head in front may be getting ready to be a length or 10 lenghths ... or 31 lengths.

I mean flukes/shocks happen in sport. Sure it might happen but it’s far more likely that it doesn’t. There just isn’t very many good players. It’s more down to complacency than anything else.

People moan that Roger won a few slams against Roddick, Hewitt etc at least those guys actually took the game to the big players of that era. Next gen just seen happy to be there - once they retire we can win a few.

Tennis is going to be really bad soon, there is likely to be various #1s, 4 different slam winners and probably 9 different 1000 winners a season.

Sport needs rivalries at the top level to keep it interesting and intense.

Novak is 11/10 right now to win US Open, the field is favored over him.

https://www.oddschecker.com/tennis/us-open/mens

He's lost to a bunch of non-big 3 opponents here in the past, including Wawrinka twice. This will not be like Wimbledon or AO where he just cruises in straight sets until the final.

He doesn’t ever cruise into the final in straight sets though, he always had a match or two where he looks like he’s playing golf or pretended to be injured.

Just this year alone he lost a set to a random WC at Wimbledon, I recall someone taking him to 5 sets early doors at AO and he came back from 2 sets down at the french twice.

And roger has pulled out of the Olympics.

Again shows the lack of talent getting so far without having knees ��

So murray is going for the 3 pete and novak may not even play?

Murray goat?

In fact I'll go so far as to say win or lose the US Open, Djoker will slip considerably next year after such a gargantuan run, and never be near the force again that he has been the last 10 years or so. Suddenly there will be all kinds of "inexplicable" losses and grand slam flame outs. There are no byes, and when you are GOAT in super peak it only looks like there is.

And I don't buy this idea that there aren't a lot of great players in the game currently. That would mean the 3 GOATs suddenly appeared miraculously in a context off all around weak play in the sport. These other guys are "weak" because there are three Tiger Woods out there active at the same time. So the field is "weak." I'm selling.

If there are three Mike Tysons all the guys they destroy along the way are weak because they can't title or even get a title shot. It's true that they do end up with lack of winning experience and learning curve because they are closed out. I"m not sure there is much precedent for this in sport. Three super elites in a triumvirate dominant reign. That's good food for thought, other similar situations.

Novak beating Rafa at RG this year was a gigantic and unexpected swing. Not just that it was a two slam swing, but it also gave Novak two of each, dampened Rafa's almost unimaginable RG record, maintained Novak's h2h lead, etc. There's just no real argument for Rafa now imo.

And Rafa won the first set, before losing three straight. Insane stuff. Novak just too good.

So you're saying the guy has been on a heater for a decade or so, but the luckbox is out of luck next year for no particular reason.

Got it, makes perfect sense.

Why do you think that?

I mean I’ll gladly bet he wins 2 or more slams next year if he plays all four fit.

In doing some quick research, it seems that since the start of the 2015 season...

There have been 26 grand slam tournaments. Novak entered 25 of them.

Novak retired in 1 (2017 Wimb).

Novak did not play in 1 (2017 US).

Novak got DQ'd in 1 (2020 US).

Novak was defeated by an opponent via sets in 10 of them.
...Of those 10, 3 of them were in the finals (2015 RG, 2016 US, 2020 RG). In 25 tournaments, Novak has lost prior to the finals only 7 times.

Novak won the remaining 13 tournaments.

Which means that even though he retired in one, didn't enter another, and got disqualified in a third, he STILL managed to win 50% of the grand slam tournaments held since 2015.

He has won the title more times than he's been defeated via sets. (13 to 10). He's been in the final over twice as many times as he's been defeated prior to the final (16 final appearances to 7 pre-final losses via sets).

These are incredible numbers (...and I'm reasonably certain they're accurate).

Dude he was never going to play the olympics.... especially after that devastating loss to some kid at Wimbledon. He an old man now- slams are more important than the olympics (with no fans lol). It’s retiring time soon for fed- just wait till he loses 1st or 2nd round of a slam- it’s probably going to happen. He almost lost 1st of wimby.

And why is it so bad if we get 4 different slam winners and 9 different 1000s winners? Isn’t parity kinda good sometimes? The big 3 have been amazing but it seems like they have never all been peak form at the same time. Nadal is injured a lot, fed recently has been injured and is old...... djokovic has been fairly regular in playing well. Not sure why it’s so bad if we get different slam winners. This is tennis. One person is not supposed to dominate like Federer did early in his career. This game is just too difficult to go 80-4 for a season etc.

Btw, I really hope nadal can be clutch at the us open. He needs to win the us open for any hope of no djokovic as goat. It’s going to be so depressing if djokovic wins the us open.

Each year that you are dominant and aging is a year closer to when you are not dominant. Can we agree on that? Superhuman efforts tend to have hangovers, and that's what this is. The reason he considered not going to the Olympics is that the demand it places on him and the energy it takes from his US Open bid. I hope he pulls it off. I'll bet against it and gladly pay it off. Witnessing dramatic greatness > profit.

You're the one saying he wins by luck, not me, Jerkoff.

This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read in the poker threads. Only injury will stop Novak from being the same dominant player he is now for the next 2-3 years at least. This means probably winning at least 2 majors per year. He'll end up with at least 24 majors and probably more like 26-27.

I certainly agree. And maybe soon no argument for Fed. If he does finish the slam and then push it to 25 or so and beyond, well that's supersick and we aren't worthy. Could be a GOAT of GOAT's bid across sports?????

The point was there just isn’t any good players aside from the big 3 (we could and probably should say big 2) therefore it’s far easier for those big 2 to continue to win - if fit. Rafa injured at FO we didn’t even know or realise until after the event. You could kind of tell with Roger as he was all over the shop for every match. Even taking it back a few years with Murray he was going deep in slams with no hip

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Roger rocked up to a slam a couple of years back and won it. I see no reason as to why Novax won’t just play a lot less tennis and just play a couple or 1 warm up event to the slam for the next couple of years and just continue to rack them up.

He is at the absolute peak of his game -- he certainly has never won the first three majors before -- and you are guaranteeing, barring injury, that he maintains this level at age 35, 36, maybe 37, and maybe beyond that. Well, that's a hell of a guarantee. He hits a wall soon, whether thru injury or knick knack problems the same Fed phenomenon of 'I'm just no longer Fed.' He's considerably older than when Fed's first major drought began, and Fed's longevity of course is legend.

Novak is pretty clearly past his peak. Go watch matches from 5 years ago it's pretty clear his speed has dropped a level. Everyone else just sucks so much that it really doesn't matter.

Djokovic has 2 career slams and will probably get the 2021 slam. He is the goat.

Yep not close anymore