Rafael Nadal fans have FURIOUS debate on Novak Djokovic being called 'GOAT Of Tennis'

With Novak Djokovic dethroning 13-time champion and 20-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal from his seat at the French Open, a contentious conversation has been opened on which of the two men will end their careers as the GOATs. Fans on both sides have a number of fairly good arguments to put forward, but all in all, there is little to separate their achievements on the court right now. While the French Open Final 2021 has gone the way of the Serb, it is not easy to forget just how much of a hammering he took at the hands of Rafa in last year's final. 

French Open Final 2021 tips GOAT debate in Djokovic's favour?

Following his gutsy defeat of Rafa in the French Open semi-finals, the Djokovic vs Nadal head to head currently stands at 30-28, just slightly in favour of the Serbian. As is expected, both players dominate over each other on their surfaces of choice - with Novak Djokovic holding a massive 20-7 advantage on hard courts and Nadal having won 19 of his 27 meetings against the Serb on clay. The pair stand at an equal 2-2 on Grass Courts. 

With 36 Masters 1000 titles each and Djokovic now holding 19 Grand Slam titles compared to Nadal's tally of 20, the two legends are barely distinguishable in any area of the game. Rafa currently leads the pair in ATP 500 titles, with 22 to Djokovic's 14. However, the World No.1 catches up when you take into account his 5 year-end titles and the Spaniard's zero wins in that arena. Nadal also boasts one Olympic Gold for Spain while Djokovic has a Bronze from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The main line of conversation between the two sets of fans is whether Djokovic's win over Rafa - who has NEVER been beaten in a semi-final/final at Roland Garros, was enough to tip the odds in his favour come time for the GOAT conversation. Another common argument follows the line of whether Nadal's 13 wins at the French Open titles are responsible for his greatness or are the reason he will never be the GOAT - because of his lack of versatility. With a few years still remaining before this decision must be made, we can only hope that we will enjoy many such encounters between the two legends. 

Djokovic vs Tsitsipas highlights

After defending a breakpoint early in the first set, Stefanos Tsitsipas put on a near-perfect game to get to set point on Djokovic's serve at 5-4. However, with a valiant fightback and two back to back breaks of serve Set 1 went Tsitsipas' way in a tie break. The second set saw Djokovic unsettled right from the start, as he lost his first serve and went on to lose 6-2, shocking fans around the world. Whether it was Djokovic's resistance or Tsitsipas' nerves, something changed in the third set. With his error count taking a huge dip, Djokovic won the set 6-3 and got the ball rolling for his eventual 6-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win.

Image Credits: Roland Garros website