Novak Djokovic: We All Know How Good Roger Federer Is, He’s The Greatest Ever!

by Tom Gainey | July 11th, 2015, 1:09 pm
  • 28 Comments

Novak Djokovic will try to defend his first career grass court title Sunday against the best player on the surface, Roger Federer, in the Wimbledon final tomorrow. After a good win over Richard Gasquet yesterday in the semifinals, Djokovic spoke about Federer.

“He’s so good and so consistent,” Djokovic said Friday. “We all know how good he is. He’s the greatest ever. There’s not enough praises for what he does. But this is where he loves to play. This is where he plays his best tennis, I think. The Centre Court of Wimbledon, seven titles. It’s his court. He loves it. He usually rises up to the occasion. He’s always playing his toughest when it matters the most. That’s why he’s a big champion.

“It’s going to be probably the biggest challenge I can have.”


The World No. 1 has suffered just one loss since March but that came to Federer’s countryman Stan Wawrinka in the French Open final.

Djokovic, who has wins over Federer this year at Indian Wells and at Rome and has been dominant in ATP finals. But in Grand Slam finals he’s only won three of his last nine.

Djokovic will also seek his 200th career Grand Slam win on Sunday.


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28 Comments for Novak Djokovic: We All Know How Good Roger Federer Is, He’s The Greatest Ever!

alena Says:

“Novak Djokovic will try to defend his first career grass court title”

First? I don’t get it. May be because English is not my native language, but still…


Skeezer Says:

Nole as the greatest respect for Fed, unlike some of supporters. Never doubted his respect for the GOAT. Best of luck in the final Nole! Hope it tops the Murray/Fed semi.


sienna Says:

he never defended wimbledon before.
that you didnt understand has nothing to do with native language.


Hippy Chick Says:

Best of luck to both and hope its a great final,no horse in the race,i repeat what i said on the other thread i just hope for a great final,i believe Roger has played the best tennis so far so even as a Rafa fan im pulling for him,i guess some of us are just interested in tennis rather than been obsessed with records,numbers,GOATs etc,things that get blown up out of all proportion sometimes….


sienna Says:

Typical behaviour of Novak fanatics. No single trace of self reflection, always in defence and seeking the weakest link. Slow witted, biased, presumptuous, judgemental all nice virtues brought to this site by the Novak fanatics.

Try to gain back a little respect and react in civil normal way.


jane Says:

Chris Skelton ‏@ChrisSkelton87 21m21 minutes ago
Djokovic is the first man to play two different opponents 40+ times each. (No prizes for guessing who the two are.)

Fed and Rafa.

Amazing how much Novak has played these 2.

Actially he’s played all the members of the “big 4” more than they’ve played each other.


sienna Says:

this is quite easy to explaine… seeded 3 after fedal for gaziljon years makes him play more against them then fedal against eachother.


jane Says:

p.s. to me, you’re the greatest, novak. :)


Skeezer Says:

^too cute;)


jalep Says:

http://www.tennisabstract.com/cgi-bin/leaders.cgi?f=s00t1

jane, I know you how you like pouring over stats. Was just reading the ‘Clinic’ in the cyclingnews.com forum on the Tennis thread and a poster posted the above pretty cool link.


jane Says:

we all have our faves right skeezer? :) that doesn’t mean we can’t respect the others. in fact part of the reason i’m proud of novak is that he faced the challenge of federer and nadal – 2 players whom many consider to be the GOAT or a contender for that label.

he has 19 wins over fed and 21 wins over rafa.

only rafa has more wins over fed and no one has more wins over rafa – *no one even comes close* to that number of wins over rafa.

so yeah, that’s partly why he’s the greatest for me, but there are other reasons too, and it won’t change whether he wins or loses tomorrow.

for the record, i think fed’s the favourite to win it, and i think the roof will suit him a bit more too. but hopefully it’s a good match!


jane Says:

thanks jalep! it looks complicated. ha ha. is this for wimbledon? the year? career?


jalep Says:

The link posted is set for all matches the last 52 weeks but on the left of the page you can choose whatever event you want, what year, ect.

if you hover over the top of columns where the abbreviations are it tells what the numbers representing…like M is for # matches played and so on.

Have to get ready for work asap but just found that site and spent a chunk of my sleep time on it! lol


Sidney Says:

Ignoring the racist sienna… not going there…


jalep Says:

btw…jane,

What Nole is saying above? Federer is the greatest ever and a big, big challenge on grass but “I am winning this thing Sunday” :D


jane Says:

very cool jalep. as usual fed and novak’s stats look very close. wow, fed’s played a lot of tiebreaks in the past 52 weeks.

i think i’ll be losing sleep for more reasons than just this link. #nervousfornole :)

have a great day at work!


Okiegal Says:

@Jane…..I can see where you are coming from….I think Rafa is the greatest! To each his own! :)


Skeezer Says:

H2H records are too easily admired, and not a barometer in Tennis. The game is played against a field of players. If you play better than anyone else against the field, you’ll wind up with the most wins titles slams, and the best ever.
If a fan thinks his/her fav is the best player ever, great! I’ll go with the majority of fellow players past present and coaches past present with the totality of records in the books. Fed winning or losing tomorrow won’t take away his GOAT status, it will only make the roots grow deeper for this best ever all time great. He’s in another Slam final.


