Jannik Sinner defeated Novak Djokovic on Friday, denying the Serb his 11th title at the Australian Open. The dust has barely settled on the Serb’s shock exit from the Majors. His fans, however, are already discussing his legacy at the Majors. With 10 Australian titles in 17 years of playing here, Djokovic fans are right to think of his dominance here. However, given that he is 36 years of age now, this year could be the end of his Australian Open-winning journey
Sinner was tremendously impressive with his gameplay against Djokovic in the semi-final. He won the first two sets convincingly by 6-1, 6-2, before losing the third set in a tie-breaker. The Italian youngster won the fourth set 6-3 and entered the finals of the Australian Open for the first time. Sinner has now beaten Djokovic thrice in the past one year. This could be a huge inspiration for other young players to beat Djokovic.
Due to Djokovic’s 10 AO titles, a debate has broken out on social media between fans. It is over whether his dominant run was better than that of Rafael Nadal’s 14 French Open titles. Very few things in the world of sports have gone hand-in-hand like Rafael Nadal and the French Open. The Spaniard’s love affair with clay started way back in 2005, which was the first year in which he won the Grand Slam in Paris.
Nadal and Djokovic have earned legendary status mainly due to their achievements at the French Open and Australian Open respectively, irrespective of any comparison. However, this doesn’t stop their fans from making comparisons with pointers serving their respective tennis heroes. Therefore, an analysis is incumbent.
Barring 2024, Djokovic has won the AO every time he made it to the semi-finals. A journey of 11 semi-finals and 10 titles started by dethroning then World No. 1 Roger Federer in 2008. Djokovic won the Australian Open 3 consecutive times, twice in his career (2011-13, 2019-21).
After his 2008 win, he was knocked out in the quarterfinals in 2009 and 2010 by Andy Roddick and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga respectively. He made the quarterfinals once again in 2014 but lost to Stan Wawrinka. In 2017 and 2018, he was knocked out in the second and fourth rounds respectively, a rare occurrence. 2022 was the only year he didn’t play due to his controversial stance on COVID-19 vaccination.
Never let them fool you that Djokovic’s AO record is as impressive as Nadal’s RG.
Novak needed night sessions, a wind breaker, and TiktokGen to get 10.
At RG, Nadal went through:
– Day
– Sun
– Rain
– Roof
– Wind
– Night
– Winter
– Peak Thiem
– Peak Federer
– Peak Djokovic https://t.co/37Qg8JLsRL— Benhanen (@kela9123) January 18, 2024
If Djokovic’s dominance at the AO was barely without any flaws, Nadal has simply been unblemished at the Roland Garros. Missing this year due to injury, Nadal has only missed out on the French Open title four times in 18 years. 2009 was the first time he lost the French Open ever since his Grand Slam debut. He entered the tournament as a 4-time winner and didn’t even make it to the quarterfinals that year. 2015 was when he lost to Djokovic in the quarterfinals and a wrist injury prevented him from playing the 2016 edition. In 2021, he lost to Djokovic again in the semifinals.
#AusOpen match scheduling has been shockingly discriminatory in favour of Men’s No.1 #Djokovic who has played every match for almost 3 years in night session at Rod Laver-14 straight night matches. By contrast Women’s No.1 #Swiatek has played 1st match 2 days in a row & 5… pic.twitter.com/MTKXZXmcQY
— Hidden truth Guru (@rajeshworld) January 18, 2024
What’s even more impressive on Nadal’s front, is that he played against all sorts of conditions in his favorite tournament over the years. Be it windy or rainy conditions, or be it day or night matches, or be it indoor and outdoor matches, Nadal has succeeded in all of them. In comparison, Djokovic has found a complaint from Nadal fans that he has played almost all his big matches at the Rod Laver Arena in night sessions. Nadal has also battled tougher opposition, but that is subject to debate since Djokovic too has defeated many tough opponents over the years.
Nadal on Court Philipe Chatrier defied dust winds, rain, indoor/outdoor clay, prime Federer, prime thiem, crybaby djokovic, gluten free djokovic, stanimal and a zillion injuries.
Nadal is a myth of RG. A riddle yet to be solved by mere mortal in the F/SF. https://t.co/cFnc9TNZWM
— Prophet (@prophetspoison) January 26, 2024
Novak Djokovic believes Rafael Nadal still has a lot to offer
After Novak Djokovic lost his match against Sinner, he announced at the press conference that Rafael Nadal, at age 37, will still be the favorite in the French Open this year. Nadal missed out on this AO to fully recover from his hip surgery, but once he is back, he can still challenge anybody on the ‘Clay Court’.
“It’s kind of a surface that suits certain kind of tennis players. But of course, you know, if Nadal is playing he is always a favorite there, you know, No. 1 no doubt, regardless of the fact that he hasn’t played much. He is who he is in Roland Garros,” Djokovic said to the press.
Whether will play Roland Garros is still out of contention and is subject to his fitness. Nadal will next play from 19-24 February in Doha, Qatar. This is subject to his fitness. Novak Djokovic, still massively upset with his loss at the AO, hasn’t announced his next tournament yet.
