Novak Djokovic captured his third Grand Slam title of the year by beating Roger Federer in four sets on Sunday at the U.S. Open. Djokovic had previously triumphed at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in addition to a runner-up showing at Roland Garros.
Once again it took Novak Djokovic to stop a red-hot Roger Federer.
In a second consecutive Grand Slam final between the top two players in the world, Djokovic got the best of Roger Federer 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday night at the U.S. Open. The Serb committed 17 fewer unforced errors than his opponent (37 to 54) and he saved a whopping 19 of 23 break points before prevailing in three hours and 20 minutes.
Not unlike at Wimbledon, where Federer also lost to Djokovic in a four-set title match, the Swiss rolled through his first six matches with hardly any trouble. At the All-England Club he had dropped only one set to Sam Groth. In New York, Federer had not lost a set and had been broken only once by Philipp Kohlschreiber. Fresh off a run to the Cincinnati title that included dominance of both Djokovic and Andy Murray, the 34-year-old was without question playing some of the best tennis of his illustrious career.
But in best-of-five situation in a major championship match, Djokovic came up with the goods as he often seems to do. The world No. 1 sent a message early by breaking twice in the first set. Federer earned one break of his own, but Djokovic sealed the deal with a clutch hold at 5-4.
As the break-point numbers suggest, Federer had his chances. The 17-time Grand Slam champion seized one at the tail end of the second set, breaking at 6-5 to level the match with a punishing cross-court backhand that Djokovic could not handle.
A crucial third set featured arguably the final turning point with Djokovic serving down 3-4. Having already squandered a break lead, the top seed had to fight off a break point to avoid a 5-3 deficit. After doing just that, Djokovic promptly capitalized on an opportunity of his own to scalp the Federer serve at 4-4. That allowed Djokovic to serve out set three at 5-4, capping off a sudden turnaround.
Federer showed brief signs of making an improbable comeback when he regained one of two breaks at 5-2 in the fourth. After an easy hold to stay alive, he even powered his way to a 15-40 opening on Djokovic’s second attempt to serve for the title. But Djokovic slammed the door, winning four consecutive points to finish the job.
“Of course there is a just a letdown and disappointment that I couldn’t push it 5-all,” Federer lamented. “And then who knows what happens?”
A fifth set, perhaps? Federer’s sixth U.S. Open title? We will never know, but what is certain is that the crowd wanted to see all of that transpire. Raucous from start to finish after finally getting what they came to see following a three-hour rain delay, the fans were 100 percent behind Federer and not afraid to show it–even cheering Djokovic errors on more than a few occasions.
“They were unbelievable tonight,” the former world No. 1 said. “Were they better than ever? Possibly. Was it louder than ever? Maybe. It was unreal…. To receive the crowd support that I did receive. I don’t consider that normal.”
What is not normal is the season Djokovic is enjoying, but three out of four majors is not unprecedented. He first did it in 2011 and has now done it again with triumphs at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. Djokovic came within one match of the calendar-year Grand Slam, as he fell only to Stan Wawrinka in the Roland Garros final.
“It’s been an incredible season,” the 10-time major champion assessed. “I’m very fortunate to experience a great success this year. The season is not over, but the Grand Slam is over. The biggest tournaments that I have played this year, I won three out of four. It’s more than I could ask for, definitely.”
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Of course I know he is in a slump this season. What separates Nadal from other defensive players is his ability to find winners. But the fact is he is a defensive player at heart and that’s why when his confidence is down or when the pressure is on he retreats to a very defensive style of play, hoping for the other guy to miss. Its a bit like Federer, Fed is a baseliner at heart, despite all the hype surrounding his SABR and net game, truth be told when the pressure is on Fed plays exclusively from the baseline and rarely comes to the net.
Shrieking, I never said Rafa is an aggressive player, I disagreed with tennis fan that he is a safe player.
I meant ‘Shireling’. Blame autocorrect.
