[Yolita]

It is difficult to remember the stronghold that Roger and Rafa had over male tennis since 2004 until 2010. For the first half Roger basically dominated everybody, and then Rafa showed up and between them they won practically all the slams and the masters. That's the scenario Novak faced when he began his career as a pro. Very early he positioned himself in 3rd place and he managed to end 4 consecutive seasons ranked #3: behind the two giants. He seemed destined to be the perennial number 3. Everybody said Novak had very bad timing: he peaked right in the middle of the Fedal domination. When he won his first grand slam, Roger and Rafa had won together 15 grand slam titles. After that, they have won 16. So yes, Novak had peaked right in the middle of the domination of two of the greatest, if not the greatest tennis players in history. So maybe he was destined to be, indeed, the perennial number 3. Due to bad timing.

And then 2011 happened. In 2011, he single-handedly broke the Fedal duopoly. And he did it all by himself. He beat them 10 times that year. A feat nobody would have believed possible even months before it actually happenend.

The standard narrative is that 2011 was an anomaly and that Novak went "back to normal" after that...That's clearly not true, since Novak hasn't gone back to #3 since then. But much more is true: not only has Novak not gone back to normal, I am going to prove with numbers that Novak hasn't relinquished his domination of the ATP since then. Numbers will show that since 2011, Novak has ruled the waves. Obviously his domination hasn't been as strong as it was in 2011, or as Roger's domination of the field was in 2006, say. But it is domination nonetheless.

Numbers don't lie, and in our sport, fortunately, numbers count. So I've done some numbers covering almost 4 and a half years. I believe these numbers will convince any non-biased tennis fan that Nole has indeed ruled the waves for the past 4+ years. We are, indeed, in the middle of the Djokovic Era. And given the way this year started, it doesn't look as if it's going to end any time soon.

I will keep updating this thread after every Masters or Grand Slam event and at the end of the season.



NUMBERS FOR THE PAST 57 MONTHS (From January 2011 up to 22 September 2015)

Updated up to Davis Cup SF 2015

TOTAL NUMBER OF TITLES
Djokovic 37
Nadal 24
Federer 21
Murray 19

GRAND SLAM TITLES
Djokovic 9
Nadal 5
Murray 2
Federer 1

MASTERS 1000 TITLES
Djokovic 19
Nadal 9
Federer 7
Murray 5

WTFs TITLES
Djokovic 3
Federer 1
Nadal 0
Murray 0

TOTAL WINS
Djokovic 343
Federer 304
Nadal 280
Murray 275

TOTAL GS WINS
Djokovic 122
Murray 96
Federer 89
Nadal 78

MASTERS 1000 WINS
Djokovic 152
Nadal 112
Federer 102
Murray 83

WTFs WINS
Djokovic 15
Federer 14
Nadal 5
Murray 3

OVERALL WIN-LOSS PERCENTAGE
Djokovic 343-40 89.55%
Nadal 280-53 84.08%
Federer 304-60 83.51%
Murray 275-66 80.64%

MATCHES AGAINST TOP-10 PLAYERS (As a percentage of total matches played)
Djokovic 138 (36.03%)
Federer 95 (26.09%)
Nadal 88 (26.42%)
Murray 76 (22.28%)

TOP-10 WINS
Djokovic 110
Nadal 59
Federer 57
Murray 37

WIN-LOSS PERCENTAGE AGAINST TOP-10 OPPONENTS
Djokovic 110-28 79.71%
Nadal 59-29 67.04%
Federer 57-38 60%
Murray 37-39 48.68%

TOTAL RANKING POINTS
Djokovic 62955
Nadal 39910
Federer 39065
Murray 32955

YEAR-END #1
Djokovic 3
Nadal 1
Federer 0
Murray 0

TOTAL WEEKS AS #1
Djokovic 165
Nadal 65
Federer 17
Murray 0

H2H since 2011
Djokovic 14 - 7 Nadal
Djokovic 15 - 8 Federer
Djokovic 15 - 6 Murray

 

[Master Yoda]

Perfect stats show how Djokovic is far above Nadal, Federer and Murray in the past couple of years. Djokovic and Federer have earned their years to be named after them. Nadal has yet to leave a consistent mark.

 

[IBM]

delusion is real

 

[Master Yoda]

delusion is real

If facts cant convince then God help you, since I dont think he exists you basically are doomed.

 

[Yolita]

Perfect stats show how Djokovic is far above Nadal, Federer and Murray in the past couple of years. Djokovic and Federer have earned their years to be named after them. Nadal has yet to leave a consistent mark.

If anything, I think Rafa was even more unlucky than Novak.
He was much more precocious, winning grand slams as a teenager, so he had to co-exist with Federer at his peak, and then, when he dominated Federer and was ready to rule, peak Novak shows up in 2011 and spoils his party.
No wonder Nole's 2011 was much more welcome by the community than this year. So many people were happy and relieved then that Rafa would be stopped by Novak... Not so much now...
Hence all the threads about Mr Congeniality :lol:

 

[92738]

It's true.

 

[Master Yoda]

If anything, I think Rafa was even more unlucky than Novak.
He was much more precocious, winning grand slams as a teenager, so he had to co-exist with Federer at his peak, and then, when he dominated Federer and was ready to rule, peak Novak shows up in 2011 and spoils his party.
No wonder Nole's 2011 was much more welcome by the community than this year. So many people were happy and relieved then that Rafa would be stopped by Novak... Not so much now...
Hence all the threads about Mr Congeniality :lol:

Thats not entirely true, as a teenage whos eager to breakthrough Nadal had only Federer as opposition. Djokovic on the other hand had both Nadal, Federer and rival Murray. The breakthrough is the most important one which was heavily delayed in Djokovic case.

