Djokovic surpasses Nadal on the GOAT list

With his 11th grand slam title and a firm grip on the world No. 1 ranking, Novak Djokovic has now surpassed Rafael Nadal on the list of the greatest players of all time.

Regardless of where you put Nadal and Djokovic on your list of all-time greats, Djokovic now belongs ahead of Nadal on that list based on the way he has dominated the ATP World Tour in his career.

This is my top 10 on the GOAT list:
1. Roger Federer
2. Pete Sampras
3. Ivan Lendl
4. Jimmy Connors
5. Novak Djokovic
6. Rafael Nadal
7. John McEnroe
8. Andre Agassi
9. Bjorn Borg
10. Stefan Edberg

The list goes on, but the important part here is that Djokovic is now ahead of Nadal. That may be surprising to some fans, noting that the Spaniard has 14 major titles and completed the career grand slam, while Djokovic only has 11 and still has not won Roland Garros.

However, those are the only points in favor of Nadal, while the Serb has surpassed the nine-time Roland Garros champion in many other statistical categories.

The first area where Djokovic is far ahead of Nadal is in terms of winning against the other top players in the sport. The Australian Open champion has now won 163 matches against his peers in the top 10, while Nadal has managed to dodge matches against the best players winning only 136 with a slightly lower winning percentage.

Even among the so-called "Big Four," Djokovic is more dominant than Nadal, claiming 69 wins against three of the greatest players ever, compared to 62 wins for Nadal. Djokovic even leads the series history against Nadal 24-23, despite having played the Spaniard a disproportionate number of times on the Spaniard's favorite surface.

The next area where Djokovic has surpassed Nadal is in time spent as the top-ranked player in tennis. Rankings are the ultimate measure of success in the ATP, and Djokovic is pulling away from Nadal in that category.

Djokovic has already been No. 1 in the world for 184 weeks in his career and is mathematically guaranteed to maintain that ranking for at least the next 17 weeks, putting the Serb pessimistically at 201 weeks atop the world rankings. Meanwhile, Nadal is stuck at 141 weeks and is struggling just to get back into the top four, let alone challenge Djokovic for the No. 1 ranking.

The Serb is also guaranteed to reach 100 consecutive weeks as the world No. 1, and it would be a shock if he doesn't keep that streak alive for many more weeks. The longest streak of Nadal's career was 56 weeks as the world No. 1, starting in 2010 and ending with Djokovic's incredible 2011 season.

The other main area where Djokovic has separated himself from the 14-time grand slam champion is in consistency at the majors across all surfaces. This one isn't obvious without doing some digging. Since Nadal has more major titles and has won at each of the slams at least once, it would seem that he has the advantage in this area.

However, the Serb's success at the majors has been far more balanced and consistent. Djokovic has reached 35 major quarterfinals in his career, including an active streak of 27 in a row. Nadal has only reached 29 major quarterfinals and his longest streak was 11.

Similarly with semifinals, Djokovic has reached 29 in his career. At one point, he had reached 14 semifinals in a row and has a current streak of eight in a row. On the other hand, Nadal has reached 23 semifinals in his career and his longest streak is only five, which he achieved twice.

Another way to measure success at majors would be in terms of ranking points earned at those events (based on the current ranking formula). Nadal has tallied 40,845 ranking points in his career at the majors, but Djokovic surpassed the Spaniard with his win over Roger Federer on Friday. Following his win yesterday, he now has 41,790.

When you break down that number by major, you see how disproportionate Nadal's success at the majors has been. Nearly half of Nadal's points come from Roland Garros, while he only has 8015 points from Wimbledon, which is his second best tournament. Wimbledon is only Djokovic's third best tournament, but he still crushes Nadal in that category with 10,035 points.

The gap between Djokovic's best major (Australian Open) and his worst major (Roland Garros) is 5945 points, while the gap between Nadal's two best majors (Roland Garros and Wimbledon) is a whopping 10,525. In other words, Djokovic has far more balanced results than Nadal, and he still manages to have a higher total in ranking points earned.

The Serb has been the best player on tour over the span of the last five and a half years, and there isn't much that can slow him down. Nadal's dominance appears to be all but done at this point, so whatever records Nadal still holds over Djokovic may not be around for much longer. If Djokovic wins the 2016 Roland Garros title, he would completely put this debate to rest.

