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Who had the better season: 2006 Federer or 2015 Djokovic?

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#1 · (Edited)
I just read an interesting article about the greatest tennis seasons of all time.
Who had the greatest season ever: Federer in ?06 or Djokovic in ?15? | For The Win
The article picks the six best tennis seasons according to a player's winning percentage and then compares them. It eventually comes down to 2006 Federer and 2015 Djokovic. The author gives 2006 Federer the edge, because he had to face Nadal on clay and hence lost the RG final, while Djokovic faced a "less difficult" opponent (Stan Wawrinka) in the final, but lost.

A comparison of their seasons:

-2006 Federer
* 3 Grand Slams: Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open (RU at RG)
* 4 M1000 titles (out of 7): IW, Miami, Toronto and Madrid. (RU in Rome & MC) + WTF
* 2 ATP 500 titles: Tokyo and Basel (RU in Dubai)
* 2 ATP 250 titles: Doha and Halle
*52 weeks at No.1

-2015 Djokovic:
*3 Grand Slams: Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open (RU at RG)
*6 M1000 (out of 9): IW, Miami, MC, Rome, Shanghai and Paris (RU in Montreal and Cincy) +WTF
* 1 ATP 500: Beijing (RU in Dubai)
*52 weeks at No. 1

For me it's 2006 Federer, because he was more dominant in his GS victories and he played his best tennis that season (imo Novak played better tennis in 2011 than 2015.

Thoughts?

Edit: Can the mods at a poll, completely forgot that part?
 
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#2 ·
Obviously Nole.

Look at these pathetic draws

Federer's 2006 AO draw: Istomin/Mayer/Miryni/Haas/Davydenko/Kiefer/Baghdatis
Federer's 2006 FO draw: Hartfield/Falla/Massu/Berdych/Ancic/walkover after opponent retired after winning 1st set/Nadal
Federer's 2006 Wimby draw: 2006: Gasquet/Henman/Mahut/Berdych/Ancic/Bjorkman/Nadal
Federer's 2006 USO draw: Wang/Henman/Spadea/Gicquel/Blake/Davydenko/Roddick

Is it any wonder why Federer dominated? He had no competition. And not only that, the era was perfect for him: the tennis wasn't physical, there was way less baseline tennis and defense, and the players weren't as athletic or complete players, and everyone was hitting flatter instead of with topspin later on.

He got exposed by the modern game and way better competition, which is why he stopped winning afterwards.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Obviously Nole.

Look at these pathetic draws

Federer's 2006 AO draw: Istomin/Mayer/Miryni/Haas/Davydenko/Kiefer/Baghdatis
Federer's 2006 FO draw: Hartfield/Falla/Massu/Berdych/Ancic/walkover after opponent retired after winning 1st set/Nadal
Federer's 2006 Wimby draw: 2006: Gasquet/Henman/Mahut/Berdych/Ancic/Bjorkman/Nadal
Federer's 2006 USO draw: Wang/Henman/Spadea/Gicquel/Blake/Davydenko/Roddick

Is it any wonder why Federer dominated? He had no competition. And not only that, the era was perfect for him: the tennis wasn't physical, there was way less baseline tennis and defense, and the players weren't as athletic or complete players, and everyone was hitting flatter instead of with topspin later on.

He got exposed by the modern game and way better competition, which is why he stopped winning afterwards.
Djokovic's draws weren't exactly nightmares either, but okay especially Roger's AO draw was weak in 2006 I give you that. Please explain how Roger managed to win 2 Grand Slams and 2 Masters this year if he's exposed by "modern tennis"?
 
#4 ·
Federer:

2006 Doha draw: Minar/Santoro/Baghdatis/Haas/Monfils Monfils was his Doha final opponent
2006 Dubai: lost to Nadal
2006 IW: Masuu/Rochus/Gasquet/Ljubicic/Scriphatan/Blake Blake was his IW final opponent
2006 Miami: Clement/Haas/Tursunov/Blake/Ferrer/Ljubicic Ljubicic was his Miami final opponent
Rome 2006: lost to Nadal
RG 2006: lost to Nadal
Canada 2006: Mathieu/Grosjean/Tursunov/Malisse/Gonzalez/Gasquet Gasquet was his Canada final opponent
Cincinnati 2006: lost to Murray
Tokyo 2006 draw: Troicki/Moodle/Suzuki/Becker/Henman Henman was his Tokyo final opponent
Madrid 2006 draw: Massu/Soderling/Ginepri/Nalbandian/Gonzalez Gonzalez was his Madrid final oppoennt
Basel 2006 draw: Zib/GGL/Ferrer/Schripathan/Gonzalez Gonzalez was his Basel final opponent
WTF 2006 draw: Blake was his final opponent
 
#6 ·
I just read an interesting article about the greatest tennis seasons of all time.
Who had the greatest season ever: Federer in ?06 or Djokovic in ?15? | For The Win
The article picks the six best tennis seasons according to a player's winning percentage and then compares them. It eventually comes down to 2006 Federer and 2015 Djokovic. The author gives 2006 Federer the edge, because he had to face Nadal on clay and hence lost the RG final, while Djokovic faced a "less difficult" opponent (Stan Wawrinka) in the final, but lost.