Gee Says:

when fed is ruined so many times by a tiny novak,
he’d say head to head records are nothing.

Look at roddick.
He has double standards and intense hatred of very talented magical fed beaters.

he literally couldn’t remember to bring his racket on court.
That is what happens to spoiled mixed up people who played tennis for huge money instead of for good reasons like self respect, hard work and enjoyment.


jane Says:

that’s true okie. but i would add “her” to your final phrase.

another cool stat for me. i love stats, jalep, because they are just numbers. no bias or emotions. they just are what they are. people can make of them what they will, and they don’t always tell the whole story – e..g., who played the bigger points better, what was the weather like, was it home crowd advantage, etc. – but they do say a lot.

“17 of the last 19 majors have either been won by Novak #Djokovic or by the guy who defeated him at some stage of that major”

skeezer, i disagree that h2hs are “not a barometer in Tennis.”

they measure how well 2 players matched up against each other. and that’s particularly cool when you see how two RIVALS matched up.

they are not the be all and end all, but they are still an interesting -Factual – gage of match ups.


Skeezer Says:

Just 2 players are not in a draw. 64/128 players are in the draw and each player has to navigate through that draw. IF…..( the if) they so happen to meet then it stats like your mention may have value. There are other players to play, and sometimes they get through to face each other and sometimes they don’t.
I cannot disagree now since at this moment they are facing each other, but again, Fed or Nole did not get there records solely on the shoulder of the other. They earned it against the field of players they had to play through and win.


Viki Says:

I don’t believe in GOAT topic.
Otherwise i think federer has edge over djokovic.
Till 2010, there is no contest between them. But in 2011 and 2012 also, when Djokovic was at his best federer beats him at french and has him on the ropes in US (i still believe that shot at match point was freakish because now if djokovic is in same position, he is doing the double faults).

In 2012, he beats him at wimbledon their only grand slam match.

After that we can say that their is dip in federer level and because of his nature to never back down from show down his H2H is getting even with Djokovic (although exception are 2010 wimbledon and 2013 US Open).

I mean to say that there are so many arguments can be made to show that particular player is better than others.

Now if Federer wins today at 34, then we have serena argument to belittle that achievement also.

But guys lets keep on discussing because i like to read all your comments.


FedExpress Says:

He is not 34 yet


Skeezer Says:

Serena has nothing to do with the mens game of achievements. Apples and Oranges. For the few that say ” they do not believe in a GOAT” ….give data to back it up or stfu. There is, as of now, a GOAT, and its Fed…..otherwise give a reasonable reason why not. Otherwise, its just jealousy.


Okiegal Says:

@Jane….OK, to each HER on!! Got it!!

GREATEST OF ALL TIME means forever….We can’t see the future. Someone might be better than Roger in 30 yrs! Should be GOTT, greatest of their time maybe?? That is why I can’t go for the GOAT debate. 4-ever is a long long time…..I can’t conjure up any future data to back up my theory…..sorry!


Hippy Chick Says:

Skeezer i dont know if that was about me @11.40pm July 11th,what i meant was im getting to the point where i just want to enjoy watching great tennis from wherever it comes from,rather than just been fixated on what my favorites are doing all the time,if Roger wins 18 so be it,if Novak wins a third W title and surpasses Rafas 2 W titles more power to him,whichever one wins deserves it,i love tennis even with no horse in the final,no jealousy or ulterior motives but im pulling for Fed as i will repeat i think of the two men hes played the better tennis this fortnight….


Michael Says:

Despite the best attempts of Media, columnists and critics to drive a wedge, the relationship between Roger and Novak is most congenial, amiable and mutually respectful. The pleasant remarks by which these two players regard each other is itself testimony to this. Definitely the words of a great player like Novak carries considerable value and this has been the majority view of most columnists, commentators, players and Tennis Analysts that Roger is the best ever. But does Roger really need such conferment to demonstrate his greatness ? He is a legend in his own right and he has himself repeated in many interviews that he doesn’t just believe in the terminology or title of “The GREATEST” which he has unequivocally stated to be a matter of perception !!


Patson Says:

@skeezer

You as a fan need to give respect to other players in order to expect that Federer is respected by other fans. Don’t turn Federer into a religious institution. Second, when did H2H not become a barometer to judge competition ? In fact, one of the reasons why Rod Laver is considered the greatest (including the fact that he won 2 Grand slams) is that he owned all his rivals in his head-to-heads with them. One of Laver’s most remarkable thing was his dominance over ALL his opponents THROUGHOUT his career. Roy Emerson had more slams, but Laver owned him on the head-to-head front.

It seems overly convenient for a Federer fan to diss Head-to-head as a barometer (which is an equally important barometer to judge the quality of the field) when Fed himself doesn’t ehemmmmm fair well ehemmm on that very important metric. This is NOT to say Federer is a great player. Heck he’s one HELL of a player. One of the greats in the game ! Everything needs to be kept in perspective.

But I’ll let Fed fans babble random stuff till the next week or so. Taking a loss is not easy.

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