The Tennis Narrative About Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer

"I've created a monster," said Roger Federer at the conclusion of his 2007 season.

What he meant of course was that fans and tennis pundits had come to expect the impossible from him day in and day out.  As soon as he had an off day and lost a routine match, the commenting class began to discuss his decline, to emphasize his demise. It was not as if Roger had legitimate rivals and the sport was continuing to move forward. Roger was expected to dominate, nothing less.

The situation was not helped by a worshipful article (a legend in the tennis world, and must-read for all tennis fans) called: Federer as Religious Experience, by the late (great) David Foster Wallace. If tennis commentators didn't write favorably of Roger, then they were a Roger-hater and an idiot (read Pete Bodo, over at Tennis.com and ESPN, who for the record labelled Rafael Nadal the derogative "Jet-boy" in his earliest pieces).

And Roger did lose.  In 2008, he experienced a bout of mono (how debilitating it was is open to question, but in general, mono does cut into a tennis player's stamina in a major way).

He lost to his main rival, someone who was often dismissed as a fluke and not taken seriously. 

The new guy, of course, was Rafal Nadal.  A tennis prodigy.  An ambitious guy determined to master all the surfaces, though he earned the greatest success on clay.  The narrative about Nadal became that he was a "clay-court specialist"—a single phrase attempt to pigeon-hole a player into some sort of market niche or another way to characterize a player.

When he became No. 1 in the world, he was greeted in some corners with catcalls. Nobody predicted...Who would have ever thought...that this guy would ever become No. 1.

When Rafa began to realize his dream of mastering all surfaces (at the expense of Roger Federer) fans began to scream that Nadal was the GOAT.  The tennis world polarized into Kool-Aid Drinkers of either the Roger flavor or the Rafa flavor.  And another monster was born.  The Dominator.  The Spanish Bull. Someone who could "never lose" on clay.

Rivals like Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro were brushed aside.  Nobody predicted they would perform at the highest levels and do something special in spite of the fact that their skills are right there, and their creeping forward in maturation has been notable for some time.

Now Novak Djokovic is on an historic run—a winning streak that has just been extended in a glorious way with a defeat of Rafael Nadal on his beloved clay in Rome, where he has enjoyed a great deal of success.  

Djokovic did it in domineering fashion!  Defeating Rafa when he had exerted himself only the night before in a classic match with rival Andy Murray.  He defeated Rafa in four sets out of two finals (Madrid and Rome).

And the monster continues to be fed. Novak is the new GOAT to some people. If tennis commentators don't write uber-glowing reports of Novak they are seen as idiots and Rafa lovers (read: the very same Pete Bodo!)

This tennis narrative is neither fair to the fans nor the players.  Roger Federer is No. 3 in the world!  He would beat (with one hand behind his back) 99 percent of the world's elite tennis players (those on the ATP tour).  

Rafael Nadal is the same guy who just a few months ago completed the career grand slam! He has played a similar clay season to the one he did last year, and except when facing Novak is otherwise playing awesome tennis. He is not a god of clay, though. But somehow we pigeon-hole them into a "winner" or "loser" box, disparaging them for not dominating the entire tour.  As if they are required to be a GOAT.

These are card-board cut-outs of who the champions really are.

The tennis narrative ought to be that we are clearly in a golden age of men's tennis.  Not since the days of Conners, McEnroe, Borg and Lendl have we seen such exciting competition. Novak is clearly taking the game of tennis to the next level. To meet the level of proficiency he's now demonstrating, players have to change their games, come up with something new.  And that is just plain exciting.

I predict that the other greats out there, Murray and del Potro included, will rise to the challenge. Murray, like Novak before him, will get his act together mentally and perhaps become Novak's greatest competition. Dolgopolov will continue to improve.  We will see more good stuff from Raonic. Del Potro, if he comes back healthy has the potential to blow the tennis world away. 

So let's stop writing this stuff about how unlikely it is that Novak has suddenly gotten great. Hog wash! Let's not get carried away and 'type-cast' our tennis champions into GOATs and nobodies. Let's appreciate the men's game of today.  And bring on Roland Garros!