Novak 2015 vs. Roger 2006 – we say Djokovic

Novak 2015 vs. Roger 2006 – we say Djokovic

Both Federer and Djokovic were spectacular and superior to the rest of the field and we must agree that their seasons are hardely comparable, but if we don’t try, are we really tennis fanatics after all?

Novak’s is better!

1. More bigger titles won. They’ve both won three Grand Slams and have fallen in the finals of Roland Garros, but Djokovic won six Masters titles, which is a feat no-one has ever accomplished. They both won the ATP World Tour Finals.

2. Ruler of all the surfaces. Djokovic can now legitimately claim to be the best player of the world in all surfaces and in all conditions, clay included. He’s won Monte Carlo and Rome, hasn’t played Madrid and he reached Roland Garros finals beating on the way Rafael Nadal becoming only the second man to do that in Paris. On the other side, Federer reached three clay finals in 2006 and lost all of them to Nadal – he was the world’s second player on clay.

3. Record and number of matches vs. Top 10. Djokovic had to play more often against the best and his record was better – incredible 31-5 comparing to Roger’s 19-4 in 2006. Not only had Novak had a better record, he had to play 41% of his matches vs. Top 10 and Roger had to do that in only 24% of his matches nine years ago. Also, 52% of Novak’s matches came against Top 20 player comparing to Federer’s 35%. Djokovic had a 16-4 record against the Top 5 – same number of defeats as Federer, but a double more wins. 4. Stronger competition. If you compare Top 10 at the end of both years and rivals Djokovic and Federer faced in the finals, it is clear that Novak had a harder job. In the end of 2006 the Top 10 had 23 Masters titles together, this year the Top 10 has 70 more.

Difference is huge in Grand Slam titles also (35-15) – in 2006, apart from Federer and Nadal, there was only one player who’s won a major during his career (Andy Roddick) and Fernando Gonzalez and David Nalbandian were the only ones to reach a Slam final (Nalbandian before, at Wimbledon 2002, and Gonzo after, in Melbourne 2007). Fourth and seventh in the world (James Blake and Tommy Robredo) never played a major SF, while Davydenko was more regular (four semifinals). There was a Slam champion in the Top 20 (Hewitt 20th) and a Slam finalist (Baghdatis 12th).

Today’s Top 10, except for Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, features two more multiple Slam winners (Murray and Wawrinka), four players that were a part of a Slam final (Tsonga, Berdych, Ferrer, Nishikori) and even Richard Gasquet, the weakest member of current Top 10, has in his CV three Slam semifinals. Also, we have a Slam champion in the Top 20 (Cilic 13th).

ATP list 2006 – ATP list 2015
1. Roger Federer – 1. Novak Djokovic
2. Rafael Nadal – 2. Andy Murray
3. Nikolay Davydenko – 3. Roger Federer
4. James Blake – 4. Stan Wawrinka
5. Ivan Ljubicic – 5. Rafael Nadal
6. Andy Roddick – 6. Tomas Berdych
7. Tommy Robredo – 7. David Ferrer
8. David Nalbandian – 8. Kei Nishikori
9. Mario Ancic – 9. Richard Gasquet
10. Fernando Gonzalez – 10. Jo-Wilfred Tsonga

Opponents in finals (their spot on the ATP list at the moment):
Australian Open: Andy Murray (6)
Indian Wells: Roger Federer (2)
Miami: Andy Murray (4)
Monte Carlo: Tomas Berdych (8)
Rome: Roger Federer (2)
Wimbledon: Roger Federer (2)
US Open: Roger Federer (2)
Beijing: Rafael Nadal (8)
Shanghai: Jo-Wilfred Tsonga (15)
Paris: Andy Murray (3)
World Tour Finals (London): Roger Federer (3)

5. More ATP points collected. Novak has ended this season with 16.585 points – “translating“ Roger’s results into the current system means he had won 16.075 points.

6. GOAT points. GOATmeter is a list that gives points based on numerous significant categories (biggest trophies being the most important). Federer is convicingly at the top at this time, but looking at every season as a whole, Djokovic’s 2015 nas 41 GOAT points and Federer’s 2006 has 40. Take a closer look HERE.

...No, it’s Roger’s!