A comparison of their seasons:

-2006 Federer
* 3 Grand Slams: Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open (RU at RG)
* 4 M1000 titles (out of 7): IW, Miami, Toronto and Madrid. (RU in Rome & MC) + WTF
* 2 ATP 500 titles: Tokyo and Basel (RU in Dubai)
* 2 ATP 250 titles: Doha and Halle
*52 weeks at No.1

-2015 Djokovic:
*3 Grand Slams: Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open (RU at RG)
*6 M1000 (out of 9): IW, Miami, MC, Rome, Shanghai and Paris (RU in Montreal and Cincy) +WTF
* 1 ATP 500: Beijing (RU in Dubai)
*52 weeks at No. 1

For me it's 2006 Federer, because he was more dominant in his GS victories and he played his best tennis that season (imo Novak played better tennis in 2011 than 2015.

Thoughts?

Edit: Can the mods at a poll, completely forgot that part?
If that's what you think, maybe you should've made this thread 2006 vs 2011 then, considering that's what you think both played at their best.
 
#9 ·
I thought about that, but I have to agree with the article that states 2015 was Djokovic's best season. If you compare the stats of Novak's 2011 and 2015 seasons, you will find that 2015 was by far Novak's best season. For example he won more Masters & the WTF and reached the RG final in 2015.
 
#8 ·
Nole wasn't better in 2011. The courts were just much much slower in 2011 than in 2015 and that allowed some of Nole's biggest strengths to be on full display.

Nole had far more time to play defense, to return serves, to hit his BH, forehand, etc. in 2011. The courts in 2015 were much much faster and the game was way more powerful. Nole had far less time to play defense, return, hit his bh, forehand, etc. But yet that still didn't stop him from having the best and greatest season in tennis history. Nole was a better and more complete player in 2015.
 
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#19 ·
Sorry Fedtards, you guys don't win this one

Djokovic 2015 was the best season since Laver 69, better than any of Fed or Nadal's seasons
 
#21 · (Edited)
While Novak in 2015 had opponents with average Elo rating of 2026, Roger in 2006 had opponents with average Elo rating of 1947 (Elo rating difference of 79 points translates to 60% : 40% winning chances, meaning Novak had 20% harder job in 2015 then Roger in 2006!)
While Novak in 2015 had opponents with average ATP ranking (geometric mean) of 17.8, Roger in 2006 had opponents with average ATP ranking of 28.2
And still, Novak won more big titles and reached more big finals.
Source:
Ultimate Tennis Statistics - Highest Mean Opponent Elo Rating in Single Season
Ultimate Tennis Statistics - Highest Mean Opponent Rank in Single Season
 
#43 ·
Haha it's like they were born in 2008. I'm sure none of them saw Federer in 2006. 100% guaranteed.

2006 >>> 2015. 2015 wasn't even peak DJ, peak DJ = 2011.

The second most important thing is that faker went on a harvesting run, the field totally sucked in 2015. He almost lost to freaking Kandy. :lol:

In 2006, Federer was at peak form and basically smashed everyone. Noone besides Nadal on clay even had a chance.

Federer was damn near unplayable unless you were dull moonballing his BH on clay and even then Fed ran dull incredibly close esp in Rome. Faker didn't look unbeatable in 2015 at all and THAT's the key difference. Heck even Murphy's level on grass was higher but he came up against a total masterclass vs Fed. Had Murphy played DJ, he would've smoked him on grass that year.
 
#26 ·
i never for a second thought nole is better than federer...i mean he beat a 32plus yo fed at some slams so what? before that nole lost like a million gs sf vs fed. but yes i consider nole better than nadal. for me nadal is not tennis...they slow down the courts for him.
 
#92 ·
Before stating something like this, it is usually better to check real facts.
2017 has not yet finished, when it is, we can say how strong or week it was.
2016 was in the middle
2015 was the 3-rd ever most dominant year in tennis history (Ultimate Tennis Statistics - Dominance Timeline), so it was not week, but very strong. The strongest year in Open Era was 2012 (when all of Big 4 managed to win only one GS title, so was the competition strong among them), followed by 2011.

Weakest seasons were in the 'Weak Era' 2000-2003 (Kuerten, Hewitt, Roddick) and some Sampras seasons (1997, 1998).
 
