Tennis Prose




Jul/15

20

Is Djokovic Actually Exceeding Federer As A Champion?

Novak_Trophy_01

Not long ago, the general consensus in tennis was that it would be many years if not decades for a greater champion than Pete Sampras to emerge. With his traditional understated, old Australian way of playing, Pete Sampras, six consecutive years as the ATP World No. 1, winner of seven Wimbledons and fourteen majors overall – the most in history – seemed like an insurmountable champion to surpass.

But then along came Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and how quickly we forgot about the greatness, power and grace of Pistol Pete.

Now the same thoughts are prevalent in tennis – about how long it will take, if ever, to see new, such remarkably great and classy champions as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Well, that new great champion might be here before most realize it, this new champion might be here right now… Novak Djokovic.

At one time, Djokovic was the man everyone seemed willing to dislike. How dare this young, cocky, volcanic upstart even entertain such a silly idea as to want to dethrone the King?

But Djokovic was a young man on a mission and his life-long dream and destiny was to be world No. 1. It seemed an impossible task for the skinny kid, eagle-eyed from Serbia, but to his credit he believed and persevered, against all odds and astonishingly beat Federer at age 20 in the Montreal Masters final 2007, won his first major in Australia six months later and did indeed become world No. 1 in 2011.

Because Federer is a global icon, beloved and respected universally, Djokovic has struggled to gain his fair measure of adoration and respect. But that is to be expected in sport, the great champions like Muhammad Ali are tough acts to follow, just ask Larry Holmes about that.

But Djokovic has matured and evolved from his younger, cockier version into a remarkable champion, who represents not only spectacular tennis but he also injects humor and playfulness into the ultra-serious business of tennis. Nobody has made more people laugh in tennis perhaps in history than Djokovic with his imitations of other players and also his hilariously comical stunts on the court and also off the court, like entering the court with a Halloween mask or doing a press conference bit with Caroline Wozniacki.

These are natural champion qualities Djokovic has, similar to the always humorous and witty Muhammad Ali, who brought laughs and comedy to the brutal business of professional prizefighting.

Another aspect of Djokovic which perhaps exceeds Federer as a champion is the gracious way he accepts extremely bitter defeats. When he lost the French Open final last month to Stanislas Wawrinka, for the third year in a row, it was a heartbreaking defeat, not only because Roland Garros is the only major title which still eludes him, but Wawrinka played, admittedly, the best match of his life, firing forehand and backhand winners all over the court, at the most important stages of the spectacular match.

After the match ended, the frustrated Djokovic somehow found a way to overcome his own feelings of devastation and actually showed happiness and joy for his conqueror Wawrinka. Djokovic embraced and hugged and spoke heartfelt congratulatory words for Wawrinka, holding his head and speaking directly to him eye to eye.

Very rarely before have we ever seen such a gracious way of handling such an excruciating loss in a major final as Djokovic showed Wawrinka, not even the great Federer has ever shown such behavior for his opponent after one of his crushing major final losses.

Wawrinka was surely moved by Djokovic’s sportsmanship – after he returned to the court and his chair after celebrating in the stands with his team, he immediately walked over to embrace the man he had just destroyed – I have never seen a champion do that to his runner-up. Never. The full stadium of Chatrier court also gave Djokovic a long standing ovation, one of the longest we have ever seen in Paris.

Another less-appreciated quality that Djokovic is rarely praised for is how he also shows a rare humility for a great champion by how much credit he always gives to his team and family after his major wins. He always shares credit with his team, more so than Federer and Nadal, or many of other great champions of history.

These are all accumulative aspects which show what a fantastic and well-rounded world champion Novak Djokovic has become.

Though it is taking some extra time to forget and move on from celebrating how wonderful and fantastic Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been for the sport, on so many levels, Novak Djokovic has clearly demonstrated that he is a very special and unique super champion just as well. And in some ways, Djokovic exceeds Federer and Nadal and symbolizes super champion qualities in his own special and individual ways.