 

[NewGuyHier]

Why start with Jan 2011, why not from 2010 or 2012?

 

[Waz]

Novak's decline would be so sweet.

 

[nolethebest]

Why start with Jan 2011, why not from 2010 or 2012?

You have a brain right? sure you can figure this one out

 

[Yolita]

Why start with Jan 2011, why not from 2010 or 2012?

Because I'm talking about the Djokovic Era. It didn't start in 2010 or 2012. It started in 2011.

 

[Yolita]

Thats not entirely true, as a teenage whos eager to breakthrough Nadal had only Federer as opposition. Djokovic on the other hand had both Nadal, Federer and rival Murray. The breakthrough is the most important one which was heavily delayed in Djokovic case.

Good point. You're absolutely right.

Nole's breakthrough in 2011 will remain one of the biggest feats in tennis history. At that time Roger and Rafa had 25 grand slams between them, nobody has had to fight such opponents.

And I love the fact that both Roger and Rafa won grand slams after that and regained the #1, showing that they had not declined, they still had what it takes to get to the top and win grand slams.

What a battle these guys are putting on for us!

What an era to be witnessing! :worship:

 

[blackwell]

Since AO-12 until IW-14 it wasn't a domination at all. Then he is dominating again - it's true

 

[Kowchi]

Good point. You're absolutely right.

Nole's breakthrough in 2011 will remain one of the biggest feats in tennis history. At that time Roger and Rafa had 25 grand slams between them, nobody has had to fight such opponents.

And I love the fact that both Roger and Rafa won grand slams after that and regained the #1, showing that they had not declined, they still had what it takes to get to the top and win grand slams.

What a battle these guys are putting on for us!

What an era to be witnessing! :worship:

2012 was the end of that "battle"

Federer's resurgance, Murray's title, Djokovic's AO 2012.

 

[NewGuyHier]

If you look at 2012-2013 period it doesn't look like his era, but according to this stats, someone might think he dominated the entire 2011-2015 period and that he was better than Nadal in 2013. That's why numbers can be deceiving, this doesn't prove anything.

 

[Yolita]

2012 was the end of that "battle"

Federer's resurgance, Murray's title, Djokovic's AO 2012.

What about Nadal's 2013? And the 2014 Wimbledon final? Roger's bid for #1 in 2014? A lot has happened after 2012.

 

[Master Yoda]

Good point. You're absolutely right.

Nole's breakthrough in 2011 will remain one of the biggest feats in tennis history. At that time Roger and Rafa had 25 grand slams between them, nobody has had to fight such opponents.

And I love the fact that both Roger and Rafa won grand slams after that and regained the #1, showing that they had not declined, they still had what it takes to get to the top and win grand slams.

What a battle these guys are putting on for us!

What an era to be witnessing! :worship:

I couldnt have formulated this better meself, having the big 4 on top of their game with Novak in the lead, truly a magnificent feat.

 

[TheEndIsNear]

Djokovic has obviously been the overall best player in the world since 2011. The only problem is that some of the seasons he was only slightly ahead of the other Big 4 members.

2011 and 2015 (so far), have been utterly dominant. 2014 was also pretty strong. In 2012 Novak was the best but not by a huge margin; Federer, Murray, and Nadal were all very good as well. And in 2013 Nadal was the superior player for about half the season (IW to USO).

But nonetheless Djokovic is clearly leading the way since 2011. The most impressive stat to me is how many GS/WTF/Masters titles he has won in comparison to the rest of the Big 4.

 

[norwood_10]

If Djokovic wins at least 3 slams this year you could argue 2011-15 is his era, sure.

But if he wins just the 1 again? Lol no- he has to be dominant. He let Cilic and Wawrinka (players with less about them than some of the guys Federer stopped) take slams off him on his favourite surface. 1 slam per year 2012-15 wouldn't be good enough. If that's the case, 01-02 was the Hewitt era (it wasn't)

Still, I expect him to clean up 3 slams and add gravity to the OP's claims.

 

[Yolita]

If you look at 2012-2013 period it doesn't look like his era, but according to this stats, someone might think he dominated the entire 2011-2015 period and that he was better than Nadal in 2013. That's why numbers can be deceiving, this doesn't prove anything.

One has to do that, it is inevitable to count big periods of time. Nobody is saying that Novak dominated every single day of every single year, but as a whole.

For instance. We all agree that Rafa Nadal was the best player in 2013. He got the year-end #1 ranking having earned 770 more ranking points than Novak (Rafa ended the year with 13030 points, Novak with 12260). But Rafa didn't dominate every single period in 2013. After the USO loss to Nadal, Djokovic went on a 24-win streak, which included two wins over Nadal in finals, won 4 titles and generally crushed the opposition. For 3 months of that year, Djokovic was a better player than Nadal... Yet, we all say that Nadal was the best player of 2013 because we are counting the year as a whole. Nothing wrong with that.

So that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm counting 4+ years as a whole, knowing that there were periods when other players dominated. But not for long enough to make a dent. Look at the numbers.There is not a single one in which Novak doesn't come on top. Not one.

I find that astonishing.