#30 ·
How can anyone say Federer?
Look at his joke draw and rivels in his slams.. if any peak Novak or Rafa hell will not win half of those titels.

And for the guy above,Federer can not be the GOAT because he playing fun and nice tennis,if you are saying he is the GOAT because he have more grand slams than anyone i can accept that,but because of his game style? its ridiculous..
 
#31 ·
who's talking about goat here? which he is anyways(in both style and number)...and no not for a second was 2006 weaker than any year after..as i said we had almost THE SAME PLAYERS but 11 years younger. who in his right mind would believe 2015 was strong? ha
who did nole have? old fed? old nadal?

mtf kids really have no honesty.
 
#32 ·
Federer's 2006 draws:

Slams:
Federer's 2006 AO draw: Istomin/Mayer/Miryni/Haas/Davydenko/Kiefer/Baghdatis
Federer's 2006 FO draw: Hartfield/Falla/Massu/Berdych/Ancic/walkover after opponent retired after winning 1st set/Nadal
Federer's 2006 Wimby draw: 2006: Gasquet/Henman/Mahut/Berdych/Ancic/Bjorkman/Claydal
Federer's 2006 USO draw: Wang/Henman/Spadea/Gicquel/Blake/Davydenko/Roddick.

Everywhere else:
2006 Doha draw: Minar/Santoro/Baghdatis/Haas/Monfils Monfils was his Doha final opponent
2006 Dubai: lost to Nadal
2006 IW: Masuu/Rochus/Gasquet/Ljubicic/Scriphatan/Blake Blake was his IW final opponent
2006 Miami: Clement/Haas/Tursunov/Blake/Ferrer/Ljubicic Ljubicic was his Miami final opponent
Rome 2006: lost to Nadal
RG 2006: lost to Nadal
Canada 2006: Mathieu/Grosjean/Tursunov/Malisse/Gonzalez/Gasquet Gasquet was his Canada final opponent
Cincinnati 2006: lost to Murray
Tokyo 2006 draw: Troicki/Moodle/Suzuki/Becker/Henman Henman was his Tokyo final opponent
Madrid 2006 draw: Massu/Soderling/Ginepri/Nalbandian/Gonzalez Gonzalez was his Madrid final oppoennt
Basel 2006 draw: Zib/GGL/Ferrer/Schripathan/Gonzalez Gonzalez was his Basel final opponent
WTF 2006 draw: Blake was his final opponent
 
#34 ·
Delusional.

Nole played Wawrinka and Murray at AO, Federer played Baghdatis
Nole played Cilic and Federer at Wimby, Federer played Bjorkman and Claydal
Nole played Cilic and Federer at USO, Federer played Roddick
Neither player won the FO, although Nole was exhausted and hampered in his final, while Federer had no excuse why he lost to that version of Nadal.

It should also be pointed out that Federer only got broken once before the final at Wimby, and twice before the final at USO. He didn't lose a set and destroyed everyone (besides Nole ofc)
 
#36 ·
As for everywhere else, Nole beat Federer at IW, Murray at Miami, Berdych and Nadal at Monte Carlo, Federer at Rome, Nadal at Beijing, Tsonga at Shanghai, Murray at Bercy, and Nadal and Federer at WTF.

Compare that to Federer's, Ljubicic, Gasquet, Gonzalez, Blake, Monfils, and Henman.
 
#37 ·
super deluded..

so why do you exclude the high ranked players fed had to face each slam?
remember these players won nothing back then because fed DID NOT LET THEM.

WHY DO YOU HIGHLIGHT ONE PLAYER PER TOURNAMENT? as we can clearly see many top players in those draws.

who do you have for nole? wawrinka? he could do nothing when fed was younger. heh. same for nole himself.
 
#38 ·
Djokovic 2015 the GOAT season. Also a factor to mention is he beat Nadal at Roland Garros, while Federer couldn't do it in 2006 or any other season. The only weak point is the RG final vs Wawrinka. 6 M1000 in the same year is insane, too bad he couldn't win Canada or Cinci.
 
#44 ·
Djokovic 2015 the GOAT season. Also a factor to mention is he beat Nadal at Roland Garros, while Federer couldn't do it in 2006 or any other season. The only weak point is the RG final vs Wawrinka. 6 M1000 in the same year is insane, too bad he couldn't win Canada or Cinci.
The difference is that Federer faced a young Nadal who was already in his prime ( at least on clay and grass)in 2006. Djokovic faced Nadal in his worst season, the same year Murray destroyed him in Madrid. I'm pretty sure 2006 Federer would've beaten 2015 Nadal at RG. The interesting thing would be if 2006 Nadal and 2015 Djokovic met on clay.
 
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