Not true about both Rafa and Fed.
Rafa isnt or wasnt a defensive player at heart. I suggest you watch his matches of 2003 and 2004 and esp his match vs Fed at Miami 2004. You’ll find that Rafa back then played with an offensive mindset He didnt have a big serve so he had to rely on his groundstrokes to out maneuver his opponents before hitting a winner. He wasnt afraid to move to the net or paint the lines back then. It was after his successes on clay that he played further back from the baseline and started his successful defence/offence game. Watch how close to the baseline he played from during 2003-2004 on non clay surfaces.
Fed started off during the S&V era and adapted his game to a baseline game when the courts became slower from 2002 onwards. Its on the slowed down courts back then that Fed had the most successes playing primarily from the baseline.
As Fed and Rafa have their successes playing their respective ‘adapted’ and ‘adopted’ styles for so long, they have become their natural game. It takes efforts for Fed to find his old game , that of S&V and charging the net and he has done so successfully this year. It remains to be seen how long or how soon Rafa has to take to find that aggressive game that hes not afraid to play when hes just an upstart.
Rafa hit 22 winners in the 5th set alone in the FO Final last year. Don’t judge his whole career on what’s happening this year.
Why are you judging Rafa on what’s happening this year? He hit 22 winners in the 5th set alone in the RG final last year.
Looks like the previous comment I made hasn’t gone in yet. Anyway, I’ll address SABR when I come to it. Suffice it to say that it’s among the very best things I’ve ever seen in tennis. And I’ve seen a lot of it and it’s about as offensive as it can possibly get. It’s absolute genius.
Now to defense versus offense/ Nadal versus Fed/ Slow versus quick surfaces:
1) To start off, Federer’s style of play is a classic all-court style with a preference to baseline given the time he’s playing in.
2) No, I am not demeaning defenders or defense. I have no problem with that style of play. I’ve said before, that it has it’s place in tennis, but not across the board. That’s when it becomes a tangible disadvantage for anyone who plays a remotely attacking style.
3) Nadal IS a defensive baseliner. To call him an offensive player is absolutely laughable. Of course defensive baseliners hit winners, what sort of an argument is that? Just because you hit winners from the back court doesn’t make you an offensive player. An offensive player thrives on taking time away from his opponent. Both Nadal and Djokovic need time to react to shots, particularly the serve. They’re both reactive players in that sense with Nadal being moreso. Of course he has excellent grounstrokes, knows when to pull the trigger in a rally and all that. But I called him defensive. Not passive.
Wake me up when Nadal starts shortening points and attacking the net. I’ll call him offensive then.
4) I have absolutely no idea which Nadal-Djokovic match contained offensive tennis. The only thing offensive about their matches is the amount of time wasted on court. Yeah, that’s really offensive as a viewer.
5) @luckystar, what on earth are you tripping on? How did Federer benefit from slow courts? He was losing every where before 2003 regardless of surface speeds because he was a headcase who hadn’t tapped his talent. His style has always been all-court with a blend of pretty much everything you can throw in so to even suggest such a thing is absurd.
6) It is a fact that Ashe plays slow and it was slower after the weather cooled off. In fact, Djokovic clearly alluded to this after the Cincy final pretty much playing that Fed would get no such advantage at the Open. At Fed’s age. these things matter or else why would Djokovic be so blatant about it? He knew he’d have the advantage from the get go.
I guess that’s pretty much it.
A player like Delpo plays primarily from the baseline but no one would call him a defensive player. One can play from the baseline and still be called an offensive baseliner.
Fed did benefit from the slowing down of the courts since 2002, winning all his slams after the courts were slowed down, not during the 1990s and so he switched to a baseline game with occasional net approaches and stopped playing his S&V game.