Scoop’s new book “Facing Nadal: Symposium of a Champion” is available at amazon for $9.99.

46 comments

  • BoDu · July 20, 2015 at 3:04 pm

    Up until a few months ago I believed Djokovic would end up as a Tier 2 great among stars such Connors, Agassi, Lendl, McEnroe etc However, now I think he will eventually be in GOAT discussion together with Federer, Laver, Pancho Gonzales, Nadal, Tilden, Borg etc.

    I reckon he will win 15 slams but 18 is possible.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 20, 2015 at 3:36 pm

    Bodu, Djokovic is definitely making believers out of his doubters. Aside from the personal qualities of Djokovic which continue to impress and inspire, his achievement potential is also unlimited over the next five years, with very few notable threats to his supremacy. Mats Wilander said he can see Djokovic winning eight or nine more majors over the following years. This looks very possible, since Rafa is fading, Fed may not be fading but you have to question if he can play any better than he did in the Wimbledon final the last two years. Del Potro is a big ? Murray just seems a shade short of being able to dethrone Djokovic. Wawrinka is a major threat but he’s inconsistent. Kyrgios, Raonic, Dimitrov, Kei, Cilic, seem unlikely to win a major soon, though they are all dangerous. Everything looks like a Djokovic Domination Tour over the next few years.

  • Gaurang · July 21, 2015 at 3:36 am

    Nice article Scoop. File it for your future “The Rise of Djokovic” or “Djokovic: Coming of age” book! 🙂

    Winning slams is hard. Even if you are the best player in the world, sometimes you can have off days. You may get tired. Weather can cause you to miss a rest day. It may be too hot. You may get nervous. You may be sick and vomit during the match. Some other player may suddenly play very well in a tournament (see: Waw, Cilic, Delpo, etc). Crowd support for the opponent may make you frustrated. The umpire may decide against you (see Umpire Incident below). So many things can happen. Thats why winning one slam may be easy but winning it again and against consistently is really, really hard. Very few have managed it. Thats why Roger’s record of 17 slams is so sacred and highly regarded.

    Novak is the best player at the moment. But he lost to Wawrinka in RG Finals. Partly due to not having a rest day and partly due to playing passively. Not to forget Wawrinka’s awesome, other-worldly aggressive play. So its not that easy for Novak to keep winning slams again and again. He will probably win this years US Open. But then for next year, his age may start to slow him down a bit. The new comers may start to bang the door harder. Anything can happen.

    I would think Novak would get 12-13 slams, and then slow down…. and then maybe 1-2 more at the end. So he will end up around 13-14 slams. If Nadal does not score any more slams, then Novak would be considered a higher player than him (since he would have completed career slam as well and have a winning record against him).

    Novak is very likely to end as the GOAT #2 player after Roger.

    (Umpire incident: Pascal Maria cited Djokovic for taking too much time to serve when he was serving at deuce on 4-3 up in the fifth set against Nadal in RG SF 2013. That disturbed him, and he lost the next point by touch the net after hitting a winning volley, and thus lost that game. Just near the end of the match 7-7, Djokovic strongly requested watering of the courts since it was hot and slippery. He asked him to come down and check the court for himself. Pascal Maria did not. He asked Nadal, and Nadal said he does not prefer watering of the court. Pascal Maria decided to not. The very next game Djokovic was broken at love.)

  • Gaurang · July 21, 2015 at 3:39 am

    Paul Annacone, former Roger’s coach, mentioned that Roger’s career around 2004-2007 did not have as strong players as in the last few years. Obviously, this means that his slam count is so high because he did not have enough competition those years. Heweitt, Safin, Nalbandian, Davydenko were good players, but not great.

