The 50 win club

1. Connors 109
2. Lendl 94
3. Federer 85
4. McEnroe 77
5. Nadal 65
6. Bjorg 64
Sampras 64
7. Vilas 62
8. Agassi 60
9. Nastase 58
10 .Novak Djokovic 50

Very exclusive list of open era players with 50 or more titles. Djokovic should be able to catch Bjorg and Sampras on the list and possilbly McEnroe. In a few years you could see Nadal going 4th behind Fed, Lendl, and Connors and Djokovic getting up to either 5th or 6th after Mac or Nadal. What is amazing about Djoko's numbers is that 8 are slams and 21 are masters titles. Factors in WTFs and about 60 percent of his tournament wins are at the 1000 and slam level.

I'm enjoying this stage of Novak's career and seeing his accomplishments start to factor alongside other great players of the sport's history.

Another interesting set of numbers I saw today was the number of titles since 2007:

Djokovic and Nadal: 48
Federer: 39
Murray: 30
Ferrer: 22

Given the starting point, I think these numbers reflect well on all 5 players.

Surprised to see Ferrer has that many. Shows how he has cleaned up 250/500's, beating players he would be expected to beat.

I bet he's gutted Rafa has started playing a lot of the smaller clay tournaments!

Yes Murdoch Novak's career numbers are already putting him in very elite company; but at the same time he is still at or near the peak of his prowess on court, so you can enjoy watching every match knowing that you are watching a pretty historic career still in full bloom. It is a wonderful time to be a fan of Djokovic that is for sure. The win yesterday was historic because it gave him his 50th title. Plus he broke a little mini-streak fed wins against him and reasserted his dominance over Murray. A few months into the seasons now and Novak has won the two biggest events so far on the Calendar.

Fantastic start to the year from Novak, he's been playing some great tennis.

Time for Nadal to kick his butt in Miami then.

Guest82 wrote:Surprised to see Ferrer has that many.  Shows how he has cleaned up 250/500's, beating players he would be expected to beat.

I bet he's gutted Rafa has started playing a lot of the smaller clay tournaments!

Yeah Ferrer has won a lot of smaller events in his numbers. He doesn't have the gears in his game to challenge the first tier players but he is consistent enough to beat everyone else. Can't see him add much more as he seems to have finally hit the limit of his energizer bunny style of play and like you said Rafa going to latin America is going to really hurt his title count.

I see Djokovic winning the Calendar Grand Slam this year.

It Must Be Love wrote:Fantastic start to the year from Novak, he's been playing some great tennis.

Time for Nadal to kick his butt in Miami then.  

I didn't think he did too bad in IW, he really should have beat Raonic the first set and half I was very impressed with Nadal's level and didn't know how Raonic was even hanging on.

socal1976 wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:Fantastic start to the year from Novak, he's been playing some great tennis.

Time for Nadal to kick his butt in Miami then.  

I didn't think he did too bad in IW, he really should have beat Raonic the first set and half I was very impressed with Nadal's level and didn't know how Raonic was even hanging on.

Even in the 3rd set there were many deuces on the Raonic serve, but he kept serving huge when under pressure.
Anyway this is a Djokovic-celebratory thread, I don't want to ruin it with Rafa talk.

I don't know about that IMBL, he still gives up a break at least every match by just brain farting. Missing mid court balls and short balls that he makes all day long all of sudden he goes 5 minutes where he can't find the court or makes bad double faults and gifts his opponent breaks. He did that against Fed at Wimby, did it again yesterday. I don't favor him to win a Calendar Year Slam this year. But I do think he will win one of the next three slams this season and I am hoping it is the French.

It Must Be Love wrote:I see Djokovic winning the Calendar Grand Slam this year.

No reverse jinxing, IMBL, I won't stand for it!  

CYGS is highly unlikely, but if 2015 is not a multi-slam year then that will be a huge opportunity missed.

If Federer is his only legitimate competition this year, then the CYGS is on! Still remote though, the consistency required to achieve it is beyond belief.

Congrats to Novak on reaching the 50, a truly superb accomplishment. Let's hope for many more to come!

If he gets the FO then it's really on. Still make Rafa favourite at the FO. Just have a feeling that in a match between the two Novak will find a way to lose it!

emancipator wrote:If he gets the FO then it's really on. Still make Rafa favourite at the FO. Just have a feeling that in a match between the two Novak will find a way to lose it!