Rafa was more offensive minded during 2003-2004. If you have never seen Rafa approached the net, then perhaps youve not been seeing his matches often enough. Why not watch his Miami 2004 match vs Fed for a start? Or went back further to 2003 Wimbledon when Rafa was a green horn and trying to play on grass and not afraid to rush the net albeit clumsily.
As Ive mentioned in my earlier post, they both adapted to the changing conditions – Fed from a S&V based to a offensive baseline game with occasional net approaches; Rafa from an offensive baseline game with occasional net approaches to a defence/offense baseline game.
right, in fact the predominant playing style in the game today is “aggressive baseliner”
Man, I don’t think you’ve understood my point at all. Read what I wrote again. Nadal thrives on points lasting long-No aggressive player whatsoever does that. Delpo was actually very good at the net for his height when he was playing well, and thrived on keeping points short. If the predominant style of play today was that of an aggressive baseliners we wouldn’t be getting long-winded marathons at all. Delpo, Agassi, Safin are aggressive baseliners. Nadal, Djokovic, Murray are defensive baseliners.
Also, Federer was losing on slow as well as quick surfaces before 2003 so your argument, like I already said is redundant. Your beating on it will not change that seeing as you aren’t backing yourself up with anything.
Fed was and has always been an all-courter. Not a Sampraesque (post ’96) S&Ver and certainly not a true blue defender. Doesn’t matter where you put him. Also, Fed’s net approaches ae hardly ‘occasional.’ They’re in fact right out of what you expect an all courter to do- twice as many as Nadal or Djokovic I might add.
Delpo didnt always end points short. Also he didnt even venture to the net as often as Novak or even Rafa. Rafa has such deft touches at the net and he wins most points there when at the net. Watch Rafa vs Ferrer at Rome 2013 for example and see how often Rafa (and Ferrer) venture to the net.
Rafa vs Novak USO2010, Montreal 2013 are two good examples of their offensive game. Its not only Fed who’s capable of playing an offensive game.
Watch Fed vs Rafa at Shanghai 2006, you wont call that defensive tennis even though both played from the baseline!
TennisFan, Fed started off playing S&V and that’s how he had beaten Sampras at Wimbledon 2001. It was when they slowed down the courts that Fed turned into a baseliner. You talked as if Fed was charging the net all the time, he hardly did that since 2003!
Why wasn’t he playing S&V tennis at Wimbledon from 2004 onwards? They changed the grass there in 2002, and so players like Henman was disadvantaged, not being able to adapt to the slower grass. Fed adapted the best among his peers and so he strived on a predominantly baseline game with opportunistic ventures to the net.
It was until sometime after 2009 or 2010 that Fed realized he couldn’t stay with the younger crop playing from the baseline that he engaged Anacone to help him revamp his game to a more net charging one. As he wasn’t having much success after his 2012 Wimbledon win, he then engaged Edberg to further help him revived his net charging and S&V game.
I wonder since when you started watching Nadal and Novak; they both started out playing more aggressive tennis, at least for Nadal off clay, and Novak used to playing paint the line tennis. To say that Nadal and Novak only starting points defensively is clearly an exaggeration. Watch Nadal during USO2010, and even some of his matches on clay during 2008/2010, or his FO 2013 vs Novak and Ferrer. Novak certainly wasn’t starting a point defensively during his Wimbledon match vs Delpo in 2013, having served 20+ aces.
Luckystar you do make good points here. I agree with everything you said. But like I said, Fed’s always been an all-courter. I never labelled him an S&Ver. I also completely agree with you that guys like Henman were at a much bigger disadvantage than Roger were when the initial slowdown happened.
I also agree that Nadal/Djokovic can play offensive tennis on a good day. My argument is that it is not their style. They’re obviously skilled enough to play it but tennis is so much about intent than just skill. My argument is not about capability-that way even Roger has the capability to defend extremely well and does so on a good day but it is not his style, He doesn’t enjoy it as much as he enjoys and relies on offense.