    https://youtu.be/XGKi6vCU8EA?t=8m28s

  • Dan Markowitz · July 21, 2015 at 5:49 am

    We all know Federer had a picnic from 2004-2007, but I still call Fed the GOAT right now and I don’t see Djokovic surpassing him. You have to remember, Djoko has lost 8 slam finals and won 9. That’s not the record of a GOAT. The argument, I feel, most strongly for Djoko being the GOAT is that he came of age in an era where you had the two players destined to be the GOAT, Fed and Nadal, and he has now eclipsed both of them. But Djoko is six years Fed’s junior and for their match total to be at 20-all head-to-head is not such a dramatic conquering and Nadal has had his periods where he has dominated Djoko. So I think for Djoko really to claim supreme GOAT head he’d have to have his own Renaissance in his Golden Years, perhaps even more impressive than Roger is experiencing, because let’s face it, as great as Fed is playing these days, he’s one only one slam in 4 years is it? and Djoko would have to get to 18 slam wins.

    Can he do it? Well, if he wins this year’s Open he’ll be at 10, and then if he averages 2.5 slams per year for the next two years putting him at 15 and 30, maybe he can carve out three more in his career. It’s a tall order but if Djoko gets down to business, he can do it.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 21, 2015 at 7:22 am

    Gaurang, I don’t see any signs of Djokovic slowing up, he’s in his prime and he has the ATP landscape ready to be dominated by him, like Federer did from 04-07. Dan I don’t blame the “weak era” reason for Fed’s dominance, I credit Fed for being too great during that time and he just destroyed the ATP field mentally and physically and though it seemed like a “picnic”, Fed earned that picnic by being so great. Nobody rolls over in tennis, but Fed was just on another level at that time, just like Djokovic is now. Gaurang, about those dry courts at Chatrier, I thin it was more Djokovic feeling the pressure and looking for excuses because he knew he was crumbling. He knew what he was up against in Rafa and he was looking for an excuse instead of digging deep and fighting Rafa. But you and I will never know what it’s like to be on the other end of the court against prime Rafa in the French Open, and thankfully you and I will never suffer a double bagel beating against prime Rafa which would take probably less than eight minutes per set 🙂

  • Harold · July 21, 2015 at 10:18 am

    Djoko is a machine. A great player, in a great era.

    But, to me, he will always be the guy who took a 13 minute phony injury timeout against Monfils at the Open, the guy who retired after 2 sets against Nadal, losing 4 and 4, and said he dominated the match. Think his smile is phony, just some PR people getting in his ear, and telling him to show a different personality. His true personality shows up under the pressure, and its not the smiling, crying Djoko.

    He is good for the game, but he’s a phony, and crushed that he will never be as popular or beloved as Fed and Nadal.

    Could he get closer to Fed, Nadal and Sampras before we start GOAT discussions?

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 21, 2015 at 2:39 pm

    Harold, that’s unfair. That’s like only remembering Muhammad Ali for calling Joe Frazier a gorilla and uncle Tom. Or remembering Charles Barkley for saying “I hate white people.” Or remembering Roger Federer for hitting a ballkid at the net with a ball after a fault serve. Sure, Djokovic has had some negative moments, the journey to the mountain top has not been a stroll in the park, it’s been a filled with much suffering, many meltdowns and many heartbreaks. But he got there, against all odds, Djokovic got to the mountain top, and you have to respect that and how difficult the journey was for him. He may have had the most arduous, most challenging journey to number one in the history of tennis.

  • Dan Markowitz · July 21, 2015 at 3:35 pm

    Scoop, if you think Fed didn’t have an easy generation to feast on early in his career, which one of these players is an all-time great if Fed never came to the forefront: Hewitt, Safin, Roddick, Nalbandian, Gonzalez or JCF? Come on, none of these guys in their prime would stand a chance against Djoko or in-prime Nadal or in-prime Agassi. Hewitt was the best of the bunch, but he faded way too soon.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 21, 2015 at 3:41 pm

    Dan, the same thing happens in boxing, when one man begins to dominate, the pundits and fans blame it on a “weak era.” It’s nonsense. No such thing as a weak era, it’s just a misperception. All eras are tough and each decade tennis just gets tougher and tougher and more competitive. The best is always the best, they have to beat the best to become the best. Perceptions vary though and that clouds up the true picture. Just remember: The Best is the Best.

