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Djokovic Reign Of Domination Continues at Miami Open
12 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
Novak Djokovic separated himself from Andy Murray by bageling his rival in the third set, to capture the Miami Open/Indian Wells sweep.
The way Djokovic distanced himself from Murray today reminded one of Usain Bolt pulling away from the world’s best sprinters at the Olympics. Or Muhammad Ali outclassing and dominating Jerry Quarry or Ernie Terrell.
Djokovic seems on the verge of completely taking over the ATP this year…or dare I say, win the Grand Slam. Aside from Federer on a faster surface or Nadal at Roland Garros, there appears to be no serious threats to this marvelous Serbian tennis machine.
After swallowing yet another humbling defeat to Djokovic today, Murray seemed a mentally broken man. The slugging Scot has seen Djokovic shift his game into it’s highest gear so many times, and he may have run out of ideas on what to do.
One also gets the sense, Federer and Nadal will soon be in Murray’s shoes, left scratching their heads, wondering if there’s a way to actually defeat Djokovic when he’s in full flight.
Hingza, aka the doubles team of Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza routed Makarova and Vesnina, who defeated Hingnetta (Flavia Pennetta) in the US Open women’s final last year. Hingza are now undefeated together after winning Miami and Indian Wells back to back.
Artwork by Andres Bella.
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Gaurang · April 6, 2015 at 2:37 am
Yes, Djokovic is playing much better than anybody else right now, and it just feels that he could do a season similar to his 2011, which was one of the best in history.
In 2011, he went on winning straight 41 or something matches. He has not done that this time with his loss in Dubai and Doha, but those were not major events.
If you look only at major events (slam and masters) though, Djokovic won 5 straight in the beginning of 2011 — Aus Open, Indian Wells, Miami, Rome, Madrid, before loosing in Roland Garros. As of today, he has won 5 straight as well — Paris and Tour Finals at the end of last year, and Aus Open + Indian Wells + Miami this year!!! So he could be playing at the same level as that time, which should cause nightmares to everybody playing on the ATP Tour!! 🙂
There’s a slight fine print though. Nadal’s injury and form absence. It will be interesting to see when Nadal recovers his best form when the clay court season starts (which I think should happen), how Novak can play. Could he defeat Nadal this clay season, and not loose at all? In 2011, Djok won in straight sets against Nadal in Rome and Madrid, but lost in RG. Can Djok turn it around this year??
I think, if Djok has to do this, this is the best year he can make it happen. Rafa is not playing well. He has lost confidence. If Novak defeats him in the clay masters events, Rafa may falter at RG. Rafa is also vulnerable to low-confidence streaks, and this is the time when he finally, finally breaks at RG.
It will be an interesting clay season to watch!
Gaurang · April 6, 2015 at 3:19 am
Btw, Djokovic delivered 4 bagel in this Miami tournament. That must also.. be some kind of a record. Bagels are hard to get in major tournaments.
Gaurang · April 6, 2015 at 3:27 am
A couple tidbits… Novikov finally entered the top 200 this week… reached 195 .. hope he goes much further… he is still 21…
Tiafoe has been doing well in the futures… he reached 520 this week..jumping from 816 last week, and from 1143 three months ago. Thats a real, real fast climb. He is still 17, and is now #8 in the world in the under-18 age group. I have a feeling he will cross Kozlov in the rankings soon.
http://tennisabstract.com/reports/rankingsByAge.html
Krzysztof · April 6, 2015 at 8:31 am
Djokovic is very tough to watch… His volleys and smashes are terrible, it is quite surprising that Boris can’t fix them. He smashes like an average WTA player! Blake or Fish had better volleys than Novak! Moreover, his groundstrokes are only topspin with almost no acceleration at all. Dolgopolov showed how other players shall handle Novak, they need more flashy games with shorter rallies and slicing. Djokovic and Murray match was so boring that I switched it off and started with 1987 Cincinnati final between Edberg and Becker. At least, these guys were able to bring interest, fine net play and various groundstrokes (flat and topspin).
Scoop Malinowski · April 6, 2015 at 8:54 am
This is the year for Djokovic. He is managing his season perfectly, and holding off all the hunters who are eagerly trying to shoot him down (Murray, Fed, and everybody else too). He will not give an inch. Nadal is struggling to find his groove and is losing to second raters. I can see this pattern holding up through clay. Boy is Rafa going to be super charged to regain the winning touch on clay. If he stumbles on clay and loses Paris, Dan will surely be ready to bring out his fork to stick it in Rafa.
