“The debate is closed” – Why Djokovic stands above his Big Three Rivals

In the latest episode of Match Points, Marion Bartoli and Simon Cambers said the GOAT debate is over now.

Novak Djokovic, Roland-Garros 2023 – © Michael Baucher / Panoramic

July 2, 2023

In episode # 47 of Match Points, 2013 Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli and Simon Cambers join host Josh Cohen to discuss Novak Djokovic‘s crowning achievement in Paris and revisit the GOAT debate in tennis.

Their conclusions?

There’s no more debate…

“Success determines if you’re the greatest or not, and records determine if you’re the greatest or not,” says Bartoli. “When you look at the numbers, because obviously you mentioned the three players involved in that discussion are Roger, Rafa and Novak, I know that Novak has the greatest record against the two of them.”

Bartoli says there are many ways to frame the debate. but no matter which way she looks at it, it’s always Djokovic’s name that comes to mind.

Novak’s leading in nearly every statistical category

“The debate is really about the success obviously on different surfaces with what Novak has been able to achieve once again, he’s the only player winning every single Grand Slam three times or more, then it’s about the record against the opposition, which is Roger and Rafa, and once again is the leader,” she said. “Weeks at number one in the world? He’s the leader. Finishing the years as the number one player? He’s leading – he’s just leading every single stat.”

Some like to stress that the GOAT debate should allow for interpretation, such as a player’s impact on future generations, or a player’s style or charisma, but Cambers and Bartoli don’t think it should be heavily factored in.

“If you think about something as criteria, maybe the style, someone you like more as a personality on the court… fans, I think can identify themselves with something different, but that’s purely from a fan’s point of view,” Bartoli said.

Cambers adds that once you leave room for too much interpretation the debate becomes loaded with what ifs.

“I think you could talk about the impacts they’ve had as part of it,” he said. “But to me the biggest the biggest problem with this debate is: what about Rod Laver? What about comparing eras? You know, Rod Laver missed five years of Grand Slams because he turned pro. How many of those would he have won? He might have won 15 of them in which case he’d be right up there, maybe ahead. And then is he a better player than Novak, or Rafa or Roger?”

Roger Federer (Sui) and Rafael Nadal (Esp) and Novak Djokovic (Ser) at the 20222 Laver Cup Image Credit: Antoine Couvercelle / Panoramic

The debate is closed

Bartoli recommends keeping it simple: stick to the facts.

“As analysts we have to look at purely the facts, and in that department, the discussion, as it is now – once again Rafa can come back and come back into the discussion as well because obviously he hasn’t announced his retirement – but as we stand before Wimbledon 2023 the debate is closed.”

Cambers doesn’t argue.

“If Novak finishes with more slams than anybody else there’s no debate,” he said. “You can’t say that someone else is a greater player than him. As Marion said he owns most of the records. He’ll probably end up with all of them, except for the number of Roland Garros titles of course, which is impossible. If he wins Wimbledon he’ll equal Roger Federer’s total of eight. So you start to think there aren’t that many arguments for other players.

“It’s really just a fun discussion that you can have, but I think when it comes down to it, there are many many reasons why Novak will go down in history probably as the greatest player, because he has a winning record against the other two men talked about in Federer and Nadal. He’s won all of the strands three times, he continues to set standards at the age of 36 going to 37.

“We’ll probably find out in the next couple of years and it’ll be a discussion that doesn’t happen as much because he’ll have set himself apart from the rest.”