re: Novak Djokovic on Federer and Nadal.

Him being a little bitch and running from the first sign of adversity early on had more to do with it. Why it’s still so surprising he turned into the greatest. He grew on us when he got mentally stronger. I remember when Roddick dropped the hammer on him in the 09 Aussie quarters and Djokovic quit.

What does his family's actions have to do with anything?

What about Tony Nadal being in the mafia. ?

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He arguably was this Eras Lendl, albeit way more dominant but a third wheel party spoiler to Mac and Connors (Rafa, Fed) so to speak.

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I remember Lendl and Connors getting into it at the US Open because Lendl was aiming directly at Conners on his overhead slams at the net.

But Lendl had one of most powerful base line forehands in the game at that time. McEnroe would volley to the net and Lendl wouldn't aim to pass he would just aim directly at him.

Here is Lendl KOing McEnroe

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Early in his career Djoker acted like a spoiled kid

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Early in their careers, every top level tennis player is a spoiled kid. I respected his owning it at least. Fed was always fake as frick, and I never understood how people didn’t see though it. Such a passive aggressive little bitch sometimes. Give me the unapologetic a-hole over that every time.

Nadal was always my favorite by a lot just for how he competed. Some dudes would be down 2 sets in Slam Final, get broken in the 3rd, and just kinda bend over and try to get it over with. As long as the match was still going, Nadal never seemed to give up on a single point. He could be down 3 Championship points down 5-0 in the 3rd, and he’d chase down shite he had no business getting to and keep like 20-shot rallies going as long as he could. Just found a way to get it back over the net inbounds. Then his opponent would have an unforced error, and the whole math would turn. From down 3 championship points in the 3rd, down 2 or 3 breaks, and 2 hours later he’s hoisting the trophy having come back to win a 5th set tie breaker. His will was the greatest I’ve ever seen.

Fed probably has the “prettiest” game of all time. And even though I liked him the least, I always loved watching him play. So graceful.

But Joker is the GOAT, and I’m not sure it’s all that close at this point. Not that there’s a huge gap between him and the other 2, but it’s big enough that I don’t think you could actually make a legit argument for anybody else.

This is a really interesting article about Novak and his dad’s relentless push to nurture his son to the best. There’s some interesting commentary from his dad about Federer mocking some sinus issues Novak had in a match early in his career:

LINK

Yep that interview told me all I needed to know about Fed. Novak beating him told me the torch was passed and Novak went on his run and the rest is history.

His latest comeback and how he's been fighting through injuries and competing at his age has made me a fan. (And cemented himself as the GOAT).

He tore his meniscus in the 2024 French Open and had surgery. A month later he was playing in the Wimbledon final, followed by an Olympic Gold.

I didn't like Pete, I was an Agassi fanboy. But, Pete was by far the best player of his generation. He beat Agassi in almost every big match. To me, '90 US Open, '95 US Open, and '02 US Open finals were the big three. I say that because there is an argument that you measure GOAT by how far better they were than their contemporaries. But, yes, I understand he didn't win a Roland Garros, so that knocks him down a peg. I get that you can say three guys blew by Pete's records, so they are all better than him. But, something must have changed about the game that no one ever reached numbers like that, then 3 guys did it within a decade.