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Destroyed Rafa Salutes Djokovic as the Greatest?
43 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios
Novak Djokovic was ruthless and perfect in absolutely destroying Rafa Nadal today with a devastating 6-1 6-2 victory in Qatar in just 73 minutes, earning the ATP world number one his 60th Tour title and a record 24th victory over his long-time Spanish rival. After saving an early break point, Djokovic was never threatened again as he executed a barrage of electrifying winners that left poor Rafa watching in a dazed and confused awe.
“I played against a player who did everything perfect,” Rafa praised his conqueror after – even lauding Djokovic as above and beyond Roger Federer. “I don’t know anybody who played tennis like this ever. When I say perfect, it’s not one thing in particular. It’s everything. Since I know this sport I never saw somebody playing at this level. So I just congratulate him and that’s it. I know I can do a few things better, but the real thing is, with these conditions playing during the night and with the feeling of the ball here, it’s so difficult to have chances against him playing like this.”
As high the praises that Nadal bestowed on Djokovic’s win he also declared that he was not quite ready to wave the surrender flag just yet: “Today, he’s better than me. We will see in two weeks or we will see in five months. “The only thing that you can do is wait that the opponent is not playing like this all the time. It is difficult to play like this all the time. It’s obvious. I am going to wait for my moment.”
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Rob · January 9, 2016 at 9:18 pm
I played in a tournament in the morning. It was on in the bar after I finished my first early match. Many people were just watching it silent – it was almost mean.
Andrew Miller · January 9, 2016 at 10:22 pm
Battle lines definitely being drawn.
– U.S. WOMEN’S tennis is looking way better than expected, with Sloane Stephens grabbing a title early and Alison Riske getting a final and the Crawford kid a semifinal.
– Djokovic is looking to win Melbourne.
– Federer’s still in the hunt
– Nadal’s not out – but Djokovic has his number.
– Wawrinka may double his Australian title count
– Raonic, Kyrgios, Thiem, Coric, Tomic have proven themselves early on this year that they want big titles Raonic’s the closest.
– Azarenka, Radwanska win titles. Ready to rumble.
Andrew Miller · January 9, 2016 at 10:24 pm
I like Murray to do well this year also. Despite Djokovic’s dominance, I think it’s at most a two slam year.
Andrew Miller · January 9, 2016 at 10:30 pm
That Cheung kid is awesome. He is the best young “tennis player” I’ve seen – really knows where to put the ball.
He’s got some serious Rios in his game. He was simply confounding Groth.
Dan Markowitz · January 10, 2016 at 6:52 am
Wow, that’s a pretty nice benediction from Rafa about Djoko. If Djoko wins the Grand Slam this year and gets 14 slams, is he then the unanimous GOAT? I think so.
Scoop Malinowski · January 10, 2016 at 8:13 am
Raonic KOs Fed 6464 – now that is a huge HUGE win for Raonic – moya addition already paying dividends – Looby should have had Fed better prepared with some inner secrets – Raonic just may be ready to make his big move this year – I’m suddenly feeling something coming from Raonic – What a year we have to look forward to –
Scoop Malinowski · January 10, 2016 at 8:14 am
Hyeon Chung is another player who will surely keep rising – that he rose last year into the top 65 is just incredible – How high does he go this year – I saw him bagel Granollers in miami – amazing display because Granollers is a beast who gives away nothing –
Andrew Miller · January 10, 2016 at 10:36 am
Raonic really did KO Federer. He went for the lines and hit huge returns. I wouldn’t call it Del Potro performance, but it was certainly surprising to see how hard he hit the returns. Surprised Federer.
I will always consider the Raonic movement clunky and lumbering. But when he hits huge returns on fast courts, he’s going to make his opponent extremely uncomfortable. And he did that.
Why didn’t Ljub prepare Federer for this? Probably because this isn’t Ljubys Raonic. It’s a lot closer to how Raonic played in 2011, with every shot hit harder and better with better placement.
Yeah I like how Chung plays. He hides where he will hit the ball – its a little like Murray, with better disguise of his shots.
Andrew Miller · January 10, 2016 at 12:52 pm
Raonic really went after the Federer backhand. That must’ve been a huge chunk of Moyas advice.
The Federer backhand breaks down under intense duress.
jg · January 10, 2016 at 1:08 pm
What about Taylor Fritz winning another challenger beating Dudi Sela, he should be a main tour regular by Indian Wells
Scoop Malinowski · January 10, 2016 at 1:40 pm
Also like how Raonic spoke after the match about the world needing to show more love to each other – this is a guy who will make a fine champion – and a champion this world needs – the war crazy greedy monsters who run this upside down world now need to find love in their cold black hearts – Big respect for Raonic for being a great champion and trying to spread an important positive message –
Scoop Malinowski · January 10, 2016 at 1:41 pm
Not buying the Fed is feeling a little sick propaganda – at all – he looked himself – Raonic just played a superb match and kicked his *** —
Scoop Malinowski · January 10, 2016 at 1:42 pm
The Fritz machine just keeps on winning – unstoppable – Kozlov is also winning at the $25k LA Futures as he is in the final – had a big 6161 win over Sandgren – Tiafoe lost early in Happy Valley Challenger –
Andrew Miller · January 10, 2016 at 1:55 pm
Raonic’s win is huge. Federer played very well up to the final. Raonic pulled a Nadal and went after the Federer backhand and it worked.
