Have you ever seen a player look as unbeatable as Novak Djokovic? Even Rafa Nadal is now saying he’s never seen a player play tennis at the magical level Djokovic is performing his wizardry at right now And Bernard Tomic – who has beaten Djokovic in the past – is also awed by what he’s witnessed on the court by Djokovic: “Yeah, Novak, it’s just a djok (sic) now,” Tomic said. “It’s amazing what he’s doing. That’s the reason why he’s the best player in the world. I think even Roger and Rafa … when you step on the court against Novak now it’s like, ‘how can you beat him?’. Even Rafa playing that final in Doha, it was amazing tennis to watch, but so comfortable, and on the score it just shows how much Novak is dominating the sport.”
“I think he is a different level, Novak, now, and there is a reason why he’s there,” Tomic said. “I think the other players, there are a little bit more weaknesses and stuff. There is a reason why Novak is the best: no weaknesses. I can’t think of any. He deserves to be there.”
So what do you do to beat Djokovic? No man is unbeatable is a famous sports maxim right? So where do you target to exploit? After long analysis and study I have concluded the complex solution: You hire Dr Frankenstein to construct a new tennis player with Isner’s serve – Federer’s movement and experience – Rafa Nadal’s fighting spirit – Borg’s steadiness – Hewitt’s movement defense and counterpunching – Lendl’s assassin attitude – Pancho Gonzalez’ killer instinct – Ilie Nastase’s mind games – Pete Sampras’ running forehand – Ivo Karlovic’s serve – Andre Agassi’s return of serve from the ad court – John McEnroe’s distraction antics – Rod Laver’s will to win – you combine all these elements and maybe JUST MAYBE it will be enough to conquer and overcome the mighty Tennis Machine Super Champion known as Novak Djokovic.
Enjoy the Aussie Open dear readers, or pardon, The Novak Djokovic Show.
Andrew Miller · January 15, 2016 at 11:51 am
Djokovic is beatable. Just like every great champion, a player needs to stick with them until the bitter end of a match. That’s how players beat the unbeatable Nadal, Lendl, Federer.
I think he’s due for a let-down.
Scoop Malinowski · January 15, 2016 at 11:58 am
A few lesser lights had Djokovic on the ropes last year – Anderson at Wimbledon – Goffin in a three setter in the second half of the year – of course Isner is capable of frustrating Djokovic as is Ivo – Federer has also shown many times he is on the verge but just can’t quite finish the job in majors – Raonic will need to play lights out which he is capable of with that firepower – Kyrgios can also rise up and play at the magical level – as he did vs Rafa at Wimbledon –
Andrew Miller · January 15, 2016 at 12:44 pm
By a let-down I mean a two slam year!
Scoop Malinowski · January 15, 2016 at 1:45 pm
Andrew, at this point, if Djokovic wins three majors it’s a letdown 🙂 He should win the doggone Grand Golden Slam this year. He’s the heavy favorite at every major. He’s separating himself from the packs.
Andrew Miller · January 15, 2016 at 2:08 pm
Scoop, “should win” does not equal “wins”. Last year – Djokovic’s “unbeatable” year, he still lost matches and lost to Wawrinka. Wawrinka’s shown the ability to beat “anyone” at the slams (he has a “gear”), so there’s at least one player who’s not just capable of doing it but has also done it. There’s at least one other player that can play spoiler – even if it’s not at the Australian Open.
Sorry to say also, but Djokovic’s soon going to be inhabiting the “world” he created, so to speak. Every time a player raises the bar, it forces other players to raise the bar and eventually those players then beat the master. Federer “trained” his competition (Nadal at Wimbledon, Murray, Djokovic), until Nadal took over and then “trained” his main competitor (Djokovic) and now Djokovic is “training” his successor – whoever that is. It may not look like it, but it’s true and it’s a constant in tennis history. No player has ever existed who hasn’t then “prepared” his opponents to take over – probably beats them silly a bunch of times.
Agassi and Federer. Agassi beat him first three times. Then lost what, ten straight? Eventually the pupil mans up.
Maybe it will be Raonic – who loses in Australia and wins at Wimbledon. Can’t really speculate.
