Can Djokovic become the hardcourt GOAT?

Right now Federer with 9 hardcourt slams is considered the GOAT on that surface. Just like Federer won the most hardcourt slams so did Graf with 9 hardcourt slams as well. Can Djokovic win more hardcourt slams than Federer, that would be 10 hardcourt slams and become the GOAT on that surface? Djokovic would need to win 6 more hardcourt slams to overtake Federer as the hardcourt GOAT.

Bump!

Novak can do it. And win more than one french open as well.

as incredible as he is doing, I think he hit this form slightly too late in his career. With his style of play how much longer does he have at this level, thats what I am very curious about. Federer started to slip at 26, Djokovic is 25 in a few months, and surely his game over his career has taken more out of him that it did Federer. Or is he going to surprise us all again?

Call us back when he gets 5 in a row.

Honestly, the premature speculation on Djokovic is hilarious. It's completely tabloid in thinking quality.

You never know...

True, very true.

Then again, to be talked about in that light he needs another 4 USO's straight off the bat and that's so tough that you'd normally say that speculating on it might be timely after, say, the 3rd rather than the first.

I think he may get 7-9....but they'll be dotted around, not long runs.
But as others say his game is very attritional - I believe more so than Nadal actually...those lunges - almost splits - he does into the corners at speed are not going to be good in the medium term for tendons, ligaments, etc. His frame I dont believe is designed to take the bashing he's giving it...he doesnt have the same level of musculature as Nadal to soak it up...but who knows he may surprise us!

lydian wrote:But as others say his game is very attritional - I believe more so than Nadal actually...those lunges - almost splits - he does into the corners at speed are not going to be good in the medium term for tendons, ligaments, etc. His frame I dont believe is designed to take the bashing he's giving it...he doesnt have the same level of musculature as Nadal to soak it up...but who knows he may surprise us!

I don't think it's half as attritional as Nadal. They are roughly one year apart but he has had much less time out than Nadal and he hits the ball much more economically too. Nadal still does most of teh running. This is why even a tried Djoko can get teh better than a fully fit Rafa.

That's the sad fact Nadal needs to accept.

I agree Nadal does more overall running, etc, but my point is that I think Nadal's body can take it more per se. Lets not forget that up to 6-8 months ago Rafa';s achievements were way out infront of Nole's. Lets see how Nole keeps going at the current level fo success not his previous level of success.

If you map Fed's and Djoko's careers agewise they are level pegging in terms of HC slams - Djoko's return of 4 HC slams up to Aus 2012 sits against Fed's return of 4 HC slams upto Aus 2006. Looking forward Fed had a near perfect haul of 4/5 to the end of 2008 and then faded badly. It's doable, but it's one hell of a race against the clock when Djoko is having to play a far more physical game than Fed did. If he falls behind Fed's 2006-2008 pace over the next 3 years that would be curtains.

Nope. Federer has 9 slams on HC and Djokovic only 4 but I believe he will end up getting 3 more maximum until declining.

Nishikori and Harrison will be the ones to challenging Djokovic on HC from now on, Murray will unfortunately be slipping down the rankings after peaking the last 2 years.

Nishikori and Harrison will never be slam winners. Too lightweight.

Nishikori doesn't have enough shots to hurt his opponent to win a slam. Harrison might do one day, but he needs to get his head screwed on properly first. I think Tomic and maybe Dolgopolov are far more likely to challenge out of the current "up-and-coming" bunch.

Nishikori doesn't have enough shots to hurt his opponent to win a slam.

Have you even watched him play outside of his Murray match?

Dude showed great potential in Basel slaying Djokovic (yes Novak was off form) but he still had to play tremendous shots.

He's also taken out Tsonga twice in a row, pretty impressive for "not having enough shots".

Nishikori and Harrison will never be slam winners.

It's easy to say that when they are still developing their serves and strokes.

Josiah Maiestas wrote:

Nishikori doesn't have enough shots to hurt his opponent to win a slam.

Have you even watched him play outside of his Murray match?

Dude showed great potential in Basel slaying Djokovic (yes Novak was off form) but he still had to play tremendous shots.

He's also taken out Tsonga twice in a row, pretty impressive for "not having enough shots".

yeah seen a fair bit of him, including the latest Tsonga match. Lovely player, but for me he doesn't have enough "pop" on his shots to win big tournaments. For instance in the Tsonga match Tsonga made a huge amount of errors, you won't get those from the very top players at slams.

He will win a few slams if he can last the distance in the longer rallies, his main problem will be going for too many winners cause he's a flashy player.