  • Michael in UK · July 22, 2015 at 7:11 pm

    you make a very persuasive case Scoop, very nice piece imo. And in the comments thread too.

  • Gaurang · July 22, 2015 at 8:18 pm

    Harold your arguments against Djoko just dont make any sense to me. If at all, Djokovic has been humble and gracious in his on-court demeanor. Apart from when he was young, he sometimes may have been too aggressive. But since 2010 or so, I think he has behaved in a very professional manner, even being one of the most courteous player on tour IMHO. Another thing he does is to clap when the opponent hits a good shot, which I hardly see anybody else ever do (atleast as much as Novak does). Also after a match, he graciously greets the opponent regardless of whether he has won or lost. In press conferences he makes sure to respect all players.

    In fact, Federer has sometimes made fun of other players — like he used to claim Novak fakes injury early in his career, or used to complain about Murray’s too much defensive game, or complain about the slowness of Nadal’s game.

    I have never seen Novak complain — he may have done one or two times, but I cannot even remember it. Once Roddick and him had some issues at the US Open, but it was more about Roddick initiating by complaining of him faking injuries, I believe.

    After Roger retires, Novak would be getting the ATP sportsmanship annual awards, voted by the players. (or have they stopped giving it)

  • Gaurang · July 22, 2015 at 8:35 pm

    Dan, I am with you on that. In 2004-2007 there were no great players that Fed had to face and picked up a lot of slams. Some Fed fans could say that it was because of Fed that the other players could not win lot of slams. Well, thats true but that does not mean they were great players. Novak’s record against Hewitt is 6-1. And 4-1 against Nalbandian. 6-2 against Davydenko.

    One interesting tidbit is that Novak’s record with Roddick is 4-5 (Roddick ahead), but you get an even record if you remove the match where he retired due to the injury. Secondly, he didnt play well in the matches he lost against Andy – I remember a couple of them. He was simply not playing well, and even Roddick had admitted that Novak was not playing his best in the match. Also Novak was not fully consistent in 2010 or before. He became really consistent in 2011. Since then he won both of his matches against Roddick but Roddick was old then. But in any case, a prime Novak would defeat prime Roddick any day. Novak’s game is just too much bigger than Roddick. And Roddick maintained his #1 for such a short time, where Novak has 155 weeks already and counting. Novak is definitely a much much better than Roddick (9 slams vs 1 slam is another stat). Their head-to-head records against Fed also speak for themselves.

  • Gaurang · July 22, 2015 at 8:36 pm

    So Fish is retiring after US Open. He will also play the 2 masters before that.

    http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2015/07/mardy-fish-says-us-open-to-be-last-tournament-of-career/55709/

  • Gaurang · July 22, 2015 at 8:38 pm

    Ah Fish will play Atlanta, Washington and Cincinnati — not Montreal.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 22, 2015 at 10:02 pm

    No disrespect to Rafa and Federer Michael, but Djokovic is shining just as brightly, in his own ways. The ATP without Djokovic or a mediocre Djokovic would be a lot less entertaining and exciting. Tennis needs Djokovic.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 22, 2015 at 10:07 pm

    Gaurang, I would not be surprised if Team Djokovic studied Federer’s example and found flaws and areas of weakness in how he presents himself and purposefully manufactured his image to out-shine Fed’s public image. Could be wrong of course. The thanking and crediting his entire team, the overly gracious congratulations to opponents who beat him, the displays of sense of humor on court and in the press room – these are all areas where he has shown himself to be superior than Federer. It doesn’t really matter if it’s natural or it was calculated, image is everything and perception is reality. No doubt about it, Djokovic has shown himself to be superior to Federer in certain details and behaviors.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 22, 2015 at 10:09 pm

    Very curious to see what Fish can come up with in his last months as a pro tennis player, before he heads off to pursue a PGA career. He was neck and neck with Harrison in Indian Wells when Harrison was red hot. I can see Fish making a quarter in one of these events, but can also see him losing first or second round in all four too.

