“Probably because Djokovic is not from West World,” Roger Federer being named GOAT has Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic’s fans angry
“Tennis got 3 GOATS,” Twitter reacts on calling Federer alone as the GOAT by Telegraph
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The Big 3
A recent post by Telegraph sport with the caption – “The GOATS of men’s sport” has made tennis fans split as it included Roger Federer alone without mentioning Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. The post already got enough scope because of a number of reasons and the fact that Nadal and Djokovic got no mention is one of the main ones among them.
The Telegraph is one of the leading newspaper dailies which has got more than 260k followers on Twitter alone. The post of GOATS had the caption “A truly blessed generation” after mentioning the GOATS (Greatest of All Time) and their picture collage.
The Tennis fans went crazy under the post especially the ones of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic stating comments like “media bias” and “outdated post“. In fact, most of the records of Roger Federer have been broken by Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in recent years. The most important Grand Slam record is now shared between the Spanish and Serbian with 22 titles each. Roger Federer has only 20 Grand Slam titles to his name.
The Big-3 Rivalry
The big 3 has been dominating the circuit for almost two decades, starting in 2004. Their iconic rivalry with each other has always taken center stage at the business end of all the most important tournaments. There was a time when Roger Federer was invincible and he was ruling the tennis courts all over the world. The peak he had between 2004 and 2007 still makes him relevant in the GOAT debate despite going below Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in most of the stats.
It seemed like Nadal was a secret project to take down Federer. He single-handedly stopped the dominance of the Swiss legend in the early years. The ‘Fedal’ rivalry took a new high when Federer finally defeated Nadal in a Grand slam match in the 2017 Australian Open final.
He had to wait for 10 years to finally beat Nadal in a slam match after the 2007 Wimbledon final and the first time he solved the Nadal puzzle outside a grass court on a slam match. Their head-to-head still favors Nadal 24-16 overall and 10-4 in slam matches but Federer coped up with Nadal during the final years and beat him in 2 out of their last 3 slam matches.
Though Novak Djokovic has breached most tennis records already, he was never able to top the Grand Slam race alone. By clinching Wimbledon 2021, he was able to reach the top then but shared the top spot with his biggest rivals – Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Against Federer, Djokovic has a winning head-to-head in overall matches as well as in Majors – 27-23 and 11-6 respectively.
The GOAT debate seems to be limited to Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal now (at least according to the numbers). Both have 22 Grand Slam titles each. Though Rafael Nadal leads in head-to-head at Majors 11-7, the overall head-to-head is almost in equilibrium with 30-29 to Djokovic now. Another epic chapter in this rivalry will be written if the Spaniard can compete in the clay season.
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Vipul Payattuparambil
(552 Articles Published)