Ashoke Ganguli · April 6, 2015 at 8:58 am
Hi Scoop,
Congratulations on winning the doubles tournament.I knew you would.Your coverage was great as usual.Hope you are of the European clay court season.Be well
Scoop Malinowski · April 6, 2015 at 9:08 am
More notes: Verdasco was practicing on clay at Miami Open on Saturday morning. Chris Fowler and Jason Goodall were spotted chatting together several times at Miami Open on broadcast level and dining area. Wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Goodall’s role with ESPN Tennis increase substantially. JG was doing the world feed at Miami Open. Media turnout for event was strong as normal however no one from USA today this year came and Palm Beach Post did not send anyone this year, PBP has covered the event daily in the past I didn’t see Ben Rothenberg or Jon Wertheim here at all this year, but Chris Clarey was here covering. Tim Mayotte was in the house, he presented the champion trophy to Djokovic, Tim won here 30 years ago vs. Scott Davis. I talked with a hitting partner who played at UM, he said Djokovic was by far the coolest and nicest, he hit four days with Djokovic and was friendly and nice and even gave the hitting partner a signed shirt. Also hit with Monfils, Tsonga and Murray, said Murray was grumpy and negative. Said Ana Ivanovic is really pleasant also, very nice and friendly to talk to. Said one of the other hitting partners got Ferrer and after four early misses Ferrer said sorry, but he’s going to hit with his coach instead.
Scoop Malinowski · April 6, 2015 at 9:15 am
Krzysztof, I agree the match was somewhat less attractive because both players play so similarly and when that happens the match can feel monotonous at times. I prefer high level doubles where the action and variety make for a great show. Hingis and Mirza were superb again. As was the mens final between Sock Pop and the Bryans. Murray is hard to volley well against because he’s so fast and his passes are excellent, so he makes Djokovic volleys looks mediocre. Fish or Blake volleys vs. prime Murray would also look mediocre. Agree though Djokovic is still struggling on overheads that first miss in the first game with the wide open court about two sets from net was a shot I don’t think I would miss at the public park. But the pros blow the easy ones too sometimes.
Martin G · April 6, 2015 at 9:36 am
Can we talk how weak is Novak’s opposition is in last couple of years?
Fed – too old to go 5 sets with Novak …
Nadal – injured, getting old and confidence issue
Murray – mental case, negative attitude and always dropping that last set ….
Other guys are just pretenders to try to get to number 1.
Is it only me or I don’t see a rival for Novak this year?
His opponents don’t seem to hunger for number one spot and are satisfied with their respective positions….
At least last year we’ve had couple surprises with Wavrinka and Cilic ….
Scoop Malinowski · April 6, 2015 at 9:55 am
Martin, it’s a parallel to Serena, all the competition are psyched out by Serena and seemingly defer #1 to her. Only Fed, Rafa and Murray can threaten the Djokovic supremacy and each of them are, with more and more defeats to Djokovic, reaching that point of mental surrender, like all of the WTA players. Federer is still super motivated and extremely driven to be #1 again but he understands just how challenging it is to dethrone Novak. Djokovic deserves all the full credit for what he’s doing, rather than calling his era “weak.” Like all the great champions, Novak is making his era appear weak, IMO.
Scoop Malinowski · April 6, 2015 at 10:00 am
Thanks Ashoke, I saw the results of the ITF $50,000 event in Osprey and was surprised by a few things, like Sorana Cirstea losing first round, her ranking has now dropped to around 150, she was top 25 range, she’s only 24. Alexa Glatch got a WC into main draw and won the event! She beat top seed Madison Brengle in the final. I saw Michelle Larcher De Brito won a round 64 in the third but then defaulted, with some kind of injury or exhaustion. Well done by Glatch, she was a big young prospect years ago, even played Serena on Ashe Stadium. Goes to show you can never count any player out, they can always fix some things and bounce right back out of oblivion, like Brian Baker, DY, Bogie, Vaidisova, etc.
Dan Markowitz · April 6, 2015 at 1:52 pm
Now, I only saw the first set of the Djoko-Murray finals, and I don’t agree that it was of boring quality. Watching Djoko move on the court is entertainment enough. The guy runs like he’s on a bicycle. I’ve never seen anyone move like him.
Granted, they are players of similar styles and that hurts the viewing quality, but some of the rallies these guys have with the cross court backhands is amazing. Murray is one of the dullest players in modern times. He never ever comes to the net on his own. It’s not Connors-Mac or Sampras-Agassi, but it’s still damn good tennis.
Martin’s point is correct to a certain extent, but look at what Djoko had to deal with last year in the slams: Nadal and Wawa at the Aussie, Nadal at the French, Fed at Wimby and Nishikori and potentially Cilic at the Open, that’s pretty stiff competition.