Novak - the most dominant player of the last decade

 The numbers prove it.   More wins combined than Fed and Rafa.

This is the best way to measure dominance rather than a popularity contest.

Seles

Monica Seles Wiki

She was an Epic Champion! And what a sad way to bring her down. It had Shakespearean tones to it when only an assassin could remove the Queen of the Court from her rightful place. What could have been?

Novak: Why his popularity isn't as high as Rafa and Fed

Wins Heaps but not Hearts

He takes care of business on the court and I've never noticed him be unkind or nasty on the court.  So if tennis is a popularity contest we should get rid of scores and tournaments and just send them out on a runway in tennis clothes and see how the crowd likes them.

Other than that I'll continue to value his presence on the court as much as I do Fed and Rafa.   If he eventually surpasses both in terms of wins then whoever is the most popular we can all agree on who is the best.

The GOAT contest continues.

How lack of discipline destroys tennis careers!

I can name you a long list of failures at the Professional level of Tennis.

First to me is Nastase who though he won many tournaments and matches could have probably won many more were it not for his antics.  His talent seemed unlimited.

Then comes Rios who fell to his demons before he actually won a slam but had already shown that he could dominate men's tennis after achieving number 1.

On the women's side, I see fewer examples but Capriotti comes to mind as a talent that was wasted for most of her career.  At least she proved that she had it later, much later, but all of that time was missed in between.

Now we have more on the men's tour who again have physical mastery of the game but lack the discipline to hold off their demons that invade their thoughts and come out in the form of bad behavior.  Some make excuses that tennis isn't important to them anyway so as a way for the ego to justify this failure pretend that it doesn't matter.  Think Kyrgios.  He has unbounded talent but lacks the discipline to hold his bad thoughts in check when faced with a challenge on the court.

Here is a comment by Ken Rosewall on the subject.  Rosewall was a master of the game and self-control and I never noticed anything but a gentleman on the court when he played no matter the outcome.  It's hard not a admire a person of such worth not only to our sport but to civilization.

Is Novak Headed for GOAT Status? Ask Yolita

Here is a chart and argument put forth by Yolita that not only is Novak the most dominant player of the past decade but that he may already be close to achieving Greatest of All Time Status in Tennis, the GOAT.  It's generally agreed though that to have that status you need to have the most number of Grand Slam wins which is currently held by Roger Federer.  As has been proven multiple times before it is a record that can be surpassed since at some stage players must retire.  Federer seems be winning fewer and fewer major events while Djokovic and Nadal hold astounding numbers of wins over the past decade.  Looking at the stats in this time frame it is hard to argue against Yolita on this score.  Here is her well organized chart.

The numbers say it all


Here is the link to the original Tweet where this chart is found.   Yolita

Lendl Racket Style from the 80's - War Club on the Tennis Court

Kneissl White Star

This is the type of racket Lendl used to bludgeon his opponents from the baseline.

Kneissl Returns

If you're interested in getting one of these I just put mine up for auction on Ebay.  Starting price $39.50









Ivan Lendl Wiki