Yeah, could be a simple case of they took Novak's more consistent year over Nadal's better compact year. Year end rankings were Nadal #1 but only by about 800 points with 13030 to 12260.
When you look at it closely it certainly isn't some absurd decision but I think even Djokovic would rather have done what Nadal did that year.
Or recency effect. After Nadal beat him in four sets at Flushing, Djokovic won straight sets finals in Shanghai & the ATP World Final. They were 3-3 H2H that year.
But I mostly posted the ITF WC history to point out that how great Novak is an all-time basis. He's way behind both his contemporaries in Match Wins (634 to 724 to 1013) and Titles (51 to 65 to 84), but within a couple years he could be 8th and 5th in those categories. He's T8th in GS titles, needs two more to tie Tilden.
He'll never surpass Fed or Nadal but he's had a tremendous run since 2010.
In raw numbers he probably won't but I think that is a current flaw in a lot of tennis circles because they just look at raw numbers. Comparing players seems like a resume comparison but resumes aren't created in equal circumstances.
I'm not saying he started the fad or was the first athlete to go through it but the first I heard about Gluten issues was through his story. Now it's a common known issue that people look for. And since he fixed that he's been the best player in the game, it's a bummer he didn't know it sooner because who knows how many numbers it cost him.
Turns 28 in May but that still easily means he could be the best player over a six year span before turning 30. If he can stay #1 until he turns 30 he'd be near 250 weeks at #1. Add at least 3 majors to get to double digits (not counting his Aussie before this span of time). If he can win Cincinnati Masters I believe he would be the only one to win all 9. Biggest threat to beat Nadal at the French.
He's got a bunch of legacy builders he can accomplish over the next couple years. If he grabs all of them then I think it would be a shame if people just said, 'Well Federer/Nadal has X amount of majors more than him so they are better.'
And that's not even looking at the still very small shot of completing the true Grand Slam. Beating Nadal at the French, winning another Wimbledon and US Open this year would be an insane legacy builder that even Laver couldn't say he did on 3 surfaces.
Barring injury I think he'll get to the 6 year run. Nadal isn't healthy consistently and even when healthy gets upset in an early round here or there Novak doesn't. Murray isn't good on clay which is a hard hole for him to overcome and be the better player for the whole year. Obviously no young buck has shown enough consistency to challenge either but maybe we'll be surprised for 2016, don't see it this year with the advantage he has already.
Thanks for posting the ITF stats, don't think Djokovic gets enough love for what he's doing and a lot of that is the stats that he haven't built as high as the others like match wins. Personally I think open minded people who don't just look at numbers will give him a chance to be seen as a better player to pass those guys. Probably won't get there resume wise but in a who would you take draft I think he can put himself in a position to be taken before them or at least it's a discussion.