The Official Tennis Thread

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

one thing that happened was Fed was the next dominant player after Sampras so he was going to have his stans and his detractors. A lot of people gravitated towards nadal because he was the exciting up and comer and Fed needed a rival. So now you got Fed stans and Fed haters and Nadal stans..

nobody expected a third all-time great to emerge around the same time and kinda takeover in the way Joker did. So Joker is always gonna have ppl that don't rock wit him and I think it's great for him to have that motivation.

i think the british crowd is a lil embarrassing sometime with how in the bag they are for Fed.

 

[UserNameless]

Joker is so smug

He’s lucky Fed just seemed to run outta gas, imo.

Fed is such a tactician ... it’s not even funny . He was truly born to do this shyt .



Great, great match tho .

 

[malbaker86]

Rafa most heartbreaking loss to Novak and Novak? 2012 AO and 2007 Wimbledon.

Novak most heartbreaking L's to Rog and Rafa? 2011 FO to Fed and 2013 FO to Rafa. That damn net

Fed is easy....2008 Wimbledon and 2011 USO. 2 match points against Novak and then Novak with a GOAT return and then Rog hit the net the next point to bring it to deuce then eventually double faulted. Don't need to revisit Wimbledon 08

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

Without clay, Rafa is Andy Murray level

nah and u can't just say "without this surface.." because it's been around forever. it's not like they just started using clay. It's up to the other players to stop him.

 

[Liu Kang]

one thing that happened was Fed was the next dominant player after Sampras so he was going to have his stans and his detractors. A lot of people gravitated towards nadal because he was the exciting up and comer and Fed needed a rival. So now you got Fed stans and Fed haters and Nadal stans..

nobody expected a third all-time great to emerge around the same time and kinda takeover in the way Joker did. So Joker is always gonna have ppl that don't rock wit him and I think it's great for him to have that motivation.

i think the british crowd is a lil embarrassing sometime with how in the bag they are for Fed.

Fed is at home everywhere and I used to hate it when he playing Rafa because the crowd was always shamelessly biased for him

I think what was great about Rafa/Federer and why Djokovic can't really compare is that the two are basically polar opposites :
- lefty/righty
- baseliner/attacker
- latin/germanic
- sleeveless/polo
- spin/flat
- 2h/1h backhand
- grunts/does not grunt (or not much)
- etc.

Same with Seles/Graf or Messi/Ronaldo, Maradona/Pelé, Manny/Floyd. So when Nadal came up, there was really some kind of antithesis for Federer so his haters could rally and flock to Rafa. And both had some kind of weaknesses, Rafa was always less efficient on non-clay surfaces while Roger was winning on everything but clay (before Rafa, he was reaaaally struggling at the French against "lesser" opposition) so you could sympathize with both somehow. Rafa had to change his game to win on hardcourt and grass and Fed's struggles at the French made him human despite his godliness.

With Djokovic, you have a guy that you can't really oppose to nobody like that as he's more or less a mix of both. Great returner/defender, baseliner, 2h backhand like Rafa, righty, not latin, similar stroke style like Fed. Plus the guy has literally no weaknesses and his game is the same no matter the surface so he's a bit "boring" per se as you can't relate to a struggle or a challenge for him. He can dominate Rafa on clay and can also dominate Roger on grass/indoor without really changing his style or gameplan.

IMO, he's too polished in his game for him to have a nemesis so people can't really care about him the same they do with Rafa and Fed.

 

[Regular_P]

My two cents why Djokovic isn't as popular as Fed and Nadal:

1.) He was antagonistic with the fans early in his career and he used to quit in matches or fake injuries when things weren't going his way. He would straight fold up shop if the going got tough when he was young. Even Federer commented on it before. Everyone recognized his talent but he acted like a brat.

2.) He did break up the Nadal/Fed dominance and obviously took a lot of shine away from those two. It can be hard for younger stars to get embraced over established legends in all sports.

3.) To piggy back on 2, I would kinda compare it to if LeBron started playing six years after Jordan and overlapped the end of his prime in the East. People would always be pulling for MJ to get one more or add to his legacy if he was still in the hunt. Fed's prime was 2004-2009. Won three majors a year three different times. His career took a natural progression as Nadal and Djokovic (in particular) took over. Djokovic's prime started in 2011 and is still ongoing because nobody has come up to challenge him so you have Fed hanging on and Nadal to an extent as well.

Like it or not, I think there's a natural resentment because he's going unchallenged by the next generation. In a sense, he has it easier.

I absolutely have Djokovic over Nadal in the all-time rankings. Nadal fans don't like when the clay/French thing gets brought up but it's real. He's only won two majors outside of France since 2010.

 

[Liu Kang]

Rafa most heartbreaking loss to Novak and Novak? 2012 AO and 2007 Wimbledon.

Novak most heartbreaking L's to Rog and Rafa? 2011 FO to Fed and 2013 FO to Rafa. That damn net

Fed is easy....2008 Wimbledon and 2011 USO. 2 match points against Novak and then Novak with a GOAT return and then Rog hit the net the next point to bring it to deuce then eventually double faulted. Don't need to revisit Wimbledon 08

Roger's loss to Rafa in AO in 09 is up there too. It was at that time where Nadal was starting to be superior to Fed on other surfaces than clay and it was getting to Fed mentally. Ironically, his win against Rafa in 2017 at AO kickstarted his new era against Rafa and he has now taking the advantage again.

