Novak Djokovic

A page and forum to discuss all things Novak Djokovic.

Djokovic warming up for his match

Current ranking: 1

Last result: Banja Luka quarterfinals (lost to Dusan Lajovic)

Next tournament: Rome Masters

47 Comments on Novak Djokovic

  2. Fantastic piece on Nole…

    Excerpt:

    There has been an awful lot written over the past 6 months (since he won his 8th Slam title at the Australian Open, I think) about why Novak Djokovic isn’t “as beloved as Federer and Nadal.” Or even, “Why Novak Djokovic should be more beloved.”

    Another excerpt:

    “There are even parts of the world where Novak has universal crowd support, believe it or not, like China and Italy. I admit that I have no idea why these two very different countries adore Novak, but I have even less idea why they wouldn’t. Novak is, after all, incredibly personable. I find that the only people who disagree with this statement are those who have a vested interest in maintaining that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are the most popular tennis players in the world, and no one can possibly touch them.

    But Novak is good-humored; is humble despite his achievements, yet confident in his abilities and his desire to continue to be the best and win; is deeply invested in fair play (witness how many times he has conceded points to opponents when he feels calls have wrongly been made in his favor); is utterly willing to be goofy; loves pretty much everyone and is incapable of holding a grudge; wears his heart on his sleeve; invites everyone to be a part of his life experiences, both on and off the court; and is also a devoted philanthropist.

    Certain segments of the tennis fan community will now say “but…” and bring up some misdemeanor from his past. To which I’ll gladly say: yes, you are absolutely right. Novak Djokovic is not perfect. GASP.

    Guess what? Neither is Roger Federer. GASP. Or Rafael Nadal. GASP. All three of them have, at times, not been on their best behavior. And I’ll tell you something else: at times, I haven’t been on my best behavior either. And neither have you.”

    https://adventuresofnicoleeclectic.wordpress.com/2015/07/13/the-beloved-novak-djokovic/

    Reply

  4. have been watching a replay of the wimby final on bbciplayer. SO impressed by nole’s play….great second serve all the way through…aces on break points…..out of this world returning…
    great chemistry between him and boris during the match. i never thought this would work but have been proved utterly wrong and that’s a credit to nole again that he could see what he needed and act decisively.
    fedfan crowd extremely irritating…and a joy to see them silenced.

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  5. amy,

    I am tempted to watch the Wimbledon final again. I didn’t record it. I did see the replay on the tennis channel later that day. It’s interesting to watch it with different commentators.

    I thought it was a joke when Novak picked BB to join his team. I didn’t get it at all. But now I see that it’s paid off for him. I appreciate how Novak is willing to add people to his team to help with aspects of his game or his mental strength or whatever.

    I am really over the Fed fan worshipping from the crowds. I think that Novak’s ability to not allow himself to get rattled with the crowd cheering for Fed, is a step forward for him. In the past, he would frequently let it get to him and then lose it. This time he kept it together.

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  6. why wasn’t nole’s outburst of swearing at a fedfan at the end of the wimby final not reported by the british tabloids?? this is a clear dereliction of their muck-raking, stirring up hate, sensationalist duties…..

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  8. I suggested to my son, who is an anaesthetist, that Djoker must still be using the pressure chamber that’s why he stays fit all the time. He said they only use the pressure chamber when clincally necessary and for just as long as needed. Using it to recover in sport is not a good idea as too much oxygen into the lungs will eventually damage them and repeated use could cause blindness.

    For Djoker’s sake, I hope he is not still using it.

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    • good to see nole keeping his hand in….practice makes perfect….!
      nole it really looks like you need a rest right now…so i think that losing to stan and going home for a while would actually be a good thing….come back fresh for uso!

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      • I would like Nole to stay healthy enough to get to 12 GSs including RG. This truly is the golden era and we are blessed.

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      • pat, i would be very surprised if nole doesn’t get to 12GS and if rafa continues to play badly then he is pretty well bound to win RG (which he does deserve afterall).
        with rafa playing badly and no younger generation(s) to challenge i do wonder if this really is a golden era right now though….