Scoop Malinowski · January 15, 2016 at 2:14 pm
Nice theory Dr Miller 🙂 Could be accurate. But Fed didn’t “train” Rafa to beat him in Miami that night 6363. Rafa just knew how to do it from the beginning. But that’s maybe the rare exception to the Dr Miller Rule. 🙂 The Djokovic heir apparent has not emerged just yet. Perhaps he will this year. Or next. Or 2018. 2019. Or by 2020 at the latest 🙂
Gans · January 16, 2016 at 10:46 am
Scoop,the multi-crossbreed dream player u created IS Novak Djokovic! 🙂
Andrew Miller · January 16, 2016 at 11:13 am
Nadal didn’t know how to beat Federer at Wimbledon. The only “slam final” where he couldn’t do it, losing two straight – not unlike Roddick, who also lost two straight. In fact, Roddick lost his first two (2004, 2005) and then Nadal the next two (2006, 2007). Unlike Roddick, Nadal got better in the Wimbledon final. The rest is history. Nadal knew what to expect, got better in those areas, stepped in on the ball at Wimbledon, beat Federer in 2008 Wimbledon final. Won another in 2010.
Could say that on clay this didn’t work – Federer squared off against Nadal in many French Open finals and, if you look at Federer as the student, he didn’t learn much. Then again you could look at Soderling, who Federer beat in 2009 on the way to his title, who next time around gets Federer in Paris and beats him.
Or Djokovic, deciding in 2010 that he had no interest being Federer’ apprentice and took him out in the semifinal.
You could call it plain old discontent with the status quo. A player doesn’t want the same result in the same situation year after year. Tennis is funny that way: you square off against the same players year after year some times, and fact is if you don’t learn from the losses (or wins), the next time around could be different.
Wawrinka did it – losing in Australia in 2013. Next time around, he gets the Djokovic in the quarters and takes him out en route to his first slam. Then he gets beat, but beats Djoker again at the French Open in 2015.
Maybe it’s some kind of motivation, “this time will be different”. But I don’t know how a player couldn’t learn from the last match to win the next one. Usually that’s what happens in my opinion – you get a McEnroe versus a Borg and Borg is beating him everywhere.
Until he doesn’t, the tables are turned, and Borg looks around and says, the world’s changed.
Scoop Malinowski · January 16, 2016 at 3:47 pm
And the original is always better than the artificial imitation Gansy 🙂
Scoop Malinowski · January 16, 2016 at 3:50 pm
Don’t Djokovic’s world changing any time soon Andrew – he’s as dominant right now as any player in history – male or female – well maybe except Graf who was beating some opponents in eighteen minutes —
catherine bell · January 17, 2016 at 1:04 pm
Not sure about Graf beating anyone in 18 minutes – but yes, some of her matches were pretty short.
At W’don sf in 1969 BJK beat Rosie Casals in 28 minutes (6-1 6-0) – that may well still stand as a record, certainly for later stages in the tournament.
Of course matches take longer now.
Scoop Malinowski · January 17, 2016 at 2:04 pm
Catherine: I’m working on a Facing Steffi feature and one of the players said Graf was winning some matches in less than 20 min – maybe she was exaggerating slightly – I’ll try to confirm that with historians like Steve Flink or Richard Evans —
catherine bell · January 17, 2016 at 3:33 pm
Facing Steffi should be good – unfortunately changing careers meant I didn’t follow Steffi after early 1989 – so I’ll find it interesting.
Now one I would like to read although too many years have probably gone by now for tracking down opponents (and memories): Facing Billie Jean.
Scoop Malinowski · January 17, 2016 at 3:47 pm
Thanks Catherine I think you will like it – it really is interesting to hear players talk about their memories of playing tennis legends who are all unique in their own ways – That’s a good idea to do a Facing Billie Jean – very doable too – because so many of the ex players attend the majors and you just run into them –
Andrew Miller · January 17, 2016 at 5:08 pm
Kyrgios has the x factor to beat Djokovic if he decides to do it. Agassi and Lendl were vulnerable to superior athletes like Sampras. Djokovic has never been air Sampras and Kyrgios actually is in a line of exceptional Australian players. He can do it all. Doesn’t mean he will – just that he can.
Scoop Malinowski · January 17, 2016 at 6:22 pm
Yes – Kyrgios can do anything on the court – beat Rafa beat Fed he will eventually beat Djokovic somewhere someday too – nobody wants to play Kyrgios when he’s on his A plus game –