My response to "Stop Freaking Out About Upsets in Women's Tennis" by Lindsay Gibbs

Before reading any of this, I ask that you read Lindsay Gibbs' article in its entirety.

If you are too lazy to read the article or didn't understand, I will try to give my fairest possible summary in bullet point version.
Main argument: Journalists' overreaction to upsets in women's tennis is to some degree misogynistic or sexist.
Points
-Tennis analysts are making a big deal of upsets
-Upsets are more common in women's tennis not because women are worse at tennis
-They are more common because women's tennis has recently acquired depth (which only came along recently because sexism held back the sport)
-They are more common because women play best-of-3 sets
-They are more common because women do not serve as well (which is a result of hormones)

I would argue that the coverage of the upsets overwhelmingly has been very good. The coverage shows why readers should tune into women's tennis. The vast majority of the coverage has not been sexist at all.

In men's tennis, there are in fact less upsets, making the first week of the grand slam events simply unimportant. That's not the case on the women's side where a lot happens in the first two rounds that does eventually affect who takes home the trophy. Therefore, making a big deal of upsets is what women's tennis fans should fight for - not against.

I completely agree with Gibbs' claim that there is no correlation between a high number of upsets and a less interesting product. As Courtney Nguyen points out, upsets are what create Cinderella stories. If a journalist is saying that women's tennis is boring because there are more upsets, that is bad journalism and should be called out. However, if a fan says they prefer to see names they recognize in the final rounds, that is a matter of personal preference and should not be criticized as sexist.

Now that we have agreed that upsets are more common in women's tennis and that this is not in any way inherently bad, let's look at why they happen. Gibbs gives three reasons and one is perfect, one is half-correct, and the other is dead wrong and sexist by Gibbs' own standards. Let's start with the positive.

Gibbs points out perfectly that upsets are more likely in the best-of-3 format. She seems to claim that this difference alone explains the entire gap. "Indeed, Carl Bialik of FiveThirtyEight crunched the numbers last year, and found that in lower-level tournaments where men and women both play best-of-three matches, they have similar rates of upsets." I would like to see those numbers and how Bialik arrived to that conclusion, but I agree that the difference of format explains away a large portion of the difference.

The rest of the difference can be explained by the parity of the women's game. Some people like to call it a lack of dominance by the top players. Gibbs calls it depth. I like to call it parity, because I think that is a more neutral term than the previous two, but I'm splitting hairs. The issue here is how Gibbs explains the existence of the rapid appearance of depth in the women's game saying it is "mostly thanks to widespread, pervasive cultural sexism." This is a not a central point to the argument, so I don't want to get stuck on this. Let's just say Gibbs' article would have been stronger if that whole paragraph was taken out, because it is only a distraction.

For me, those last two points explain away the entire gab in the amount of upsets, but Gibbs adds one more reason, which really wasn't necessary. Earlier in the article, Gibbs slams Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for nothing more than having used the word "hormones," but now Gibbs is going to use the same word.

She points out that there are more breaks of serve in women's tennis as a result of "hormones," which breaks rule No. 4 of her "comprehensive cheat sheet, guaranteed to make sure you don't sound like a sexist jerk."

In my opinion, the increased number of breaks in the women's game would actually be a reason for less upsets. As Gibbs points out, "this creates more pressure situations." In other words, women's matches have more big moments in each set, giving the better player more opportunities to show that they are in fact better. However, this is negated by the first best-of-3 format, so this point really is irrelevant.

At the end of the day, the larger amount of upsets in women's tennis can be explained statistically. It is not the result of hormones, bad play, mental fragility, or an underlying issue of sexism in sports and culture. It is simply what we should expect based on solid sports analysis, and any journalist who uses an upset to make a headline is simply doing a good job promoting the sport - not perpetuating a sexist narrative.

Donald Trump: I'm going to build a great net and Djokovic is going to pay for it

Over the years Donald Trump has been one the biggest tennis fans in the world, and even though he is busy running for president of the United States, he has made some time to watch the action in Melbourne and has been commenting on the action.

The biggest story in the first week was the talk of match-fixing to which Trump replied "if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about match-fixing."