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

Joker doesn't have it easier. Him and Nadal are the same age and Fed was still in his prime when Joker beat him

 

[MillionMills]

Rafa most heartbreaking loss to Novak and Novak? 2012 AO and 2007 Wimbledon.

Novak most heartbreaking L's to Rog and Rafa? 2011 FO to Fed and 2013 FO to Rafa. That damn net

Fed is easy....2008 Wimbledon and 2011 USO. 2 match points against Novak and then Novak with a GOAT return and then Rog hit the net the next point to bring it to deuce then eventually double faulted. Don't need to revisit Wimbledon 08

Fed also had the loss to Nadal at AO (07?) where he cried like a baby in the post match speech

nah and u can't just say "without this surface.." because it's been around forever. it's not like they just started using clay. It's up to the other players to stop him.

Yeah but outside of RG he only has 6 grand slams on other surfaces. Thats impressive but I cant put him above the other two. He also has ZERO ATP world finals.

I think what was great about Rafa/Federer and why Djokovic can't really compare is that the two are basically polar opposites :
- lefty/righty
- baseliner/attacker
- latin/germanic
- sleeveless/polo
- spin/flat
- 2h/1h backhand
- grunts/does not grunt (or not much)
- etc.

This has a lot to do with it. They are polar opposites on the court. Also add in Fed plays fast and Nadal plays slow

My two cents why Djokovic isn't as popular as Fed and Nadal:

1.) He was antagonistic with the fans early in his career and he used to quit in matches or fake injuries when things weren't going his way. He would straight fold up shop if the going got tough when he was young. Even Federer commented on it before. Everyone recognized his talent but he acted like a brat.

2.) He did break up the Nadal/Fed dominance and obviously took a lot of shine away from those two. It can be hard for younger stars to get embraced over established legends in all sports.

3.) To piggy back on 2, I would kinda compare it to if LeBron started playing six years after Jordan and overlapped the end of his prime in the East. People would always be pulling for MJ to get one more or add to his legacy if he was still in the hunt. Fed's prime was 2004-2009. Won three majors a year three different times. His career took a natural progression as Nadal and Djokovic (in particular) took over. Djokovic's prime started in 2011 and is still ongoing because nobody has come up to challenge him so you have Fed hanging on and Nadal to an extent as well.

Like it or not, I think there's a natural resentment because he's going unchallenged by the next generation. In a sense, he has it easier.

I absolutely have Djokovic over Nadal in the all-time rankings. Nadal fans don't like when the clay/French thing gets brought up but it's real. He's only won two majors outside of France since 2010.

I think also it's just as basic as Fed and Nadal coming first

If Novak was the older one, he'd be universally loved

 

[LiveFromLondon]

In a sense, he has it easier.

How is it easier when this is the Goat era and he has 16 slams, wish someone would answer that

 

[Formerly known as...]

Fed is loved because of his gracefulness on court and how he calmy dismantled players early in his career before Nadal and Novak came on strong. Nadal then came through and had that epic final in Wimbledon at a young age which made people stand up and respect him. They watched Nadal fail at Wimbledon twice before eventually getting it in a classic so they grew to love him NOT to mention both were sponsored by Nike and pushed commercially worldwide heavily. Novak never had that push, he was never commercially loved. He just played tennis and mastered his game and diet etc to be the best on court.

Dont underestimate the power of being pushed by someone like Nike onto people.

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

Remember boring Marat Safin

How was safin boring???

Gustavo churchan or however you spelt his name

Kuerten

 

[null]

How it unfolded in the end
Djokovic is too consistent and was beating Fed at the same age he is now, dont believe that Feds prime was in 06/08, that was when he won the most not really tested. His best tennis was around 30/33

Another reason is ofcourse he came late to the party but peaked higher than both Fed and Rafa.

Fed was unplayable between 2004 and 2007. He was already fading and top 2 period 2008 - start 2010 - that period he lost to Del Potro. He is top 3 2017 - 2018 and possibly 2019 depending on the USOpen.

Almost all of his wins have come in bunches as shown above. He only won 2 slams outside of those periods. Just when he started to dominate Nadal came along to challenge him and then Murray and Novak after that.

There was and is no younger star to challenge Novak and so he will continue to collect slams when the other two tail off. If there were no Nadal to stop Fed he would have 4 - 6 more Majors at least.

Novak might end up winning the most in the end but if history is any lesson someone will be along to challenge him soon enough.

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

Y'all really scared that Novak will end up with 20+ huh

 

[malbaker86]

If the season ended today, the WTF would be

1. Novak 6725 points
2. Rafa 6225
3. Fed 5060
4. Thiem 3315
5. Tsitsipas 2995
6. Kei 2070
7. RBA 1980
8. Medvedev 1855

Current top 10

Novak
Rafa
Fed
Thiem
Sasha Zverev
Tsitsipas
Kei
Khachanov
Medvedev
Fognini