Djokovic’s best superior to Fed and Rafa says Lopez

Michael Jordan is an exception. He entered the NBA in 1985 I believe, and there still has not been a player w his complete game to surpass his level. Also, Kyrgios may be lucky to win 5 slams, 17 is impossible. I’ll walk backwards in only a thong and a cigar in my mouth if Kyrgios ever wins 17 slams on the first day of qualis at the Us Open. Djoko is a late developer in the slam game, but Kyrgios is 21 and he hasn’t won a slam yet and all the big multi-slam winners had notched their first slam by 21.

djoko’s boring….will someone pls take this guy out pls !!!

Kyrgios capable of slam in ’16, and one of two players, of any age, capable of beating the entire field this year. Doesn’t mean he will 🙁 Only that he has the game to do so.

Young guy, can recover between matches. Serve his way out of trouble. Hit winners when necessary. Pretty darn consistent. Maintains his momentum across matches. Has a full array of shots, an outstanding understanding of the court whether a huge arena or a back court. That’s all what the best players of all time had in common.

re: robots. I think we’ve talked about this before. To be the top dog in tennis TODAY a player does become a robot. Nadal was more “exciting” back in 2004 when he came on the scene but in 2010 he looked like a robot too as he assumed the top spot. The grooved Federer, despite having the most brilliant array of shots in history, also was a robot – even for his artistry every match looked pretty similar. Djokovic is no different.

I think what people are upset with is that he has no competition. And when you have no rival, no one who can upset the status quo, it does become boring. Excellence is very boring. But the opposite of this dominance – which is chaos, as we’re seeing on the WTA tour, is similar. We don’t know who’ll win every week. There is no “face” of the tour. There is no “rivalry” to keep people interested.

So what I think everyone wants is a rivalry. Someone who can get good enough, fast enough to make matches interesting with Djokovic. That brings out the best in the game anyways.

Scoop, Djokovic’s dominance (the “way” he dominates, not his superb record of domination) reminds me of Agassi after he “woke up” at age 29.

I watched Agassi and it was quite something to see him work the magic. The skill, etc. Putting the ball exactly where he wanted. A lot of artistry to it.

Saw Agassi once beat Blake – though it wasn’t a rout. It was a situation where Agassi barely won! He won in a match that looked as if he had actually lost. That’s what separates the best from the rest really – you can find a way to win when the chips really are against you.

Dan, I think the Djokovic game is a combination of a lot of players – I think he’s really studied up and absorbed it, then advanced it – especially in the defense to offense category. Technically outstanding.

I think everyone has a problem with domination. No one liked when Lendl did it. Then it was Sampras. Then Agassi. Then Federer. Then Nadal. Now Djokovic. No one likes it. The sport does best when there are rivalries. Problem is there’s no rival to Djokovic in big tournaments. No one.

Jon Wertheim at SI leaned this way this week. He said there’s a real case there’s a “big one”. I think Tignor said something like this too at tennis.com.

From how I see it, I don’t put it past Kyrgios to pull a shock the world slam victory result, even as soon as this year. Pete Bodo had both Kyrgios and Thiem making slam semifinals this year. I’d go further than say that if Kyrgios gets Federer in a semifinal, he can beat him, make a final and play Djokovic – even if it’s Wimbledon!

I also hold an out-there opinion that a French player will rise to the occasion at Roland Garros and make the semis or the finals. Finally.

As for my prediction of a U.S. player in a slam quarter – the odds are dropping to zero for sure. Maybe Tommy Paul can pull off a miracle and make the French quarters. He lost to Chung in three the other day in Houston. But if you can’t win in Houston…you may not be able to make it far in Paris.

Djokovic volleys and smashes remind me skills of Agassi – these shots are mediocre. Every number one player had a weakness in his game – Edberg had forehand, Sampras – backhand, Federer – backhand (although much improved later on), Lendl and Agassi – volleys.

This one’s been up before on TP. I’d like to throw my hat in with Dan. Look djok is an awesome force blah blah blah – no argument. But the guy lacks charisma. Speaks well; catches the ball in his pocket. But he isn’t Rafa or Roger. He’s not Scoop. You must feel it/see it.

Novak is definitely no Rafa/Roger. I Thank God every day for this fact. Go champ!

Think Paul is very good and this crew of young u.s. players is better than Roddick-Fish-Ginepri-Dent-Blake. Sure, a French Open junior title doesn’t make a player a slam champ. But Brian Baker, FO jrs finalist, was the real deal and Fratangelo is pretty solid too. If he stays healthy, I bet he threads the needle and pulls his weight as a promising player. Given that Blake made two quarters and Gienpri a semifinal, I’ll put chips on the Diego Moyano coached Paul to make a French Open quarters sooner than we think.

If Kozlov and Fritz make it through their Japanese opponents Nishioka and Ito, we will have their first pro challenger face off in Guadeloupe. Pretty amazing, they could square off tomorrow in the Caribbean.

And a U.S. Player will make the finals in Houston. Sock and Isner vs either Monaco or FLopez.

Sure it is a light week on the tour.

Sock knocks out Isner. Has won 3 of last 4. Now is 3-4 vs the U.S. #1.

Clever boy.

It’s obvious that Djokovic’s best is better than Nadal’s or Federer’s.

First, Djokovic is a better all court player than Nadal. Proof: Nadal has lost to so many people in the early rounds of Wimbledon. That’s because first week has grass and it exposes Nadal. Whereas, Novak has no such weakness on grass.

Then let’s talk about Federer. Federer had a weakness against Nadal. Look at the record- it’s so one sided, which is a dent when it comes to all time great type discussion.

Whereas, Djokovic scores well in this aspect also.

One of the notable achievements of Novak is beating Nadal 7 times in a row- at a time when it appeared no one was going to stop Nadal from sweeping the field to get to 3 or 4 more slams.

Djokovic destroyed Nadal and is continuing to do so despite letting him off the hook for a short time in 2013.

It took this long for tennis pundits to finally come out and say that Novak’s best is better than the other two greats- what I saw coming in 2007!!

Thankfully, Novak is nothing like Nadal or Federer. He does not have that embarrassingly ugly mannerisms like Nadal. He also does not hide his frustrations- lets it all out on court.

He is a born entertainer. Most peopleare either Federer or Nadal fans, so obviously it hurts to see someone who beats their champion again, again and again. That’s why Djokovic cut out all thelse entertainment aspects and stuck to winning.

Once he wins this year’s French, he may become much more efficient and ruthless in his victories and that could propel him to loosen up a bit and start doing impressions and dance etc.

ND is a multi-talented champion and a born entertainer at the sAmerican time. Very rare to see someone like him. I am so glad that I can embrace ND even though I have been and still is a huge RF fan.

Trick is to not let our liking for someone affect us from seeing the truth. The next step is to embrace the truth and start enjoying it while it lasts.

In my books: ND > RN > RF. It doesn’t matter whether RF has 6 more slams than ND or if ND doesn’t win any more slams.

Cheers,
Gans

Sloane Stephens wins 3rd title of year. For someone knocked constantly for her performance, I mean, three titles in 2016!

Monaco d. Sock to win Houston. Looks like it was quite a match.