Novak Djokovic has won more Grand Slam titles than Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer but does this make him the GOAT of men's tennis?
The debate about the GOAT in men's tennis has become as vociferously heated as any other in world sport over the past few years but it may not be too long before two groups of ardent fans reluctantly fall on their swords.
When Roger Federer racked up his sixth Wimbledon crown back in 2009, the Swiss legend surpassed Pete Sampras as the most successful Grand Slam champion with 15 and cemented his undisputed status as the greatest male player ever at the age of just 27 - and just eight years after he'd famously beaten the American as a teenager at SW19.
Two months earlier he'd become just the third player in the Open Era behind Rod Laver (1969) and Andre Agassi (1999) to complete the career Grand Slam by winning his one and only French Open title - so with history books being written with every passing season and so much time still on his side, it seemed unlikely that anyone would be able to catch him until long into his retirement age. Let alone two while he was still playing.
At this time, Rafael Nadal had six in the bag - four of which on the clay of Roland Garros - and Novak Djokovic just one.
But after winning his 16th at the 2010 Australian Open, Federer's dominance would be broken as the chasing pack, which also included three-time champions Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka - closed the gulf in class emphatically, while injuries would eventually start to take their toll on a body he now had to push to the absolute limits.
Having contested 22 of the 27 possible Grand Slam finals since his maiden success in 2003, he'd reach 'just' four of the next 23 until the end of 2015, with his sole success coming at Wimbledon in 2012 to move onto 17.
During these years, Nadal had remarkably cut the deficit to just three, with the comparatively unpopular Djokovic getting worryingly close on 10 having defeated Federer in both the Wimbledon and US Open finals of 2015 - a year in which he also picked up the Australian Open.
The GOAT discussion was being reawakened, but as long as Djokovic was in third place on Grand Slam titles - the tennis purists would only ever allow it to be about two icons who had completely changed the landscape of the sport for generations to come.
However, as injuries and surgery wrecked Nadal and Federer's chances of adding to their legendary CVs in 2016, the unrelenting machine from Serbia would capitalise with two more titles to strike genuine fear into 'Fedal' fans around the globe. Excuses, caveats, asterisks, other stats and words such as 'nuanced' needed to be found fast. Just in case.
In 2017, Federer’s renaissance and Nadal’s comeback seemingly ended the panic and they’d go on to equally share the next six Grand Slams – including Fed’s emotional eighth and last Wimbledon title - to move well clear again and push their nemesis into the shade.
Djokovic would rally again by winning four of the next five and crucially put the final nail in Federer’s Grand Slam-winning career with a herculean victory in the epic 2019 Wimbledon final that went 13-12 in the deciding set and it was now left to Nadal to keep the reluctant villain at arm’s reach.
The Spaniard moved onto 20 with yet another French Open title in 2020 but Djokovic would match both his rivals by picking up the first three Grand Slams of 2021 before Daniil Medvedev denied him an historic calendar Grand Slam at the US Open – a feat that neither Federer nor Nadal have achieved either.
Missing two Grand Slams in 2022 due to his vaccination status helped Nadal move two clear but a fourth successive Wimbledon coupled with back-to-back Slams at the start of 2023 finally put him at the top of the charts.
Despite a thrilling defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final, Djokovic bounced back at the US Open to equal Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 Grand Slams and surely isn't finished yet.
Yet the GOAT debate is no longer about Grand Slam titles. Now it’s become unfairly ‘nuanced’.
Despite all his record and statistics in a phenomenal career – which also includes most Grand Slam finals (34), most total weeks at world number one (389), superior head-to-head records over both Federer and Nadal as well as being the only player to have won each Grand Slam three times or more – he may need at least 30 to end the conversation for good.
And who can rule that out? The disrespect and lack of acceptance he feels from a huge contingent of tennis fans only serves to fire him up to unprecedented levels of dominance.
Only the greatest take on adversity and conquer it. Nobody has done that better than Novak.
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