TENNISGOAT

GOAT lab

Trophy counts look similar — opposition quality doesn't. Green marks the best value in each row. Opponent ranks are as of match time; walkovers excluded. Add players to the comparison with the pickers.

Metric 🇷🇸 Novak Djokovic 🇪🇸 Rafael Nadal 🇨🇭 Roger Federer
GOAT points 180,000 151,410 168,115
Titles 101 92 103
Grand Slams 24 22 20
Top-10 wins 265 186 224
Win % vs Top-10 68.5% 63.9% 64.6%
Wins over world No. 1 16 23 10
Median opp. rank, Slam QF+ 6 7 7
Mean opp. rank, Slam QF+ 13.4 12.8 14.5
Top-10 beaten per title run 1.78 1.29 1.36
Slam finals won vs Slam champions 17 16 16
Peak Elo 2,572 2,507 2,547
Peak Elo — hard 2,494 2,369 2,472
Peak Elo — clay 2,435 2,565 2,359
Peak Elo — grass 2,258 2,165 2,309
Surface balance (weakest/strongest) 76.3 62.4 83.2

Player shapes

Six dimensions, normalized to the all-time best in each: surface peak Elos, win rate vs Top-10, best three-year window, and career GOAT points. A balanced great fills the hexagon; a specialist spikes.

Hard Clay Grass vs Top-10 Peak Career Novak Djokovic Rafael Nadal Roger Federer

Novak Djokovic Rafael Nadal Roger Federer

Where the GOAT points came from

Share of each player's GOAT points by surface, against the share of points the tour actually offers ("calendar"). A player far above the calendar share on one surface leans on it.

Era strength

Average career GOAT points of every player who held a top-10 ranking that season — how much all-time greatness stood between you and a trophy. Shaded bands mark the compared players' careers. Recent seasons read low because active careers are still accumulating points.

Novak Djokovic Rafael Nadal Roger Federer 19,437 38,874 58,311 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020

Novak Djokovic  Rafael Nadal  Roger Federer 

Methodology

Top-10 / No. 1 records use opponents' rankings as of match time, walkovers excluded. Top-10 beaten per title run divides all top-10 wins at title-winning events by total titles. Peak Elo per surface folds carpet into hard. Surface balance = the weakest surface's peak-Elo edge over baseline (1500) as a percentage of the strongest surface's edge — deliberately Elo-based, because hard courts host most of the calendar and raw points shares would flatter clay-heavy careers. Radar axes are each normalized to the all-time best on that axis (win rate vs Top-10 normalized to 72%). Era strength = the average career GOAT points of every player who held a top-10 ranking that season; recent seasons read low because active careers are still accumulating.