I think Raonic benefitted from the indoors surface, but he played fierce.
Don’t think Djokovic would let that happen – he’s a step up from Federer and Wawrinka is too when he is zoning. But this was a statement match and Raonic could replicate this result at the Australian if his fitness is intact.
Andrew Miller · January 10, 2016 at 1:57 pm
Sloane Stephens had the best week of any u.s. player by winning a title this week. Riske had the second best week. Third best goes to Sock for playing the Hopman and being a good sport.
Scoop Malinowski · January 10, 2016 at 2:36 pm
Andrew: I also liked the eruption of fierce emotion after the match point by Raonic – looked at his box and roared like a lion- biggest emotion I ever saw from Raonic – needs to express that more – show more desire and hunger – it feels good to release that and fans love it – the stoic robot facade hasn’t got him any majors – he has to show more fire and passion and desire – like he did today after the win – awesome moment – If Raonic could up his level he has the ability to just take the racquet out of anyone’s hand – sort of like a perfect Ivo who did beat Djokovi c last year – If Raonic plays a perfect or neat perfect match he could possibly shock an off or fatigued Djokovic –
Scoop Malinowski · January 10, 2016 at 2:37 pm
Sloane Stephens was dominant this week – she can win the AUS Open – Serena and Azarenka the two big favorites but I would not bet against SS —
Andrew Miller · January 10, 2016 at 3:59 pm
Scoop, I think Raonic’s play had a lot more to do with strategy and execution. Moya must have kicked something off – he knows that several players have beaten Federer by going full-throtle after the backhand, and it worked. To be able to do that, Raonic must’ve had to prepare.
So: Point to Moya and credit to Raonic for following someone’s good advice. It worked and it was impressive Raonic was able to execute so well. He played awesome this tournament, even if he is still a lumbering player.
I don’t think Djokovic will make the mistake Federer did and underestimate Raonic.
Andrew Miller · January 10, 2016 at 4:04 pm
Federer played a great tournament also, but he had his hat handed to him. Maybe it’s just what he needed – the sting of defeat. I thought Federer was playing better than ever up until the finals. He beat a very motivated Dimitrov, and despite Thiem’s good play he beat him handily.
For what it’s worth Ljubicic is doing well also. I’m surprised with the Raonic result – if Ljubicic knew anyone’s game I’d think it would be Raonic’s game. Maybe Ljubicic didn’t think about the strategy. He should talk to Federer about ways to defend against that style of play of going after the Federer backhand.
For a slower played like Raonic, I’m not sure why Federer didn’t run around his backhand. If he does that against Nadal, Djokovic he gets into trouble, but not Raonic.
Andrew Miller · January 10, 2016 at 4:05 pm
Sloane Stephens, Australian Open winner? That would be amazing.
Scoop Malinowski · January 10, 2016 at 4:57 pm
The Fedjubic Union is off to a rocky start – Looby had to know how to offset Raonic after working with Raonic for several years but he did not get the job done today – No matter how well Raonic played and executed his tactics this is a suspect loss for Fed – he owned Raonic before this and now he has Raonic’s old coach to give extra pointers and suddenly he loses to Raonic – Fed could be losing that iota of timing and speed – Full credit to Raonic as this is a potential career changing win – One more bad loss by Fed and Ljubicic’s tenure as Fed coach could be an abruptly diminutive one –
Scoop Malinowski · January 10, 2016 at 4:59 pm
Sloane has quietly slipped under the radar now – I think she is more dangerous when under the radar instead of when all eyes and big expectations are dogging her – this could be the perfect time for Sloane to play the tournament of her life –
Rob · January 10, 2016 at 6:14 pm
Scoop man – that love thing was rambling and a bit goofy. I like these comments, even Andrew is on board with the big fella. But I cringed with the way he spoke of harmony etc. Maybe he wa a bit overwhelmed by everything who knows.
