Novak Djokovic is no longer the ruthless tennis machine who brazenly thrived while dethroning and then dominating icons Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
That relentlessly ambitious Djokovic is gone. Today we have a man who seems more interested in building his image as a peace and love ambassador, trying to attract love and adoration from all the fans and media by behaving as a perfect sportsman.
The man who used to roar like a lion and rip off his shirt after monumental wins now likes to gather a group of ballkids to symbolically give their hearts to the world after wins. The unnatural and silly act looks too contrived and flat out phony. Even ardent Djokovic-backer John McEnroe snickered about the charade on NBC on Monday.
Andre Agassi, the new coach of Djokovic, who knows a thing or two about images, has opted to sit away from the “peace and love” guru Pepe Imaz outside the player box. If that isn’t some kind of statement, I don’t know what is.
Jim Courier has noticed a change in Djokovic’s competitive demeanor and is not impressed. The combative two time Roland Garros king they used to call “The Rock” noted he believes Djokovic needs to cut out the peace and love shtick and get back to being a vicious, ferocious fighting machine. Couier, who won four majors overall and reigned as the ATP World No. 1 player, added that Djokovic has to get focused on the job and get nastier out there.
Word has come out that Djokovic sent roses to the WTA locker room this week. Is Djokovic focused on defending his Roland Garros title? Or would he rather win a popularity contest?
Djokovic was down two sets to one to Diego Schwartzman today but ended up winning in five sets to progress to the round of sixteen and possibly a semifinal showdown with Rafael Nadal. But today we did not see anything close to resembling the Djokovic we remember at his pinnacle, the one with the burning obsession to be the best. It seems Djokovic has lost a fraction (or a lot more) of his once unquenchable desire and greed to conquer. Mike Tyson said recently that as he aged in his boxing career, he lost his “desire.”
Having earned over $100 million in his professional career, Djokovic may have lost his desire and replaced it with grander motivations and inspirations. But… “to be the best at anything you have to be willing to get blood on your hands.”
And it does not look like Djokovic has that capacity anymore.
Playing tennis as if he’s had his fangs yanked out and his claws clipped, there is absolutely zero chance Novak Djokovic will defend his Roland Garros title or win any more major titles. – Scoop Malinowski
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« Previous 1 2 3 Next »catherine · June 5, 2017 at 9:14 am
Scoop –
I’m wondering if Kiki will wear herself out with her antics 🙂
As you say Simona is a nice simple straight player so she should keep her blinkers securely fixed if she plays the French favourite – ear plugs too 🙂
Scoop Malinowski · June 5, 2017 at 9:33 am
Fatigue/burnout Could be an issue for Kiki as she is still alive in doubles with Kuznetsova. I think we can all lay to rest the silly charade of her supposed back injury. Halep is a lot fresher right now but Kiki's confidence has to be in the clouds after winning so many close tough tight matches and also playing so well in the doubles.
Jimmy the Gent · June 5, 2017 at 10:38 am
djoko is sucha phony – it’s unbelievable.
he’s gotta be the least popular number one of all time.
just doesn’t sell like fed / rafa do.
Scoop Malinowski · June 5, 2017 at 11:14 am
Djokovic is a very creative soul who likes to express his creativity in different ways on the court 🙂 One thing you can't say is that he's boring. Appreciate the show even if there is a tinge of phoniness to some of his actions.
Jimmy the Gent · June 5, 2017 at 11:23 am
scoop – that schtick with the ball boys is the corniest thing I’ve ever seen on a tennis court
Chazz · June 5, 2017 at 11:25 am
I don’t think Djoko is any less popular than Murray as a #1. Neither of them are even close to Fed/Nadal though.
Chazz · June 5, 2017 at 11:31 am
The problem with Djoko’s ball boy thing is that the crowds cheer it on. With that positive feedback, he gets the impression that it’s a great thing to do and he is not going to stop.
Scoop Malinowski · June 5, 2017 at 11:32 am
Chazz; Federer and Rafa definitely had a monopoly on tennis fans for a long time but Djokovic has done a very good job to amass his own fanbase. Following a pair of first class legends like Roger and Rafa was just about impossible but Djokovic has done the impossible. Though it seems like he's trying to hard to be loved by fans and media instead of letting it happen naturally.
