
The Top 10 Tennis Players of All Time! Here We Go:
Alright before we disagree about the the big 3 and who is the best between them (my opinion changes daily and will continue to change until they are all done playing!) We are all thankful that we got to live in the golden era of tennis and watch these 3 men absolutely dominate tennis! Out of the 74 Grand Slams since Roger Federer won his first 17 years ago, they have combined to win 55 of the Majors. That's 71% of the time for you non math majors. That means it's pretty good odds one of them is going to win the slam. Since Djokovic won his first in 2008, there have only be 8 other champions. That's 40 Slams out of a possible 48. Andy Murray and Stan the Man make up 6 of the other 8. Murray will definitely be in the honorable mention but wont make out top 10 list today. Let's also mention since the first slam in 2017, the only people to win ANY slam has been Fed, Nadal, and Djokovic. #wild
The first Slam was Wimbledon in 1877 won by Spencer Gore. There were a lot of people that went on long streaks of winning the same slam over and over back in the day, but we are going to focus on the Open Era. The game was vastly different back then, and travel was much harder, and simply less competition. So let's just dive into our Number 10 on the list.
Because these 3 players careers go hand in hand I’m going give you a lot of statistics about each player and then at theend I will give you my 1 – 2 and 3 selection of who is the greatest player of all time… Right Now. I will also give you who I will end up being the G.O.A.T when they all retire!
Djokovic, Nadal, Federer. Where do you rate them? Can’t go wrong in my book. Fed leads the way with 20 slams to Nadal's 19 to Djokovic's 16.
Fed has 8 at Wimbledon / Nadal has 12 at the French / Djokovic's has 8 at the Australian Open. This group has won 14 of the last 16 Australian Opens, 14 of the last 16 French Opens, 15 of the last 17 Wimbledon’s, and 11 of the last 16 US Open's.
Fed has 103 ATP Titles / Nadal has 84 ATP Titles / Djokovic has 77 ATP Titles.
While all the numbers are mighty impressive. One of the most impressive statistic is the number of matches played to win all the big trophies. Djokovic has played less tennis win more tournaments. Also because he has won the most recently and prize money has skyrocketed recently, that is my opinion of why he has made the most prize money on tour.
Another big factor since we are just looking at the big 3 right now is their record against each other. Again Djokovic has a winning record against both of them.
While Nadal DOMINATES clay he has still reached peak success on the other surfaces. Just not as much as the other two have. With Again, Djokovic seemingly the most versatile winner of the 3.
Nadal:
· Weeks at #1: 206
· Career titles: 84
· Grand slam titles: 19
- 1 x Australian Open: 2009
- 12 x French Open: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019
- 2 x Wimbledon: 2008, 2010
- 4 x US Open: 2010, 2013, 2017, 2019
· Big titles: 54 (19 grand slams; 35 ATP Masters 1000 titles)
· 2008 Beijing Gold Medal (Career Golden Slam) 2016 Doubles Gold Medal
· Nadal vs Fed: Leads 24-16
· Nadal vs Novak: Down 26-28
Djokovic:
· Weeks World #1: 275
· Career titles: 77
· Grand slam titles: 16
- 7 x Australian Open: 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019
- 1 x French Open: 2016
- 5 x Wimbledon: 2011, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019
- 3 x US Open: 2011, 2015, 2018
· Big titles: 55 (16 grand slams; 5 ATP finals; 34 ATP Masters 1000 titles)
· Novak vs Fed: Leads 26 – 23
· Novak vs Nadal: Leads 28-26
Roger Federer:
· Weeks World #1: 310 (237 In a row!)
· Career titles: 103
· Grand slam titles: 20
- 6 x Australian Open: 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2017, 2018
- 1 x French Open: 2009
- 8 x Wimbledon: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017
- 5 x US Open: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
· Big titles: 54 (20 grand slams; 6 ATP Finals; 28 ATP Masters 1000 titles)
· 2012 Doubles Gold Medal
· Fed vs Nadal: Down 16-24
· Fed vs Novak: Down 23-26
Overall Grand Slam Winning Percentage
Nadal - 87.71% - 2nd best all time
Federer - 87.14% - 3rd best all time
Djokovic - 83.12% - 6th best all time
Australian Open
Nadal - 83.3% - 7th best all time
Federer - 87.5% - 3rd best all time
Djokovic - 86.5% - 4th best all time
French Open
Nadal -98.1% - 1st best all time
Federer - 80.6% - 7th best all time
Djokovic - 79.5% - 8th best all time
Wimbledon
Nadal - 85.7% - 7th best all time
Federer - 90.4% - 2nd best all time
Djokovic - 82.0 - 10th best all time
U.S. Open
Nadal - 81.0% - 9th best all time
Federer - 89.7% - 1st best all time
Djokovic - 84.6% - 4th best all time
At the beginning of this article I would have put Federer as the Obvious choice for number 1. After all he does have the most Grand Slams. But the fact that he has a losing record to both Nadal and Novak and it has taken him more matches based on percentage to win 103 career titles, he might not even be the greatest player of his generation. While he DOMINATED and was the best player for 237 (4.5 years), Nadal and Novak’s numbers are quite stellar as well.
As of 01/10/2020 G.O.A.T Ranking is…
3. Rafa Nadal
2. Novak Djokovic
1. Roger Federer
As of when the Big 3 is retired the G.O.A.T IMO will be…
3. Roger Federer
2. Rafa Nadal
1. Novak Djokovic
Yup, Novak will be the greatest player tennis has ever seen and everyone is such a Federer and Nadal lover we are missing it! (I am guilty of this as well.) But ladies and gentleman it is time to start giving Novak the credit he deserves as the best player in tennis!
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