Okay I disagree with the opportunistic ventures bit. Fed had 80 net approaches in the Rome 2006 final out of which he won well over 60. He had a pretty big number at Wimbledon 2006 as well. The reason I highlight Rome (other than the fact that I don’t remember the specific numbers for some of his other matches now) is because this was clay. Of course, Roger did lose some confidence at the net post 2005 because there was less requirement for him to go in, but you can tell from how quickly he recovered his net play that he was always an all-courter. That never changed.
The only thing that stood out for Nadal at USO 2010 was his serve (which he has never been able to replicate thereafter) and the fact that he was hitting his BH flatter than on an average. If this is all it takes to call a guy an aggressive baseliner then unfortonately, the standards to today’s game are just that much lower.
This is like when people call Nadal a great grass-courter because he makes a minor adjustment here and there on the surface notwithstanding his obvious struggles in Week 1 when the grass plays faster. This is what homogenization has essentially done. It’s blurred the average fans’ distinction between styles so that any remotely minor adjustment looks like a big deal.
lucky hit it out of the park again. lucky to have you back! 🙂
5th set 2013 FO. Agressive baseline tennis on clay. Period.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x153wim_5-5-roland-garros-2013-semi-final-nadal-vs-djokovic-full-match-hd_sport
And, no, it is not a fact that Ashe plays slow. The following links below qualitatively ranks US Open as medium-fast and quantitatively ranks it faster than average. i.e. not “slow”.
http://www.tennisabstract.com/blog/category/surface-speed/
https://www.perfect-tennis.com/tennis-court-surfaces-and-court-speeds/
I guess that’s pretty much it.
Video is blurry f when watched embedded here.
Click on the dailymotion text or select 720p from the HD text for great quality.
This was amazing tennis at the very highest level.
Djokovic, Murray, Fed have all labelled it slow. Certainly slower than Armstrong. And that is visible to any remotely knowledgeable tennis fan when he watches long-winded rallies on it or watches players struggling to hit through it. End of.
No.
Played slower during the night and in cooler weather as well as compared to Armstrong. Played faster in the heat during the day.
All relative as I said above. Yes there are faster courts such as Cincy but there are many slower courts including Indian Wells as I’ve referenced above.
Doesn’t seem you’ve got your facts right after all.
If it were all down to the weather the difference in how aggressive players dealt with it would be very marginal. It is not. In fact ,the USO ran a survey this year asking fans if they wanted to see more S&V at the Open. I wonder why. 😉
I didn’t say it was down to weather. That’s a straw man argument.
Hahaha, I just saw the video. I had seen that match. My god. A fan just called it aggressive tennis hahaha, way to stamp your own foot man. Those two are literally moon balling through the court. Look at that net clearance! If that doesn’t indicate safe tennis I don’t know what does. My God. Fans think THIS is aggressive tennis nowadays. Sheesh.
Agressive tennis from the baseline is not just about net clearance on every stroke. Look at the depth and going for the lines lol. The transition from defence to offence is obvious.
Even Federer does this against better players than him like Nadal and Djokovic.
Sure, Roger always comes out aggressive in slams but eventually returns to defence as shown in the USO final highlights here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKAiZu4lhSk
By the second half of the third set and most of the fourth, Nole stays aggressive and Roger defends behind the baseline again and again.
Even his ROS has pretty much always been a defensive return just chipping it back into play.
federazzi like simple absolutes but they are easily broken down by actual tennis fans.
Feeling the need to yourself “TennisFan” pretty much speaks for itself but, as usual, the emperor has no clothes (like Roger when the Weak Era ended).
There is no way that anyone can or should judge Rafa on his performance this year.
Ricky, why have neither of my posts gone in? It’s not as though I insulted anyone in them.
If you’re going to run an open forum why not do it objectively giving all fans an opportunity to contribute rather than limiting yourself to one?
your posts are not supposed to be moderated
No problem. I thought they were so was left scratching my head about what was wrong with them. Thanks for getting back.
it’s wordpress’s fault, and so far i have been unable to figure out how to fix it
While your at it, my 28 days are up (should have been conditional to begin with according to you)..