Scoop Malinowski · June 5, 2017 at 11:34 am
Jimmy the Gent; Not a giant fan of this new Djokovic gesture – do you have any better suggestions for him to do instead? I loved the water drink with the ballboy spontaneous during the rain delay a few years back but this new one is too contrived.
kskate2 · June 5, 2017 at 11:44 am
scoop said:
↑
Not anymore. They were sent packing in straights by team Bucie.
Jimmy the Gent · June 5, 2017 at 11:57 am
not sure scoop….as long as he stops his current and pls don’t pick up the worm a la stepanek or the robot-dance a la petkovic…please LOL
Andrew Miller · June 5, 2017 at 12:11 pm
Big five still beating everyone. Wawrinka dusts off Monfils, Murray beats Khachanov.
Andrew Miller · June 5, 2017 at 12:12 pm
Halep, Svitolina both advance. Tournament wide open .
catherine · June 5, 2017 at 12:57 pm
Not wide open –
Simona will slam it shut.
Kiki probably wasn’t too unhappy losing doubles. Common strategy late in the t’ment.
catherine · June 5, 2017 at 1:56 pm
No Americans, Australians, British surviving in women’s event.
Hartt · June 5, 2017 at 2:46 pm
Doubles update: further to my post yesterday –
The big surprise was Gonzalez/Young winning over the No. 5 seeds J.Murray/Soares. Murray/Soares served for the match in the 2nd set, were broken and went on to lose. Donald Young, the lone singles player, was very interesting. He missed some easy shots but made more terrific ones, including some excellent returns ans good volleys.
As mentioned above, Mattek-Sands/Safarova won over Kuznetsova/Mladenovic. I agree that Kiki is probably just as happy to be out of doubles so she can use her energy for singles.
In the mixed, Dabrowski/Bopanna had the win over Mirza/Dodig. I imagine this is old hat for Bopanna but it must be a big deal for Gabriela Dabrowski, especially winning over such a good team.
Chazz · June 5, 2017 at 3:18 pm
I don’t know anything about Gonzalez but it makes sense that Young is a pretty good doubles player with how aggressive he can be in singles.
Scoop Malinowski · June 5, 2017 at 3:55 pm
Young and Gonzalez getting to this point could be the shock of the tournament – Nice to see Young bounce back so quickly after the heartbreaker loss to Ferrer in the first round in five sets – He was obviously playing superb tennis vs Ferrer and doubles has given Young the opportunity to rebuild his confidence.
Duke Carnoustie · June 5, 2017 at 5:17 pm
Anybody see Agassi’s interview with Barbara Schett? He didn’t even recognize her, which I found surprising …
http://www.tennisnow.com/Blogs/NET-POSTS/June-2017/Agassi-Shocked-By-Djokovic.aspx
I surmise that Agassi doesn’t even like tennis that much anymore.
catherine · June 5, 2017 at 5:37 pm
I think Andre must still harbour some liking for the game or why would he be getting involved with Djokovic ? He doesn’t need the money.
He probably likes the parts he can pick on now.
Scoop Malinowski · June 5, 2017 at 6:14 pm
Agassi curiously had no idea who Schett was or is. Shocking really. Even i remember the Austrian well. Nice player right around top ten. I guess Andre never watched womens tennis. And he must love tennis to be coaching Djokovic for free. If Djokovic gets to final Andre has to fly in for it..
Scoop Malinowski · June 5, 2017 at 7:07 pm
That was a very enjoyable interview by Schett with Agassi – A lot of funny and insightful revelations by AA especially how he would not relish the challenge of playing Rafa on clay: "I would just wake up and go back to bed – I wouldn't even show up" 🙂
Scoop Malinowski · June 5, 2017 at 7:07 pm
That was a very enjoyable interview by Schett with Agassi – A lot of funny and insightful revelations by AA especially how he would not relish the challenge of playing Rafa on clay: "I would just wake up and go back to bed – I wouldn't even show up" 🙂 Thanks for sharing it Duke –
catherine · June 6, 2017 at 2:49 am
Scoop
Men generally don’t watch women’s tennis or know much about it barring top players like Serena or if they’re coaches.
