Have Djokovic...

In fact, he could have notched up his staggering 24th Grand Slam at the Arthur Ashe stadium on Sunday night.

A point to note is that there is some double-counting here. For example, at the 2011 French Open, which Nadal won, the Spaniard beat Djokovic in the semi-finals and Federer in the final. We’re counting that 2011 French Open as a possible title for both Djokovic and Federer, something which can’t happen in actuality. But the theory works fine if we interpret the potential titles for each player in isolation from the others.

Of course, it’s not just Nadal or Federer who’ve played spoilsport for Djokovic. If we apply the same experiment to Nadal and see how many times Djokovic or Federer beat the Spaniard in finals or semifinals of Grand Slams they eventually won, Nadal could have possibly won seven more Grand Slam titles, taking his tally up to 24 as well.

And when we make Federer the centre of this experiment, his six Australian Open titles swell to 10, his one French crown becomes six, eight Wimbledons turn into 11, and his five US Open titles to seven for a grand total of — wait for it — 34.

Didn’t we say that he was the GOAT? ance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh were among those present at the New Delhi protest.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) organised their protests in Uttar Pradesh, while the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India held demonstrations at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.

On the eve of the strike, the Congress claimed the support of 21 parties in all. Gandhi, who returned from the Kailash-mansarovar yatra on Sunday night, paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at the memorial at Rajghat before leading a 1.8-km protest march.

“In 2014, Modi had made promises to the people of the country, youth, farmers and women, assuring them of jobs and their safety. People believed in him and helped form his government,” Gandhi said. “Four years on, people are clearly seeing what he has done.” Gandhi blamed the higher fuel prices and a falling rupee currency on the Prime Minister’s policies. “Modi used to say that nothing has happened in 70 years. He is right. What he did in four years had not happened in 70 years. Wherever you see, Indians are fighting one another. They divide people – one religion with another, one caste with the other and one state against another,” he said.

“The rupee has never has been weaker in 70 years. Farmers see no light at the end of the tunnel. Only 15-20 big industrialists are flourishing,” he said. Gandhi urged other Opposition parties to unite to defeat the BJP. “From here, we promise that we will work together to remove the BJP.”

Former prime minister Singh, too, urged Opposition parties to shed their differences and unite for the Lok Sabha elections due in 2019. “Circumstances show that the situation has gone beyond control now. Farmers, businessmen, youth are facing crises in their respective fields. The government has failed miserably in fulfilling its promises,” Singh said.

Separately, while speaking to reporters, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said people were facing “momentary difficulty” due to increasing petrol and diesel prices but that “they understand that this was due to factors beyond the control of the central government”. “It is a problem whose solution is not in our hands.” He said the oil prices had gone down after the BJP government came to power in May 2014.

“We are standing with people in their problem. We are trying to redress the issue and will do that,” Prasad said.

The BJP leader said the shutdown was not being backed by the people. “That is unnerving the Congress and other opposition parties. Their resort to violence is designed to overawe the people of India. An atmosphere of fear is being created,” he said.

Asked if the government could reduce excise duty to bring down prices of petrol and diesel, Prasad said cuts were made last year. “The states too can cut down taxes levied by them, but it should be left to their wisdom as they also spend money on welfare schemes.”

The finance ministry officials said that while taxes are an important “revenue stream” for the government so as to build “world class infrastructure”, run social welfare schemes and eradicate poverty,” the NDA has given relief to taxpayers in each of its Budgets. They added that apart from local levies on fuel, states also received 42% of the centre’s revenue receipts under the current revenue sharing formula.