Tennis Prose




Aug/16

8

Djokovic Empire Crumbling?

DjokartWe knew nobody would outplay and outdefend Novak Djokovic because nobody in the history of tennis plays that brand of tennis than the dominant Super Serbian. We knew it would be power tennis which would eventually slay Djokovic and now we have seen it happen twice this summer with Sam Querrey and last night Juan Delpo Del Potro smashed Djokovic 76 76 at the Olympics in Rio. Djokovic was playing perfect tennis but it was not enough to beat the astonishing display by Delpo who had the upper hand in the power department and continually unleashed the knockout forehands which left poor Djokovic and all onlookers of this match in absolute awe. No one can say for sure but it was arguably one of the greatest performances in the history of tennis. It was so incredible that both players openly wept on the court after the match. Have you ever seen that happen before? Both players gave it everything they had but only one man could win and that was Del Potro who looked as unbeatable as any player ever did. And now we have to wonder if the loss to Querrey has sparked a large pool of players to now believe that they too – like Querrey – can blast Djokovic off the court? (Artwork by Andres Bella)

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55 comments

  • Jg · August 14, 2016 at 1:03 pm

    2 who may have regrets for not going to the Olympics, Wawa and Isner, the way the court looks to be playing, slow with a big bounce, it gives them time to load up in the ball, I think Wawa would have done well there, would have been something to see him play Del Po on that court.

  • catherine bell · August 14, 2016 at 1:07 pm

    Evonne’s ‘walkabouts’ – a reference, which would now be considered rather racist, to the nomadic habits of indigenous Australians and therefore applicable to Evonne.

    Of course back in the day when she was starting out that sort of term wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow, even in Oz.

  • catherine bell · August 15, 2016 at 3:43 am

    Thomas T –

    Just some additional thoughts about Maria Bueno – I saw her play at W’don in the early 70s, well past her best of course, although the ghost of her backhand was there, and I hardly recognised her then, she’d changed so much. (from photos – I wasn’t around to see her live in the 50s/60s.)

    Maria was famously uncommunicative – intriguing to wonder how she’d cope in these days of open access.In fact by comparison M Sharapova is the soul of conviviality.

    Years ago I talked to a former top US player who played doubles with Maria for a while – she said that during the whole time of their playing partnership Maria never once spoke to her off court. 🙂

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 17, 2016 at 10:13 am

    I see Maria Bueno every year at the US open and did a Biofile with her a couple years ago – class woman and great interview.

  • catherine bell · August 17, 2016 at 12:51 pm

    Scoop –

    I imagine Maria’s mellowed since the 60s 🙂

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