That is what I see also, unfortunately the mental farts and ups and downs he goes through in a match are not conducive to beating Nadal on clay over 5 sets. He seems to have a 5 minute lull in his game for every 90 or 120 minutes. That will be 4 lulls he has to contend with in a 5 set match against Nadal, and in one of those dips Rafa is hot enough he will just get ahead and finish you off.

No single slam in isolation seems insurmountably difficult for Novak this year.

But I just don't see him going another 21 matches without either meeting a red hot opponent or Novak having one of his weird days where his "emotions" are wrong.

RG would be great but I'd be almost as pleased about another USO. It's crazy that a HC player of his quality only has one title in Flushing Meadows!

socal1976 wrote:

Guest82 wrote:Surprised to see Ferrer has that many.  Shows how he has cleaned up 250/500's, beating players he would be expected to beat.

I bet he's gutted Rafa has started playing a lot of the smaller clay tournaments!

Yeah Ferrer has won a lot of smaller events in his numbers. He doesn't have the gears in his game to challenge the first tier players but he is consistent enough to beat everyone else. Can't see him add much more as he seems to have finally hit the limit of his energizer bunny style of play and like you said Rafa going to latin America is going to really hurt his title count.

He's won two or three this year already hasn't he? But, I agree he is starting to slow down.

I like him though.

HM Murdoch wrote:No single slam in isolation seems insurmountably difficult for Novak this year.

But I just don't see him going another 21 matches without either meeting a red hot opponent or Novak having one of his weird days where his "emotions" are wrong.

RG would be great but I'd be almost as pleased about another USO. It's crazy that a HC player of his quality only has one title in Flushing Meadows!

If he wins RG, the it is on...

Even if he does though, I would stil think very unlikely.

Guest82 wrote:If he wins RG, the it is on... 

I think Wimbledon is the trickiest instalment.

Yep, definitely still very unlikely, particularly with the pressure building as he gets closer. In theory though, definitely possible.

I honestly don't think it is on till he comes out of Wimbledon with 3 slams. Even after RG I mean he has half the slams left and one of them on his least comfortable grass with Fed and Murray or any big server lurking. I can't see Djokovic doing it frankly because he is still as good as he is so tempermental and up and down over the course of a match.

Well Rafa ain't winning the RG this year, so if Djoko does not take it, would be a dissapoitment of the year.

You can't count out Federer, remember RG 2011 ?

It Must Be Love wrote:You can't count out Federer, remember RG 2011 ?

Right, joke of the day, well done

HM Murdoch wrote:

Guest82 wrote:If he wins RG, the it is on... 

I think Wimbledon is the trickiest instalment.

I don't think any player stands out on grass. Maybe Murray had a spell of looking like he may dominate.

Maybe Fed, but have to back Djokovic over five sets on any surface.

The bookies would no doubt have Djoko favourite for Wimbledon and US Open now. Probably still have Rafa favourite for RG. I'd not argue with that.

Federer of Dubai/Shanghai was not there in the final, the 1 that lost to Seppi was and you cannot beat Djokovic with such a inconsistent FH. I still see him being routined by Nadal at RG though

It Must Be Love wrote:You can't count out Federer, remember RG 2011 ?

Anyone think Rafa can catch Federer 65 vs 85. Federer's a moving target and could reach 90-95 so looks challenging, probably out of reach but you never know.

Not so sure of your could be target.. your glass is definitely half full there
However I would seriously love to think that it would be possible for Rafa
but he certainly cant do with any more set backs.

But then "TENNIS IS A FUNNY OLD GAME"

emancipator wrote:Yep, definitely still very unlikely, particularly with the pressure building as he gets closer. In theory though, definitely possible.

As others have said, looking at each Slam individually, Djoko would be favourite or joint favourite for all three (depending on form of others - e.g. will Rafa revive as he comes into the clay season?. However, even Federer in his prime years always found someone too strong in at least one (especially Paris, even before the emergence of Rafa). There's a reason no-one has done the calendar year slam since Laver at the start of the Open era - it is blydi difficult.

Henman Bill wrote:Anyone think Rafa can catch Federer 65 vs 85. Federer's a moving target and could reach 90-95 so looks challenging, probably out of reach but you never know.

Can't see Rafa catching Fed in total tournaments he seems to spend half of every season either injured or coming back from injury. He could probably win 3-4 clay events a year with one leg, so it isn't inconceivable but if Fed has another couple of decent years he will most likely put that mark out of reach.