Scoop Malinowski · January 10, 2016 at 6:21 pm
Rob: Love and harmony are awkward subjects to talk about to millions of people let alone just one person 🙂 – but credit for Raonic for trying to get this very positive message out about making the world a safer place – sure it was awkward but it was original and different – I don’t know about you but I’ve had almost enough of the same old canned scripted victory speeches about thanking the ballkids and teams wishing opponent a good year thanking fans for their support and promising to be back next year – 🙂 Raonic is a champion who is doing it HIS WAY and you gotta appreciate that – being a champion is more than just about tennis – being a champion is also a platform to change the world –
Andrew Miller · January 10, 2016 at 8:36 pm
Rob, yes I respect Raonic for turning his game around, in pretty short time. When Raonic first came on the scene he seemed like a real force – a serve like Isner, a huge forehand, a good (not awesome) backhand, and the ability to end points quickly in his favor. In little time back in 2011 he even had Roddick on the run (how Roddick pulled out that Memphis match, I don’t know).
He seems to have returned to an enhanced version of that game – huge serving, even sharper angles, going for shots much earlier in the points, and deploying a strategy to make the opponent uncomfortable. Federer was really out of sorts and didn’t snap out of it.
I disagree with Scoop and don’t think Ljubi is going to be run out of town – yet. Federer pretty much owned Raonic, but Raonic pushed him to three sets in the same Brisbane tournament last year. The more worrisome issue was Federer seemed completely unprepared for Raonic’s play today and couldn’t change his tactics out there. There was no Plan B for Federer.
When Federer’s feeling too much pressure he starts making huge, uncharacteristic errors – missing forehands, backhands by miles or right into the net. Not quite like James Blake – who did this intentionally win or lose given his go for broke style – but like a player whose game fails him when under duress.
As for Raonic, credit where it’s due. He had a huge week. He beat one of his “sort of rivals” pretty easily in Tomic in front of a home crowd, then smashed Federer.
dan · January 10, 2016 at 10:25 pm
Stefan Kozlov won the LA Futures 25K today after a 2 hour, 50-minute battle–7-6, 6-7, 6-3. He really seems to have gotten himself back on track over the past four months. Dropping back down to the futures (and going to eastern Europe in the fall, far from the spotlight) really looks like it was the right move. I think making that Sacramento Challenger final in 2014 was too much, too soon for him, and he stalled last year. But now he looks ready to play a few more futures and then move up to the Challenger level with a good chance of success.
He showed impressive fight today. He had two match points with Bester serving 5-6, 15-40 in the 2nd set, and he didn’t convert. After losing the 2nd-set tiebreak, he spent the first four games of the 3rd set grumbling about his missed match points, and it looked like he was toast. But then it was as if his coaching kicked in, and he started pumping himself up and showing a ton of positive emotion, and he managed to put the 2nd set behind and take control in the 3rd. Before last year he had a reputation as really solid mentally, but I think all that losing got to him last year. It’s good to see him finding his old game and rebuilding his mental toughness. I don’t expect a Fritz-like rise from him this year, but I do think he has a chance of catching back up to Tiafoe and Rublev among his age cohort.
catherine bell · January 11, 2016 at 3:30 am
When you’re 34, coming up 35, things don’t work quite as well – physical, mental, the whole complex interracting lot. So don’t expect to see Federer dominate this year. It would be an odd occurrence if he did.
Scoop Malinowski · January 11, 2016 at 8:36 am
Without looking – and if I remember correctly – the Fed vs Raonic rivalry is a good one and the first four times they played Raonic gave Fed all he could handle in four tight matches then Fed found a key or Raonic was slumping and Fed won a few comfortably – then Fed eked out the F last year – now Raonic has suddenly found a key again and finally solved his nemesis – any way you cut it this is a huge step for Raonic and you have to rate Raonic as a contender at every major –
Scoop Malinowski · January 11, 2016 at 8:39 am
Thanks Dan for the info about the Kozlov win – he definitely earned this title the hard way – against a struggling still-striving veteran experienced journeyman – very good win – Kozlov trained on Fisher Island in Dec with Dimitrov for two weeks – obviously those two worked hard and that hard work is already paying dividends – Dimitrov played well in Brisbane and almost beat Fed –
Dan Markowitz · January 11, 2016 at 9:16 am
Wow, thanks Dan, good to know there’s another dan out there, were you at the Kozlov-Bester match in LA? If so, where did they hold the event?
Look, it’s beating Phillip Bester so it’s not exactly a huge win, but the Koz is doing better than last year already. How the heck does the Koz get to practice with Dimitrov? That’s amazing. You wouldn’t think Dimitrov would pick a guy in the 300’s to practice with for a solid two weeks. But Dimi’s started 2016 off well, too.
Scoop Malinowski · January 11, 2016 at 9:30 am
Dan1: Kozlov hit last summer with Dimitrov and Super G likes hitting with Kozlov so he invited him to hit for two weeks in Dec – Dan2 thanks for that report that was an epic final – Dan1 Bester is a desperate player as his career is hanging by a few threads – he has to be at least 27-28 now – was a highly touted junior from Canada who went to img and I recall had a TV match vs Blake at Canadian Open one year on ESPN – very good win for Kozlov –
Andrew Miller · January 11, 2016 at 9:57 am
Contender? I think Raonic WANTS to win a slam and has made that known, like Roddick did when he said he wanted to win a second slam.