  • Gaurang · July 22, 2015 at 10:28 pm

    Scoop, in his last 3-4 tournaments, I dont expect him to acheive much. If he was fully well and planned to play for a few years, then I would have expected him to start doing well almost immediately.

    But his decision to retire means that he does not feel he is fully healthy yet, healthy enough to play top level tennis.

    It is sad to see him go due to things beyond his control!!! 🙁

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 23, 2015 at 8:40 am

    The strange part is I remember Gimelstob saying on air at his last Aussie Open a couple of years ago that Fish was back healthy and strong and because of his easy smooth game he could envision Fish playing “another seven years.” Didn’t quite turn out that way. Definitely the Fish finale/saga will be one of the more intriguing storylines this summer hard court season.

  • Harold · July 23, 2015 at 9:00 am

    Thats my point. I think his true charachter was young Djoko. Think people got in his ear and manufactured the persona you see now. Rather someone maintain their true persona rather than some phone PR phony crap.
    Just my opinion.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 23, 2015 at 9:34 am

    But if it’s so, why can’t you accept it as maturity and evolution of character? He certainly seems very sincere and genuine. Phil Anselmo, my friend from the music group Pantera and Down, once said, “To be the best at anything you have to get blood on your hands.” Same holds true for tennis. All great champions are ruthless killers…to be the best in tennis in this day and age, they need to be ruthless killers on the court.

  • jg · July 23, 2015 at 9:44 am

    Is Fish playing in the Citi Open? I saw in the paper today Kudla is playing in the Citi open qualies, I would think they would give him a main draw entry because of his run at Wimbledon, shows how deep the field must be. In past years he would be directly in the main draw, he’s also local.

  • Moskova Moskova · July 23, 2015 at 11:04 am

    I think it’s premature to put djoko into the GOAT conversations. Definitely looks to be heading there though.

  • Dan Markowitz · July 23, 2015 at 11:06 am

    Good, I’m back to being in disagreement with Harold. No one can manufacture a personality. We see the raw/angry/disgruntled side of Djoko rear his head, but I do think he’s been very successful in building his confidence and reaming in his fears/insecurities to become this gargantuan tennis machine that he is. Even machines have kinks though. He’s operating it at a very high level now.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 23, 2015 at 11:50 am

    Moscova2, it’s never too premature to make fearless predictions or forecasts ) The landscape looks perfectly ripe to blossom a new all time great champion in the immediate years. Named Novak Djokovic. Welcome to the site,

  • JP · July 23, 2015 at 1:29 pm

    Not too many finished products at 19 or 20, but maybe Harold was.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 23, 2015 at 2:55 pm

    I really can’t understand how any people can dislike Djokovic at all, or any great champion really. We as scrub players know how hard a game this sport of tennis is and how much work and energy and practice and sacrifice it takes to become a good player. Every top player has made mistakes along the way and behaved badly, it’s heat of the battle, it’s the imperfection of being a human. Harold should just hang it up and just jump aboard the Djokovic bandwagon, there’s going to be lots of celebrations coming in the next five years for the Djokovic bandwagon. JP my Achilles is much better, hope we can play during the week of the Citi, I’m staying in Bethesda this time. SO be ready to hit a few.

  • JP · July 23, 2015 at 4:03 pm

    Scoop, this over 55 4.0 would love to hit with you but I live on the other side of the country …

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 23, 2015 at 7:46 pm

    Where abouts in the west coast JP? I’m heading out there soon. Actually I meant to hit with JG, my mistake, we were supposed to hit in Bethesda last year but I had Achilles problem which is gone now. You must be a solid steady consistent player to be 4.0 at over 55.

  • JP · July 24, 2015 at 1:08 am

    Somewhere off I-5

  • Moskova Moskova · July 24, 2015 at 11:56 am

    great site scoop! however i’m leaning towards harold’s view point from the comments here abit..

    yes, djoko does play machine-like..
    yes, djoko matches up better against nadal than fed..
    yes, djoko has shown more class than before..

    however IMO, it’s all fabricated and unnatural. it’s not genuine, rather masked and forced to suppress his naturally sarcastic / arrogant / angry-self.

    he will never ever have the same fan base as fed or nadal or even agassi / sampras..

