Djokovic is the GOAT

One of my passions is the game of tennis. I'll write about it on this blog. Tennis has waned in popularity in the US since the '80s, and has become, in my opinion, a niche sport (more on this at some point in the future), so this type of subject matter won't be interesting to many. I started playing when I was 10 years old, played in college, got burned out on the sport for a bit (as a player), and resumed playing the game competitively again in 2013. I love the game, and even when I wasn't playing it, I followed it closely, and still do to this day.

That's a long-winded introduction. The point is to establish my bona fides as a fan and analyst of the game. Onto the matter at hand....

Novak Djokovic recently tied Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal with 20 grand slam wins. I can now definitively say that he is the greatest of the three, and really the GOAT, even if he never wins another one, which I'm sure he will, and which will make the case I'm laying out irrelevant. There are three criteria I use for ranking players on the all-time list: total number of grand slam wins, depth of grand slam wins, and head-to-head record (where applicable, which is very applicable here because Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal have played each other a ton).

Let's dive into each one.

Total Number

Each has 20 grand slam wins. So they're all tied here. 1 point for each. This will change with the next major Djokovic wins.

Depth of Grand Slams

I'm not only concerned with the number of grand slam victories, but with the depth of the victories. Each of the 4 majors is played on a different surface with different playing characteristics. The Australian Open and US Open are played on hard courts, but each is slightly different (traditionally The Australian Open has been a slower court than the US Open, but that's changed in recent years). The French Open is played on clay. Wimbledon is played on grass. To win all four of these tournaments takes a tremendous amount of variety and skill in one's game. Those who do really well on grass are gonna have a much harder time on clay and vice-versa. That's why winning all four over the course of one's career is so hard. Most never do. Even some of the greatest have never done it.

In this criterion, Djokovic is the clear winner. Although Federer and Nadal have won all four, Nadal has won the Australian Open only once; and Federer has won the French Open only once. Djokovic has won each of the majors at least twice. This may seem like a trivial point, but great players can put together a once-in-a-lifetime run and come out on top for a single major. To do it more than once, though, that means something. 1 point for Djokovic.

Head-to-Head Record

Djokovic is the clear winner here. He has a winning record against both (Federer has a losing record against both and Nadal has a winning record against Federer, obviously). 1 point for Djokovic.

So the final scored is Djokovic 3, Federer 1, and Nadal 1. Soon this will be 3-0-0.

As a side note, I don't think weeks at #1, Masters Series tournament wins (the most important tournaments other than majors), total wins, win percentage, or any other metrics matter in a discussion of greatest of all time. It's all about the majors and head-to-head (when comparing players from the same era--it's a different story when comparing players from different eras).