Left unsaid: got to actually go out and do it, nothing’s handed out there.
Federer looked sharp for most of the tournament until he ran into the brick wall of Raonic. Odd to see Raonic running Federer around.
Hard to count out the Federer – he’s good at making adjustments from match to match, unless the player’s name is “Rafael Nadal” or “Djokovic”. Few players beyond Nadal and Djokovic can beat Federer consecutively or have in the last ten years, with the exception of a few from Murray, Nalbandian and Guillermo Canas.
I dont think Raonic joins that club. But what he did out there was pretty huge. Reminded me – a little bit – of Del Potro in 2009 US Open. I think Del Potro’s much better and played out of his mind that day. But Raonic certainly ran Federer around.
Harold · January 11, 2016 at 2:13 pm
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2016/01/tomic-apologizes-practice-court-confrontation-local-club/57202/E
Always easy to have your PR peeps put together an apology after the fact.
Tomic is quite the piece of s***. Kicks people off their court, doesnt think he needs to pay for court time. New maturity? Ha.. Keep thinking this guy is going 7 matches deep in Majors.
New wave of Ausies must be driving the old crew nuts, from Laver to Rafter.
Andrew Miller · January 11, 2016 at 3:03 pm
Tomic seems very entitled.
The old guard in Australia seems to like Kokkinakis a lot, but Kokkinakis’ manners far exceed his decent results.
Believe it or not only Kyrgios matches up with recent Australian champions. He’s got fire like Hewitt and game like Rafter.
Scoop Malinowski · January 11, 2016 at 4:30 pm
Several of the great players have complex personalities and some evident arrogance – Rios mcenroe Safin young Hewitt – I was told a story about one of these four players who had twice crashed his mercedes loaned car at a tourney and then asked the mercedes rep woman for a third car but she was forced to reject the request because obviously mercedes didn’t want a third car cracked up – when this player was politely declined he erupted in a rage and yelled at the woman: “You can suck m ****” So while Tomic’s behavior may be considered rude just realize he isn’t close to the only player to show these kinds of shenanigans – and I guess the terrific examples of Fed and Rafa and Djokovic haven’t influenced all the up and comers to be like them 🙂
Andrew Miller · January 11, 2016 at 7:13 pm
Safin. No doubt .
Scoop Malinowski · January 11, 2016 at 8:22 pm
🙂 @Andrew
Scoop Malinowski · January 11, 2016 at 9:15 pm
Steve Johnson 0-2 so far this year – lost last week to Troicki – lost first round again this week to matthew barton who is ranked in the 290s – tough start of the year for Johnson –
Dan Markowitz · January 11, 2016 at 9:21 pm
SteveJo can never be a top player with that backhand return.
Andrew Miller · January 11, 2016 at 9:35 pm
SteveJo and Sock both are making a mess of my prediction of a U.S. mens player making a slam quarterfinal this year.
Scoop Malinowski · January 11, 2016 at 9:50 pm
look at this new guy alexander sarkissian beating name players – including Gulbis in Sydney qualies and two other established atpers in kubot and bolelli in the main draw – all three wins in straight sets – I never heard of sarkissian before (he plays the winner of Dolgo vs bellucci next) – matthew barton and sarkissian – two new faces suddenly winning matches at the atp level – barton also crushed kudla in qualies 62 60 – sarkissian is 25 and ranked 195 in the world – he’s coached by former junior #1 in the 90s from argentina federico browne –
jg · January 12, 2016 at 9:37 am
Tiafoe v. Donaldson first round AO qualies
Hartt · January 12, 2016 at 5:12 pm
I’ve followed Raonic for several years, so was interested in the comments here about him. He did play well against Fed last year in Brisbane – in the 2nd set it looked like he could wreck the 1000th match win celebrations for Fed. And he beat Fed in the Berczy SF in 2014. He had won sets off Fed before that and a in a couple losses to Roger, Milos was hampered by the foot problem that ended up requiring surgery last spring. Milos tended publicly to underplay that ongoing problem, but now that it is out of the way, Milos does not have to worry about it.
He does roar after wins – quickly, so it is easy to miss, but he does do it. And he shows a lot of emotion after a Davis Cup win – he may jump up in the air with knees bent, like Serena.
One problem for Milos is having a good service game and a good baseline game in the same match – often only one or the other is clicking. But when both aspects of his game are on, he can be dangerous. He is finally being more aggressive, something that he has talked about, but now he’s actually doing it. And all the work he’s put into his net game is starting to pay off.
My prediction for his 2016 season is No. 5 in the rankings, with at least a Masters title, and maybe even a Slam. The big obstacle, of course, is Novak.