The Tennis GOAT

It's a pretty well-known fact around these parts that I'm an unabashed Roger Federer fan.  Even though he's retired, Roger's still my guy.  That's not gonna change.  One thing has changed, though.  I no longer think Roger Federer is the greatest men's tennis player of all-time.  That's Novak Djokovic.

None of this is meant as a knock on Roger.  Far from it actually.  Nor is it meant as a knock on Rafael Nadal, who, as you know, I'm very much not a fan of.  We've been spoiled by watching three all-time greats going head-to-head-to-head for a decade and a half.  But, as great as Roger and Rafa both are, the Djoker is the GOAT.

Federer was the first men's player to win 20 Grand Slams.  Then Nadal passed him.  Then Djokovic passed them both.  His US Open triumph was his 24th Grand Slam title, tying Margaret Court, who played in a completely different era and didn't have two other all-time greats as contemporaries, for the all-time record.  And if you think he's stopping at 24, you're an idiot!  (I do realize we said the same thing about Serena Williams when she got to 23 and she never won another, but the situations are entirely different.)

Djokovic's numbers speak for themselves.  And it's not just his six years' worth of Grand Slam titles, either.  Although, that's a good place to start.  Djokovic has won 24 Grand Slam finals.  He's also lost 12.  That's 36 career Grand Slam finals!  He's played in 72 career Grand Slam tournaments.  Which means he's made it to the finals in half of them!

And, if you think about it, those numbers could very well be higher already.  Because he's had a few high-profile missed opportunities.  In 2020, there was no Wimbledon, and he was disqualified at the US Open after accidentally hitting a linesperson with an errant ball.  And let's not forget how he couldn't play in either the Australian or US Open last year because of his vaccination status.  He also missed the 2017 US Open due to injury, so that's a year's worth of Grand Slams he hasn't played.

Another thing that makes his career so remarkable is when you take into consideration how long it took Djokovic to win his first.  He first came on the scene when Federer and Nadal were in the middle of their primes, and it took him until the 2008 Australian Open to finally win one.  Then he didn't win another until the 2011 Australian Open.  And there was another two-year span between the 2016 French Open and 2018 Wimbledon where he didn't win one.  So, if you take that 2008 Aussie Open out, he's won 23 Grand Slams in a 13-year period (with a two-year winless gap thrown in).  That's mighty impressive!

One of my biggest criticisms of Nadal is that 14 of his 22 Grand Slam titles have come in the same tournament--the French Open.  Federer, meanwhile, only won the French Open once--mainly because Nadal won it every year.  Djokovic has won all four at least three times each, and he's been to the final of each Grand Slam at least seven times.  He truly has no weak surface!

What's crazy, too, is that he's twice come within a match of becoming the first man to complete a calendar year Grand Slam since 1969.  Two years ago, Djokovic was 27-0 in Grand Slam matches before losing to Daniil Medvedev in the US Open final.  This year, he wasn't just a match short.  He was a set short.  Djokovic lost the Wimbledon final in five to Carlos Alcaraz.  He wins that fifth set, he wins the Grand Slam.

Then there's the Olympics.  That's the one glaring hole in resume.  He's played in four of the and never made the final.  He's played for bronze three times, but only won the bronze medal match once.  In 2021, Djokovic went to Tokyo with the Golden Slam still on the table, only to lose in the semifinals, then again in the bronze medal match.  Paris will likely be his final chance for the one thing he's missing.  Olympic gold.

That's the one thing Djokovic is missing that Federer and Nadal both have.  Nadal won singles gold in 2008.  Federer lost the 2012 gold medal match (at Wimbledon) to Andy Murray, but does have a doubles gold.  You can bet that the Olympic gold medal will be right at the top of Djokovic's list of goals for 2024.

At this point in his career, Djokovic is focusing almost exclusively on the major tournaments.  He's earned that right.  Especially because of how much playing in a Grand Slam tournament takes out of you.  You need to win seven best-of-time matches in two weeks, and the tournaments take place year-round on completely different surfaces in completely different conditions.  He's done that twenty-four times (and counting)!

Ultimately, though, the thing that puts Djokovic over the top for me is his longevity.  When he burst on the scene, it was the Roger & Rafa Show, and it took him a little while to break through.  He soon made it the Big Three, an era we've been spoiled to witness where they monopolized the Grand Slam trophies for a decade and a half (they have 66 Grand Slam titles between them...that's 16 1/2 years).  He didn't just make it a Big Three, he rose to the top, leaving the other two looking up at him.

Now Federer is retired and Nadal will be joining him in retirement next year.  Yet Djokovic remains.  He's now the veteran taking on the next generation of tennis talent.  Guys like Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev.  The 36-year-old Djokovic hasn't just held them off (for the most part), he's still at the top of his game.  With no signs of slowing down for the next few years.

So, that's why I'm fully accepting of the fact that Roger Federer is no longer the men's tennis GOAT (if he ever was to begin with).  Novak Djokovic has tied the all-time record for Grand Slam championships.  And there's plenty more where that came from.  When all's said and done, there will be no doubt as to who's the greatest men's tennis champion ever.  If it wasn't clear already, that is.