Probably a bit of natural chauvinism but more likely because there’s nothing they can learn from women and obviously they aren’t opponents.
catherine · June 6, 2017 at 5:13 am
Oh – Andre obviously took enough notice of women’s tennis to catch sight of Steffi 🙂
Hartt · June 6, 2017 at 6:59 am
As Andre said in his autobiography, he certainly noticed Steffi’s legs.
Scoop Malinowski · June 6, 2017 at 8:21 am
True. Men players rarely bother to watch women. I was in media cafe yrs ago at us open and Stosur was playing that recordbreaking long tiebreaker vs Kirilenko and Fred Stolle didnt turn his head to watch any of it though he was in conversation. Men players just have little interest in Wta though Federer did say a few yrs ago he liked watching Kuznetsova.
Andrew Miller · June 6, 2017 at 9:11 am
Djokovic Thiem, Carreno Busta-Nadal. If ever there were a day to knock off a French open champ today’s it. Scoop called Thiem. Carreno Busta, who I consider JC Ferrero-lite(or baby JCF) has the match he always dreamed of.
I’m pretty impressed that PCB made the quarters. He and Vesely were duking it out a few years back and here is PCB with his shot at glory.
Andrew Miller · June 6, 2017 at 9:14 am
Barbara Schett? I loved her as a player.
Andrew Miller · June 6, 2017 at 9:16 am
But I’d wager Agassi has way more players that know him than he knows, even as contemporaries. I think it’s hard to contemplate that Agassi and Sampras are as much legends when they get to a tournament to fellow players as fans.
Scoop Malinowski · June 6, 2017 at 9:27 am
Agassi has to know Schett was as she is was very pretty. If Andrew and I both are well aware of Schett, Agassi should too but I guess it illustrates how distant and uninteresting womens tennis is to a lot of the ATP players.
catherine · June 6, 2017 at 9:29 am
Top players live in their own little worlds. The only people they really care about outside their own tight circle is ‘the other guy’. And that guy is someone close to them in rank.
And that goes for women too.
catherine · June 6, 2017 at 9:41 am
The circuit intersects a bit more than it used to. For a while men and women basically only met at GS.
Hartt · June 6, 2017 at 10:12 am
Regarding male players watching WTA players, Andy Murray does follow women players. He has even been aware of some of the younger ones, for example his famous tweet about Garcia a couple years ago.
catherine · June 6, 2017 at 10:46 am
Raining in Paris.
Was raining in London too but now stopped so maybe will clear up. Womens’ matches poised.
Hartt · June 6, 2017 at 10:49 am
We have talked about whether Cahill is the best coach for Halep. She obviously thinks so because she has been surprisingly candid about how anxious she was to get him back after he stopped coaching her after Miami because of her defeatist attitude in that match. She realised she had to change her attitude and worked hard to do that. “Now I’m happy that I can be positive on court, and I will never be negative. I felt ashamed about what I did.”
She is right, it was crucial that she change her attitude and her recent results have been so strong.
Andrew Miller · June 6, 2017 at 11:41 am
Scoop, I think Agassi was Graf-ed so he probably can’t admit he knows who Schett is. And yes that’s one reason I know who Schett is, she played well and I think she’s a good looking lady!
Scoop Malinowski · June 6, 2017 at 11:43 am
Results tell if the coach is suitable for the player and Halep's getting the best results of her career right now. Even Agassi said he follows Halep because he's close with Cahill and Cahill "loves her" so that is a pretty big deal if Agassi actually has interest in a WTA player besides Steffi.
catherine · June 6, 2017 at 12:03 pm
Now all we need is for someone to come along and do the same for Kerber.
Scoop Malinowski · June 6, 2017 at 12:55 pm
Kerber just needs to read Tennis-prose.com and copy what Halep did: Just "change her attitude" and play doubles and mixed doubles.
catherine · June 6, 2017 at 1:22 pm
Is Simona playing doubles and mixed doubles ? I hadn’t noticed – she could do though when she gets settled into winning in singles.
Angie’s older and her character’s different. She doesn’t say much (in English at least) so we haven’t any knowledge of what’s happening in her background re her coach and her mental state etc. Simona’s more open. We can guess at Angie’s angst but we don’t really know.
Not sure if she even talks to Steffi much now.
Getting the ITF award for being the top player last year must be a bitter sweet experience for her this week in Paris. She’ll have a nice trophy to show her children no doubt in the future but she probably wishes it could have been awarded in better circumstances.