Trump was also disappointed by the first-round loss by Ivo Karlovic, cyring "the concept of the net was created by and for short players in order to make big serves non-competitive." Karlovic reportedly double-faulted six times in his match.

Trump also noted the struggles of the unseeded players in the men's draw. "When was the last time anybody saw them beating, let's say, Djokovic? I beat Djokovic all the time. All the time."

Trump even has a plan for stopping Djokovic. "I will build a great net - and nobody builds nets better than me, believe me - and I'll build them inexpensively. I will build a great great net in the middle of the court, and I will make Djokovic pay for that net. Mark my words." He didn't back down adding "The net will go up, and Djokovic will start behaving."

Meanwhile, Trump defended Nick Kyrgios, who has become one of the most controversial figures on tour. "You know, it really doesn't matter what the media write as long as you're young and beautiful."

The 2016 presidential candidate had some strong words for Benoit Paire after his first-round loss to a teenager. "When Paire sends the ball over the net, he's not sending his best shots. He's not sending you. He's sending shots that have lots of problems and they're bringing their problems with us. They're shanks. They're drop shots. They're lobs. And some, I assume, are good shots."

Trump then painted all the French with a broad brush, claiming "Laziness is a trait in the French... French people counting my money? I hate it!"

Trump has also been known to question the nationality of players on tour, demanding birth certificates from players such as Milos Raonic, Matt Ebden, and even his friend John McEnroe, who he claims should represent Germany.

The business mogul wasn't done, also taking a swipe at Juan Martin del Potro. "He's not a grand slam champion. He was a grand slam champion, but he got injured. I like people that weren't injured. Okay, I hate to tell you."

The man did have one positive note on American tennis though, bragging "We will have so much winning that you may get bored with winning."

Trump put on his coaching hat at the end of the interview, leaving everyone with one piece of advice. "When someone passes you, my advice is 'get even!' That is not typical advice, but it is real life advice. If you don't get even, you are just a schmuck!"

More Donald Trump Quotes
-"Think of how boring it would be to have easy draws and have everything be perfect. You can't prove your merit on quiet waters, whether you're a businessman or a tennis player."
-"A court without lines is not a court at all. We must have lines. The rule of law matters."
-"If Djokovic retires now, thereby doing a great service to every other tennis player - I will give him free lifetime golf at any one of my courses. "
-"Federer has won a lot of titles. Much more titles than all of them put together, and all of their phony wins put together - but you have to understand, I want to be Federer."
-"The Spaniards are going to get those titles and they are going to love Trump."
-"We're going to make Rod Laver great again."
-"My style of playing tennis is fairly simple. I just push, push, and push again."
-On Fabio Fognini: "I think we would get along very well."

Australian Open Boys Singles Draw Preview

MELBOURNE, Australia -- While the fields start to narrow down in the men's and women's draws at the Happy Slam, junior tennis is just getting under way, and this year, the junior boys draw is stacked with talent from around the world.

The No. 1 seed at the tournament is Mate Valkusz from Hungary, but all eyes will be on 15-year old Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, who is the tournament's No. 4 seed and is the first player born in the 21st century to make waves on the senior tour.

Auger-Aliassime has raced to the top 10 of junior tennis in a hurry, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 8 thanks to a run to the title in a Grade 1 event in Bradenton, Florida with two wins over top 10 opponents for his second career Grade 1 title and fourth title overall. The 15-year old also reached the final of a Grade 1 event in his home country, where he nearly upset the No. 1 player in the world Valkusz before eventually falling 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

Last March, Auger-Aliassime became the youngest player in tennis history to win a main draw match on the Challenger Tour, defeating world No. 493 Andrew Whittingham 6-3, 6-2 as a qualifier. The Canadian isn't only the youngest player to be ranked in the top 800 of the ATP World Tour, but also has an incredible record of 11-3 in qualifying and main draw matches combined.

Auger-Aliassime will likely have to go through a blockbuster match with Yunseong Chung in the quarterfinals to have a shot at a rematch with Valkusz. Chung currently is No. 9 in the world, but the Korean was as high as No. 4 before starting to put more emphasis on futures tournaments, which have helped him reach a current world ranking of No.709 on the ATP World Tour.