If it’s your intent to make my moderation status permanent, I’d appreciate you letting me know so I can move on one way or the other.
Thanks! 🙂
Djokovic admitting he is targeting Feds slam count
“I would not be truthful to you if I would say I’m not thinking about it,” Djokovic told the New York Times. “Of course I am.”
Given how well Novak played and the stability of his game, in another two years tennis world might consider he is the real GOAT.
He can be considered “untouchable” this season
Agreed he could arguably pass Rafa if he wins 1-2 slams, Olympic gold and passes Rafa in h2h and masters, etc. all could happen within the next 12 months (if Rafa does nothing).
Big if though.
Yeah, HUGE if. But then he has surpassed Nadal in weeks at the top, grand slam match wins plus WTF titles (to say nothing of career earnings) and he has defended titles on all surfaces, too. Nadal leads on other indices such as Olympic and grand slam titles, Masters Series (just) and head to head (ditto). Part of the fun of the debate. Already many writers rate Djoker’s best as surpassing Nadal. But who really knows? If you like Nadal then you’re going to back himto the hilt, his appalling 2015 notwithstanding.
For some maybe but not me. I thought Sampras was GOAT until Federer and thought Fed waS GOAT until Nadal’s 2013. I posted here prior to the final that I was ready to hand it back over to Fed had he beaten Nole in the final and I meant it but alas.
How does one match make such a big difference for someone who already has 17 slams?
Easy. A slam at 34 in today’s game plus four more slams than Rafa to me would be more significant than Rafa’s gold, multiple DC titles, greater masters titles, dominant h2h and amazing comeback in 2013 after seven months out when I feel he passed Fed whereas his three extra slams is not.
But GOAT is subjective and that’s just my opinion.
Well 17 is achievable for both Rafa and Novak. They have to win 10 slams between them, Rafa 1 in each of the next three years and Novak 7 in three years, leaving 2 for the others. It will be interesting that we have 3 tennis greats holding the same number of slams and leading the way.
I guess should that happen, Novak will be the one holding the most HC slams, replacing Fed who has 9 on the HCs. Rafa will still be the leader on clay and Fed on grass. There’ll be never ending debates as to who’s the Goat!
17 isn’t the key. Nole has surpassed Rafa in my estimation. Soon he will surpass Roger as well. Look at the weeks at #1 compared to Rafa. Nole has dominated the tour at times. Rafa has only ever dominated the clay. Period. Nole will get the Masters record soon. He has WTF titles. Rafa has none. He has as many USO, 1 more Wimbledon(he never goes out to scrubs like Rafa), 4 more AO. Only the FO kept Rafa relevant. Now that he can’t even win that he is done and dusted. It will only get worse going forward.
How do you know Rafa is not going to win any more? Dont make the same mistake like in 2013. Things can change quickly, like in 2011 and then 2013.
What if Novak is not going to win anymore? He’ll still be having fewer slams and masters than Rafa. I doubt anyone is rating Novak ahead of Borg despite Borg having fewer weeks at no.1.
Well Rafa has 9 FOs to Novak’s 0 and thats the big difference, thats a career slam vs NO career slam.