  • Moskova Moskova · July 24, 2015 at 12:01 pm

    on the flip side though – i also heard that fed is the cockiest / arrogant SOB on the planet.

    probably a nice guy generally but the ATP has carefully crafted his tennis image as the stlyish gentleman sportsman of the 20th century but a real overbearing and pricky bastard..

    i guess he has to be to win all of those matches, no ?….a real killer ! not a gent..

  • JP · July 24, 2015 at 12:43 pm

    There is always backlash because of the excessive hero worship of Roger and Rafa, packaged by slick marketing, and having a villain is a necessary element of any made for consumption drama involving competition, Novak is like the cowboy in the black hat in some corny old western.

    Scoop, all joking aside, Pacific Northwest, if you are going to be north of California.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 24, 2015 at 8:14 pm

    Good point JP, when there’s no villain in tennis, just manufacture one, and Djokovic is an easy target ) Will let you know when I’m in Calif and maybe we can hit a few.

  • Gaurang · July 24, 2015 at 10:15 pm

    Look at this clip:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLcYrWmL1WE

    Wimbledon Doubles Champion Leander Paes was interviewing with some Indian channel, and Nole was passing by in his car. Nole stopped the car, and interrupted the interview to shout out congratulations to Leander. Leander said a few words of thanks and then said — “You inspired me”. Nole shouted back saying “You inspire me always!”.

    Will Roger or anybody else do this? I doubt. Novak is kind of a more cheerful and friendly player than most and I think his humility is genuine.

    In that manner, all of us behave well with respect because we know we should. Its hard to say what is natural and what is not. If it was not required to behave nicely with people then lot of us would be swearing at people around us all the time. So its hard to say Novak’s behavior is not genuine. It looks as genuine to me as anybody else’s behavior.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 25, 2015 at 7:10 am

    Wow, great find Gaurang, further proof of Djokovic’s unique special greatness, so spontaneous and free to be himself, a naturally inspiring entertaining wonderful champion. Not too serious or self absorbed. Thanks for sharing this.

  • BoDu · July 25, 2015 at 7:11 am

    Djokovic has a good chance to stay No. 1 until May 14, 2018. If Novak does do it, he’ll pass Federer for most weeks at No. 1

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 25, 2015 at 8:47 am

    Very reachable milestone for Djokovic, BoDu, looking very obtainable. At this point, if Djokovic stays healthy, I’d say maybe the best threat to his supremacy is this fourteen year old Felix Auger Aliassime, who has arguably the most upside of any player in the ATP. He’s already winning ATP challenger main draw matches at fourteen…can you imagine what he will be doing when he becomes a full grown teen? Or full grown man in his 20s?

  • Moskova Moskova · July 29, 2015 at 12:56 pm

    djoko’s a phony 🙂

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 29, 2015 at 1:13 pm

    The only top tennis player that nobody could ever call a phony Moskova Moskova is…. Marcelo Rios 🙂

  • Moskova Moskova · July 29, 2015 at 1:51 pm

    absolutely scoop….rios was the real deal persona !

    my way or the high-way type….a bit crass / gangster at times but definitely no phony !

  • Moskova Moskova · July 29, 2015 at 1:51 pm

    djoko’s so phony – it’s not even funny 🙂

  • Moskova Moskova · July 29, 2015 at 1:53 pm

    safin was no phony…..hit a ton and had tons of charisma too

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 30, 2015 at 7:54 am

    Safin most certainly was a genuine person at all times, he didn’t play the PC card. Funny, I did a Biofile with Safin very early in his career at a US Open and he was a wide eyes nice say all the right things kid, but he definitely matured into his own man. I will post the original Safin Biofile when he was a teenager someday.

  • Moskova Moskova · July 30, 2015 at 12:29 pm

    looking fwd to the safin biofile

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