Andrew Miller · June 6, 2017 at 1:45 pm
Popularity seems to cut a few ways. Maybe for Kerber she’s enjoyed it but has no idea how to tap into it at stadiums. Which is too bad, because the big four on the men’s tour and I’d argue players like Sharapova and Serena Williams tap into it every match, even if it’s negative.
Maybe she’s not skilled at being a champion and taking advantage of things like winning a match “in the locker room”, or the p.r. game where you praise your opponent, as Nadal does, before defeating them soundly.
If that’s indeed a skill, but I think it is and I think Kerber like many others doesn’t have much of it, or just has no idea how to use it. How to use the crowd, how to make a fuss like Cornet and pounce. How to complain to the ref like Henin did.
Otherwise again I find it very hard to be sorry for Kerber. She had one of the best years for a non slam winner in bagging two of them last year, a silver medal and another slam final, and generally wiping the court with her opponents. And playing all together intelligent ball, a mix between pragmatic and aggressive, and an unpredictable mix that she knew what to do with.
So she put out a year that any other player on the wta tour probably thought would never ever happen, and now she’s facing players that are ready to rumble. It’s normal and especially normal on the wta tour given the soft performances of its stars in the last few years.
Not shedding any tears for Kerber, but if I were Kerber I’d hope to recognize the growing fan base that includes Catherine here and start giving their money’s worth. Agassi did this to resuscitate his career and of course had help with that mission, and really tapped the fan base hard. If Djokovic comes back it will be because of this, because he wants to show his fans he still has it. Kerber would be wise to recognize people come to watch her play and do something special out there again.
Andrew Miller · June 6, 2017 at 1:49 pm
It’s not a dark art, it’s a skill. Nadal, Federer, Serena, Maria thrive on it. Sampras did too and only received it when the chips were down. Kerber should recognize a lot of fans are there for her. Harrison did too! He knew people showed up for him and it was the thing that hurt him the most, until he decided to tap into it.
It’s not impossible. But someone should help her see it. The stadium is as much a part of the match as the players.
Chazz · June 6, 2017 at 1:58 pm
Ostapenko! First time seeing her play, what a backhand! It should be a good semifinal against Bacsinszky.
Scoop Malinowski · June 6, 2017 at 2:10 pm
Some great players do not know how to interact and connect with stadiums. Ljubicic Nalbandian Martin (except that one match at US OPen vs Moya) Berdych etc. Kerber got to no 1 without having fan energy behind her.
Scoop Malinowski · June 6, 2017 at 2:15 pm
Ostapenko had her big run in Charleston earlier this year but she got routed by Kasatkina in the F. I believe she also beat Wozniacki in Charleston also. She was really going for her shots and showing a lot of exuberance and personality on the court. Fun charismatic player to watch. As is Bacsinszky.
Hartt · June 6, 2017 at 2:17 pm
It took hours for it to happen, with the rain delays, but I am a happy camper with wins by Bacsinszky and Ostapenko over Mladenovic and Wozniacki.
Tomorrow fans will be faced with too much tennis, all in 1 day, starting at 5:00 am for those of us in the Eastern time zone in NA. The sacrifices we tennis fans make. 🙂
Chazz · June 6, 2017 at 2:23 pm
Yeah Hartt, it’s really too bad that the main event (Djokovic vs. Thiem) is the earliest match.
catherine · June 6, 2017 at 3:22 pm
Andrew – agree with much of what you’ve been saying in our running conversation about Angelique – and yes she grew up in tennis without much of a fan base, perhaps even in Germany, and her demeanour on court is a little closed, introverted, remote, not the way she can seem otherwise. She needs someone to help her tap into crowd support, feed back something to bolster her self-belief and rediscover the game she had last year but I’ve no idea if she recognises that or if there’s anyone on the horizon to work with her to initiate change.
It’s a vicious circle – success brings the confidence to connect to the crowd, failure wipes it out.
BTW – I doubt Angie is aware that she has a tiny fan base here with me on T-P 🙂
Women’s final – I fear it may turn out to be very flat.
Chazz · June 6, 2017 at 6:34 pm
Ryan Harrison is into the doubles semifinal with his partner Venus (?).