Olympic has got nothing to do with Being GOAT( if there is such a thing as GOAT to begin with) Even Nicholas Masu won an Olympic Gold. You are deliberately trying to ignore more important factors . Nadal has only spent 141 weeks as # 1 and is unlikely to add to it, because even if he somehow regains his form, he mostly only does well in a 2-3 month European clay court season. Hence its highly unlikely that he will ever overtake Djokovic as World # 1 in the future. Pete Sampras spent 286 weeks as # 1 more than twice Nadals total. Nadal has been the year end # 1 3 times and never even managed to finish year end # 1 2 years in a row. Nadal has been and ITF world champion only twice. Sampras was year end # 1 and ITF World champion 6 years in a row. Djokovic is a year younger and has spent more time as world # 1 he has clinched year end # 1 ranking 4 times in last 5 years and ITF World Champion 5 years in a row. You talk about Head to head, Djokovic would have easily taken over Nadal in head to head if Nadal had been good enough to reach the Qf’s SF’s and Finals of events this year. Even in the past if Nadal had reached more finals in non-clay court events the head to head would be easily in Djokovic’s favour something you know too but it is just that you wont admit. You mentioned about Masters series, I say add ATP world tour finals to the debate and Djokovic has 24 Masters series events + 4 ATP world tour finals Nadal has 27 ATP Masters series and 0 ATP world tour finals.
You mean Masu isn’t one of the all time greats like Marc Rosset?
Someone needs to use paragraphs. This is almost impossible to read.
ATP World Tour Finals is a big event because only the elite players play there, there is no chance for you to get lucky beat a bunch of nobodies on your way to the title. But of course you play down the importance of that event only because Nadal hasn’t historically fared well there. I am sure had he done well there then you would have definitely brought that up.
Your opinion and you’re entitled to it.
Many tennis greats both past and present don’t agree.
Well until Novak really does so, what we are posting here are just mere speculations. We wont even know what will happen tomorrow. As of now, Novak is still behind Rafa in his achievements and both are behind Fed.
What if Fed wins another slam to make it 18? Possible if he has Stan beating Novak and someone else takes care of Rafa, Fed can take care of anyone else. I think that will put this debate to rest.
Easier to win one when luck is on your side, than to win four, or worse still to win 7 or 8, I guess.
No Rafa’s achievements are arguably better than Fed’s according to many tennis greats past and present such as Agassi for example.
Also, really, on what planet are Nadal-Djokovic playing offensive tennis? Their three-set matches are often longer than Fed’s four/five setters.
Dear friend,
Nadal/Novak met more on clay these past five years, 11 out of 21 times they met on clay so far. Matches on clay were normally longer than matches on the HCs or on grass. Their USO matches were hardly any longer than Fed vs Novak at the USO (2010/2011/2015). Their only Wimbledon match, in 2011, weren’t any longer than Fed/Novak Wimbledon match this year either.
Nadal/Novak matches on HC BO3 were normally done in straight sets with Novak having the upper hand most of the times, hardly any long drawn out matches. There were only four long ones, IW/Miami 2011, AO2012 and Montreal 2013 when they had to go the distance.
Fed also had his fair share of long matches, with Delpo at USO, with Roddick at Wimbledon 2009, with Falla at Wimbledon 2010, with Tsonga at Wimbledon 2011, and also vs Simon at AO and FO to name a few.
Wait what? Their Wimbledon match was certainly longer than THIS year’s Wimbledon. I remember scratching my head as to why a four setter would have to last that long. Obviously last year’s match between Roger-Novak was longer given that it was a five-setter and tight in most sets.
Both Fed-Novak semis of the years you mentioned were again five setters. I don’t really know what trip you’re on or how this changes what I said about the average length of Fed’s matches which is always way shorter than these two. And I’m talking about time taken (or rather wasted) and not the number of sets played.
Fed’s matches were often shorter by comparison because he relied heavily on his serves most of the time. If you think offensive tennis means playing shorter matches, well that’s only your opinion. As I’ve mentioned, Fed was also involved in some long drawn out matches, despite him relying on his serves to win quick points.
No. They’re short because Federer typically aims at keeping points shorter and takes less time between points, expending less energy on court than either of these guys. Sure, he’ll have an odd match long if he’s playing a defender like Djokovic where he cannot hit through the court,, like I said, because the conditions are slow and cannot, inspite of trying, end points quickly, But that’s about it.
