Seeing the title, some tennis fans will probably scoff at the plurality of GOATs. As I have followed Twitter discussions for the past five years, the men's tennis GOAT debate has been restricted to three people: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer.

The Disruptor

Novak Djokovic—the Serb, the Djoker—is the man with the most grand slams and masters. He is a true master of the sport and all its surfaces. I will remain salty towards Djokovic because he has often inflicted defeats upon my favorite tennis player. As much as I told you this blog would be about venting emotions, I will set aside my instinctive emotions and write more about what I genuinely feel about Novak.

Novak is the most boring tennis player to be discussed in this blog.

He's the most pragmatic and result-first player. I do not deny his superhuman stretch to hit an unbelievable backhand down the line, but most of his play repels me from watching his game. Ironically, his game is the best game to learn the most from. His style of play can't hinder me from praising his all-court, defensive, but equally attacking play (though he does it less frequently now).

Novak, the human, is incredibly authentic - that's the word I would like to use. He is fun and festive off the court - remember those imitation acts in exhibition matches and fun videos removing the mask (no COVID pun intended) to show his true face - Bert Critchley.

He voices and takes stances on issues (the right or wrong stance is debatable) and holds his stance despite criticism. The best example is the whole COVID issue and occasional dubious claims on food and medicine. This is bound to skew opinions, and it does.

He has been vocal about equal pay between ATP and WTA tours and even pay disparity among ATP players, which eventually prompted the launch of the Professional Tennis Players Association.

Why did I call him a disruptor?

Before 2011, the tennis world was witnessing the duopoly of Nadal-Federer, with Djokovic and others as challengers. Djokovic literally put an end to their party in 2011 with one of the best tennis seasons ever, winning three grand slams.

Djokovic is years away from pulling the curtains on his career; his GOAT status needs no further consolidation, but the winner that he is, he will consolidate further to prevent blogs like this one from pondering over the plurality of GOATs, and become the GOAT of men’s tennis.

The Contender

Can someone be a GOAT and a big 'What if?' story in the same lifetime? As I write this, he is the farewell leg of his long and illustrious career. I'm ready to get my eyes wet in tears as I see him bow out.

When I started to follow tennis, Nadal was already a clay GOAT and even finished a career slam to claim becoming a GOAT. He probably trailed Federer all this while, who had a more dominant record across surfaces (including Clay, where Nadal was the final boss to be defeated)

The left-handed 'Banana' forehand with a 'Lasso whip' around the net post to curve the ball into the court is the stuff of magic.

For the dominating Federer, Nadal was THE contender stopping Federer from clinching the French Open and even breaking Federer's hold in Wimbledon.

His playing style has evolved from clay-centric to improving his serve to compete on other courts, flattering forehands off late and crushing some inside-out forehand winners. His ability to give a fight, comeback, and relentlessly stay in the rally with consistent backhand is something to study and learn for ages.

Amidst all the evolution, one thing has remained constant—his dominance at the French Open. He has only four defeats, with a 97.4% win percentage at Roland Garros—that remains the biggest domination I've ever witnessed across the sports that I follow.

Nadal’s win percentage at the French Open is more than my Class 10 & 12 percentage

This level of domination ensured he got a statue at Roland Garros even before he considered retirement.

For all the injuries he has suffered through the years, he has always come back stronger and dominated the circuit.

There's a reason in 2024: despite clearly showing his age and sub-par fitness (compared to the insane standards), I would still count him as a favorite to win the Roland Garros.

For all the praise I've showered upon him, you may wonder why I mentioned that he is also a "What if?" story.

What if?

To put his 22 grand slam wins in perspective, from 2005, he missed 13 grand slams till 2024. Removing the last four since 2023, it's still nine grand slams. That's nine more opportunities to add to his incredible 22 grand slams. That’s always a What If? But one thing that’s never in doubt is his GOAT status.

The OG

I can dedicate an entire article about what Federer means to me; a hint of it can already be seen in my article about Sporting fandom:

Federer was the first ATP player to reach 20 singles grand slams. The eldest of the 3, in hindsight, probably a late bloomer amongst three (I mean, Federer's first slam came when he was 22, as opposed to Djokovic winning it at 20 and Nadal at 19)

But his dominance phase in the mid-2000s left his contemporaries needing guidance about his strokes. Listening to Andy Roddick's podcasts only reminds us of his situation against Federer. He had the silkiest of touches, deceptive of slices, weapon of a forehand, and unreturnable serve. He had it all across all surfaces.

Did I mention the backhand? One-handed backhands are beautiful, period. For me, they never looked better on a player than Federer. That also came with a severe disadvantage.

That led to the most exciting tennis rivalry—topspin left-handed Rafael Nadal looping into the one-handed backhand. This led to a lopsided rivalry, with Nadal dominating Federer until 2017 when Federer upgraded his racquet back from injury with a backhand like none other.

The beauty lured me into trying backhand, but after one clay court match, I can get why it is slowly fading out 😭

I still feel, may be, just may be, things would’ve been slightly different if the transition from a 90 came a bit quicker. Hindsight of a guy who probably can’t even compete with the 10-year old version of Federer is fun indeed, but that’s the whole article 🙈

Federer's fan following is incredible. His 18-year streak of winning ATP Fans' favorite until retirement is a testament to that. His trick shots and demeanor played a significant part. Everywhere was his home ground, every surface was his darling, but he had the best dynamic with the SW19—tennis royalty meeting the majesty.

Maybe that's why, for many tennis fans, Federer's GOAT place was and will never be in doubt.

What have we witnessed?

These three have pushed the limits of men's tennis both on and off the courts. As I earlier mentioned, The GOAT discussion may soon have a much more straightforward answer than today, but it's definite that neither of their names will ever be taken in a tennis context without mentioning the rest. In an individual sport, this holy trinity stands apart. When they all leave, that could be one heck of a day for tennis.

We can only look back and think what have we witnessed over the past 2 decades and think if we will ever witness such an era.

Every match of theirs will be a case study for the future to see the absolute pinnacle of tennis.