        Reply

  10. Novak is not playing his best right now. But he still found a way to win. I don’t know if it’s the elbow or what, but he seemed quite out of sorts against Goffin. But down two breaks in the third set, he still got it done.

    I expect Novak to come out and do his best to get the win against Stan. It should be a good match. I am not sure if some rest wouldn’t be a good thing for Novak. He’s got a huge lead in rankings points. So no pressure there. The only pressure is what he puts on himself to meet his expectations. His goal should be the USO. That’s the big picture.

    Reply

    • nny: ––The only pressure is what he puts on himself to meet his expectations.–-

      You’ve put your finger on the crux of the matter. History has shown (I have mentioned this many times) that the more hanging on the importance of the match the greater the risk he will stumble at the final fence. Like Federer before him he will need the stars to be aligned to make it happen.

      Reply

    • pat,oh i see, yes of course you are right in that…!
      are you a nole fan? he is my second fave after rafa……i do think he seems mentally tired atm and it might have been better if he had lost today and got more of a break…..(i guess after RG he wouldn’t want to lose to stan though)

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  12. From here it is hard to imagine nole will suffer a major injury that would keep him off the circuit for a long time. Also hard to imagine he will retire before several more years. I fully expect him to get at least one RG and easily 12 slams. Even should Rafa regain more or less his best level for a while.

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    • Chloro I agree. To me this is one of the great enigmas. He repeatedly pushes his body to the absolute limits of human endurance yet I can’t recall him ever being sidelined by a serious injury. The combination of physical stamina, steely ambition, and a formidable armoury of weapons is pretty lethal.

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      • What adds to this is that he used to have his respiratory ills.

        After that year or two of work with that doctor starting sometimes in 2010 he was a changed man. No more respiratory illness that we can see, much stronger mentally. Plenty of weapons on the court while not as talented as a Federer, and all the rest of the ‘weapons’: a little yoga, a little self-talk, a little smashing of racquets 🙂 and so on.

        Can you imagine if some professional had worked on Rafa’s mind for a year or two circa 2010? And also got him to pace himself a bit with tournaments to stay off injuries as much as practical?

        Reply

  18. Don’t know if you picked up or read the first link which said the same…

    “I think there’s also a psychological dimension to the resistance to Djoković. I always think of a line from a poem by James Merrill when I think of him: ‘What least thing our self-love longs for most / others instinctively withhold.’ I think he wants the kind of love that Federer and Nadal receive, and the crowd in New York or London senses that desire and turns ever so slightly away. In a strange way, he might be more popular if he held the crowd in more contempt.”

    I think that there is a lot of truth in that statement.

    I lean towards liking him more for it in some ways. It shows that he is human and imperfect even though he is No. 1. That he could tune out the incredibly adversarial NY crowd in spite of his obvious want to be liked like Federer and Nadal is amazing. Not many players could do that.

    This was a good write up on the final….

    http://grantland.com/the-triangle/tomorrow-in-the-valley-of-ashes-the-unquiet-power-of-djokovic-stymies-federers-magical-run/

    “And some of that may have been nerves and some of it may have been tightness, but to say that it was mostly those things is to make too much of Federer’s command over circumstance. Most of what went wrong for him — even most of what went wrong for him psychologically — was simply proximity to the player on the other side of the net.”

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  19. ^^Yes I did read both articles. Meaty stuff.
    The first in particular resonated with me strongly. The French finally came round to embracing him this year – no doubt helped by the fact he gave them the chance to have a champion this year whose name was not Nadal hence their sympathy for him when he lost out on completing his career Slam. It was also very evident how much he revelled in the media attention post the USO and enjoyed the chat show hosts fawning over him.

    Paradoxically, I suspect it was Roddick’s cruel send up of Nole (which still makes me giggle) which was inadvertently responsible for him cleaning up his act.

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    • Well thought out article.

      Imagine if Novak was born 8 years earlier and competed in the weak area 2 years older than when Federer did. And that there was no Nadal and Federer around. How many slams?

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    • I’m not sure the French have come around. They applaud him only after he lost, same as 2014 when he lost to Rafa.

      For the most part, I thought they backed Stan during the final.

      If post 2010 Nole broke the scene in 2004, he and Fed would have the same number of slams more or less IMO.

      Reply

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