NNY I have absolutely no idea what your post is about. I’ve already listed players who’d qualify as aggressive baseliners in the eyes of anyone who knows the game. Nadal and Djokovic aren’t among them. It is not their natural game nor is it their trump card in a given match. They win on the basis of their superior defense which, as I said has it’s own place in tennis.
As for taking offense to my posts, that is on to you seeing as nothing in my posts is even remotely personal. Not my problem if you or the others don’t like being shown up in an argument.
TennisFan,
You aren’t paying attention to what’s been said in response to your comments. That’s why trying to catch up reading here, it seems like a one-way conversation. You never heard of aggressive baseliners? If you think that Novak and Rafa play only defensive tennis, then you need to go and watch the 2013 RG semifinal asap! Then come back here and try to tell anyone that they don’t play aggressive?
You are being quite subjective. Also, remember that your opinions are only that, not facts. The idea that only shorter matches are offensive, is absurd on its face. The length of any match is not an indicator of the type or quality of tennis played.
Agree NNY. He is saying others are not reading his posts whereas in reality he is not reading others :-). He has decided that Nadal & Djoko are defensive baseliners and Fed is as offensive as it can get and hence no other opinions matter.
Some of the points made on this thread are downright absurd..shorter matches means offensive tennis. One can hit 100 UE in a match and the match will anyway get over soon and quick..offensive tennis I bet you 🙂
Nah, Nadal/Novak Wimbledon match in 2011 wasn’t a long drawn out match; please do not exaggerate. I was wondering at that time how short a final it was, not much longer than the final of the previous year, quite anti climatic.
And you think Nadal/Novak USO matches weren’t tight??
This year’s USO final, done in four sets, how long it took, despite Fed’s net rushing and so called SABR??
This years USO final lasted about same time as Rafa/Novak 2013 final and both were 4 sets. Even USO 2010 final was around 3-3.5 hrs at max at 4 sets.
So much for offensive tennis and SABR 🙂
And guess what neither of 2010 and 2013 had 95 UE in the match too 🙂
People seriously need to remove all bias and pre conceived judgements and listen to others.
TennisFan,
I wanted to say that when you keep asking someone what trip they’re on, that is unnecessary and insulting. If you have nothing better than personal insults in lieu of making a coherent argument, then there is no point to any discussion with you.
I don’t need to tell people that luckystar is one of the most knowledgeable people here. Those of us who have been fortunate to discuss tennis with her already know that.
You are entitle to your opinion, but please stop with this nonsense asking her if she’s tripping. Others are also entitled to their opinions and you should show more tolerance.
Thanks NNY.
luckystar,
Anytime! 🙂
I believe that this USO final took three hours and twenty minutes. I didn’t know that this would be considered a short match.
It was as long as USO 2010 and USO 2013 and all were 4 sets and neither had 95+ UE either to end points. So much for offensive tennis and SABR. I wonder who is tripping 🙂
Sanju,
Thanks for those stats to help make the point.
Rafa is usually not given credit. All along people tried to put Fed on top of him and now that Fed cannot win any more slams, people are trying to say Djokovic is better than him.
Yes Djokovic is catching up and at 1 time last year we were 6-14 in slams and today it is 10-14, the gap has narrowed considerably. However what matters is the moment and as of now, Rafa is still higher in slams and Masters. Who knows what the future holds? It is not a given that Rafa wont win any more slam neither it is a given that Novak will keep on winning. One just needs to look at Novaks 2012-2014 where he won just 3 slams and even Rafa won 4 in that period and Novak was supposed to dominate.
The correct question to ask will be..Will Novak win his career slam first or Rafa win his double career slam first? :-). Very relevant question I will say.
Thoughts?
I would be over the moon if Rafa wins his 2nd AO and 2nd Olympic gold next year. It will be double career golden slam and it will be historic 🙂
Defense, so heralded in other sports, seems like a dirty word in tennis.
I wonder why? Is it because Rafa and Novak are better at defense than Roger?