Valkusz will be the tournament's favorite and is on the same half of the draw as the Canadien. Valkusz is a 17 year old from Hungary, which as a country currently does not have a representative in the top 100.

The world No. 1 could meet American Ulises Blanch in the quarterfinals and also has Australian Oliver Anderson looming in his section of the draw. Blanch is the only seeded American in the draw and he is coming off a title in Traralgon. Last year, the winner in Traralgon reached the final of the Australian Open.

Serb Miomir Kecmanovic is the tournament's No. 2 seed overall despite being the fourth youngest player in the top 100 of the junior tour at 16 years old. Kecmanovic will look to dodge some of the woes that have inflicted former Serbian stars on the junior tour when it is his time to make the transition to the professional ranks.

The most famous Serbian tennis player, Novak Djokovic, didn't have a very notable junior career, but since him, a number of Serbs have been dominant on the junior tour. Nikola Milojevic was the top-ranked junior player in the world. Laslo Djere peaked at No. 3 in the junior rankings. Meanwhile Pedja Krstin and Miki Jankovic both peaking inside the top 25 of the junior rankings, which is right around where Djokovic peaked in his junior career. However, none of those four Serbs have reached the top 100 yet.

In his half of the draw, Kecmanovic has No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece, who upset Valkusz in the Orange Bowl semifinals. However, his best result at the majors last year was a quarterfinal finish in Melbourne.

Alex De Minaur is the only of 11 Australians in the draw to be seeded, and he has a good draw to reach the quarterfinals, where he could potentially face Tsitsipas. De Minaur is currently at a career-high ranking of No. 10 on the junior circuit.

Last year, the Australian had a brutal draw in Melbourne, but nearly upset Seong Chan Hong, eventually falling 5-7, 7-5, 6-8. His last three losses on the junior tour were to Auger-Aliassime in the final in Bradenton and then twice to Kecmanovic.

First-round action is underway on Friday on the outside courts.

Teenagers in Melbourne

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Eight teenagers entered the 2016 Australian Open main draw, but after just three days, all eight were eliminated from the tournament with just three wins to show for their effort. However, all teenagers that reached the second round claimed their first career tour-level victories.

This group of teenagers has already been far more impressive than the group born between 1990 and 1994, leading many to conclude that this will be the group of athletes that will replace the current top tier of tennis, which is all at least in the high 20's in terms of age.

None of the teenagers were seeded in the tournament and four needed wildcards, while one qualified and three were direct acceptances into the main draw. Still, eight teenagers in the main draw of a slam is much more than what we were seeing even just two years ago.

Noah Rubin had the most noteworthy of the three wins eliminating No. 17 seed Benoit Paire in three tiebreak set 7-6(4), 7-6(6), 7-6(5). Rubin, at 19 years old, is ranked No. 328 in the world and had never won a tour-level match of any kind before in his career. However, the American was nearly perfect in the three tiebreaks, pulling off the biggest upset of the tournament.

Australian Omar Jasika thrilled the home crowd upsetting Illya Marchenko who reached the semifinals in Doha just two weeks ago. The left-handed 18 year old won in four sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, 6-4, proving that his game can translate to the biggest stages against the top 100.

"It was my first big match, so it was a pretty good feeling to get through that," Jasika said. "the crowd was on my side today, which was a good feeling. They pushed me through. It was incredible to see the crowd on my side."

Quentin Halys claimed the third win by a teenager in the tournament. The French wildcard is just 19 years old and defeated veteran Croat Ivan Dodig 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5. However, Halys ran into No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic in the second round, where the Serb won in straight sets.

Halys wasn't the only one to get a tough draw. Taylor Fritz lost in five sets to fellow American Jack Sock, who is seeded 25 in the tournament. Alexander Zverev lost to No. 2 seed Andy Murray in straight sets. Also, Korean teenager Hyeon Chung was Djokovic's first-round victim.

"Today, it was a great honor to play with Djokovic," Chung said in broken English. "I was just trying to fight; it was a great test to start the season."

Borna Coric is the highest-ranked teenager in tennis right now at No. 40, but the 19 year old went out in the first round in what has been a tough Australian Open for the Croats. Coric won just seven games as he lost in straight sets to Albert Ramos.