1. More titles. Simple math tells you that Federer had won 12 trophies in 2006, one more than Djokovic this year. Besides, Federer had a higher winning percentage 95% (92-5), whilst Djokovic had 93% (82-6)-

2. Consistency. All time greats are just that – great, because of their ability to maintain extraordinary high level of play and to be almost unbeatable for a long time. What makes Federer’s 2006 more special is his 2005, where he collected 81 wins to only four losses winning 11 titles on the way (“only“ two Grand Slams though). And the 2004 wasn’t exactly bad with a record 74-6 and three majors...

3. The Nadal factor. Djokovic had tougher opponents in general, but Federer in those years, and especially in 2006 had to face a different Nadal. Rafa at that time was on an incredible roll on clay, he was in the peak of his 81 wins in a row and has proven too much for Federer every time. In Rome, though, Federer had a good chance and only lost in the fifth set tie break (7-5), while in Monte Carlo and Roland Garros Nadal won in four sets.

4. Only two players have beaten him. Federer had lost five matches, but only to two of his opponents – four to above mentioned Nadal (three times on clay and once in Dubai) and the only true blink came in Cincinnati where he lost to 19 year old Murray. On the other hand, Djokovic lost to four different players – Karlovic (Doha), Federer (Dubai, Cincinnati, London), Wawrinka (Roland Garros) and Murray (Rogers Cup).

Opponents in finals (their spot on the ATP list at the moment):
Doha: Gael Monfils (30)
Australian open: Marcos Baghdatis (54)
Dubai: Rafael Nadal (2)
Indian Wells: James Blake (14)
Miami: Ivan Ljubicic (6)
Halle: Tomas Berdych (15)
Wimbledon: Rafael Nadal (2)
Rogers Cup: Richard Gasquet (51)
US Open: Andy Roddick (10)
Tokio: Tim Henman (55)
Madrid: Fernando Gonzalez (10)
Basel: Fernando Gonzalez (7)
Masters Cup (Shanghai): James Blake (8)

The evens:

1. Lost sets. Djokovic did lose four sets less (37-41), but Federer had played nine more matches overall and had to play best-of-five format in the Masters finals, which makes it more difficult.

2. Ruthlessness. They were both dominant – Federer served 19 bagels (sets won by 6-0), Djokovic did the same 12 times. On the other hand, Federer won 20 sets with a breadstick (6-1) and Djokovic did that 33 times.

3. ATP list. They were both number ones throughout the whole year.

Obviously, there is enough arguments for both sides, but our final verdict is Djokovic, by a hair. What do you think?

It’s not just them...

Again it depends what criteria you select as the most important, there are a few more tennis greats in contention for the greatest season ever. This time around just a few words about them:

Rod Laver – the Australian won the only Grand Slam in Open era (1969) and he’s won 18 titles that season. He had also won four majors before the Open era (1962), 22 trophies overall.

John McEnroe – in the 1984 Big Mac had the best winning percentage of all time – 96,5%, record 82-3. The only significant defeat he suffered was in the hands of Ivan Lend in the finals of Roland Garros, McEnroe had won 13 titles, but “only“ two Grand Slams – he didn’t travel to Melbourne, which wasn’t uncommon at the time.

Jimmy Connors – ten years before McEnroe, one man had won 93 matches in a season, with only four losses. He didn’t care much about his reputation with the crowd and the colleagues, he had 15 titles to his name and the only major that eluded him was Roland Garros. In the finals of the US Open he lost only two games to Ken Rosewall (6-1 6-0 6-1). On the other hand, he had only one win on clay and some people like to emphasize that his main rivals Borg and McEnroe were too young.

Rafael Nadal – beginning of 2010 was a nightmare for Rafa, he had to retire in the quarterfinals of the Australian open to Andy Murray. But Rafa was the best when it mattered the most in the rest of the season – seven titles, three Grand Slams and a 79-10 record.

Bjorn Borg – he retired too early, at 26, but he had one of the most convincing seasons in history in 1979 – record 84-6, 13 titles including Roland Garros and Wimbledon. It’s a real shame he only played once in Australia and in 1979 he lost in the US Open QF to Roscoe Tanner, which cast a shadow over an impeccable season. Borg never won the US Open having lost four times in the finals.

Saša Ozmo (@ozmo_sasa)