King of Clay Novak Djokovic: Mission Accomplished

Incredible achievement by Team Djokovic. The last service game felt the longest. Heart goes to Andy also. He gave such a nice runner-up speech.
Scoop, we have been wanting this moment for a while. It’s time to celebrate our man’s accomplishment. Four in a row! He might go on another gear from here! He is capable of winning Wimbledon, Olympics and USO. Incredible champion!

Gans is right also. I mean, the record’s so clear now – Djokovic is leagues ahead of everyone else and it’s looking like open road. Murray could pull something special at Wimbledon, or maybe Stan Wawrinka will get motivated, or Thiem might learn something from getting smacked around.

awesome win (and I ended up winning my $$pool) I was hoping Joker would get this win so we an move on, so now my new favorite to win on grass is Raonic–with Johnny Mac in his corner–did you notice lots of shouts out to their “teams” — this is going to be the new normal, you must have a “team” around you. Mac wants to be on the winning team and take all credit. He very well may be on winning team.

Djoker’s run since losing to K-Nish at 2014 US Open SFs has been utterly absurd:
143-10 record (93.5%)…made finals in 25 of 29 tourneys, going 20-5 in those finals…Has gone 57-6 vs. Top 10 (90.5%)…He’s won 85.4% of sets played (334-57)…and he has 5 slams and 10 Masters titles — to put that into perspective, only 11 guys in Tennis’ Open Era have at least 9 Masters or Masters equivalent titles in their careers, and less than 30 players in the ENTIRE history of the sport have more than 5 slams in their careers.

It is quite simply, one of the greatest, most dominant runs in the history of ALL sports.

Credit where it’s due to the Djoker… Clearly the #1 player and successor to the Roger-Roger throne and the extension of their era… Took him a long time to finally win his long-awaited French Open Musketeer Cup trophy but his perseverance paid off & he deserves his glory! Dan’s skepticism is something many are feeling & it would be naive to not have suspicions about how someone who used to have chronic stamina issues and iffy mental toughness rose so suddenly to become an almost unbeatable tennis machine & ironman… Given the sports world we live in, any Top athlete who does things that haven’t been seen before & who clearly has seen a dramatic elevation in their performance is a target for suspicion, fair or not… There has to be Elite ability there to begin with for the likes of: Novak, Roger & Rafa to be or to have been the Titan-like Super Champions that they are/have been however the levels that we have seen Men’s Tennis taken to in the 2000’s & now 2010’s era almost seems to Good to be 100% true & not at least be made somewhat possible by Sports Science… Admitted Huge Rafa Fan here but a Sports Fan who doesn’t live in a denial driven world where I can’t at least entertain the possibilities that we’re seeing some things that could be attributed to the “right products”… Regardless of what is or isn’t going on & I won’t definitively convict any of the Tremendous Champions & Players of this Amazing Era as being guilty without concrete proof because it’s a privilege to be a witness to the Top 3 Champions ever playing simultaneously in an era… We may never see anything like it again!

Amazing, amazing achievement by Novak. Even though finals at AO and RG were relatively easier, remember the finals against Fed at USO and Wim last year. They were real tough. He just barely defeated Fed in USO, saved more than a dozen break points, even loosing 1 or 2 of them would have turned around the match. Even in AO this year, Novak turned in a sublime performance against Fed in the semi-finals.

His RG draw was easier, but the previous 3 slams were tougher.

Even today, Murray dominated the first set. And had a break point in the first game of the 2nd. Had he gotten that, Novak would have had a harder time coming back. Even in the last game of the 4th set, Murray almost broke him back, and that match would have gone the distance and nobody knows what would have happened.

But its not just the slams. In the last 12 months, Novak won WTF, 4 slams, 5 Masters, 1 500, 1 250, and was a finalist in 3 other Masters. He pretty much lost just 2 matches before the finals – against Lopez in Dubai, which was due to injury, and against Vesely in Monte Carlo, which was due to not having adjusted to clay, but we should still count that one as a loss. There is tremendous, complete, utter domination. Not even a fan of Novak would have thought that Novak could dominate so completely.

On the other side, such a question tends to hide the technical improvements Djokovic made since Becker arrived:

— a better serve; it’s better disguised, it’s more precise, with more variety (an article was published not so long ago detailing the improvements);

— an even better FH; Djokovic has the best CC FH among active players, his FH DTL is an easy struck, reliable shot, and he most recently improved his inside out forehand too;

— a better transition game and much better volley; yesterday it was so obvious: he missed just one shot at the net;

— in conjunction with all the above, a change in patterns: his first shot after the serve is lethal; while he doesn’t try to open angles immediately, he’s probably the best at redirecting such shots; he uses effectively an IO backhand and the backhand DTL; he’s able to displace opponents with his cross-court FH; and you can’t moonball him, nor reset and slow down the rallies with defensive slices, because he’s probably at the net already.

In one word: he’s simply the most complete player on the Tour, with that Djokosmash as only liability. He excels in offense, in defense, at the net, when serving, when returning. We could see it in the final of Doha, the semi of the AO, the semi and finale of the French, the QF of Rome…

Dan, as Spadea’s numero uno fanboy, maybe you can take it upon yourself to wake him up, or at least be able to set his DVR even if you are 3000 miles away.
Astute tennis knowledge??? When did this epiphany happen? Surely not while he was an active player? While he was giving a lesson to two housewives from Beverley Hills?

Here come the phony steroid accusations. Throw it out, no proof, see it not stick for the next player you blindly accuse. Not the biggest Djoker fan, but much respect for his achievements.

Almost miss the old Tennis Week board rantings of a huy named John, who had the tennis conspiracy of all-time, the ATP was manipulating the rackets.

Harold, where’s the fluff in what Spadea says? Seems sharp to me. Liked his stroke analysis also. The guy knows the game like Lansdorp and trained under Pete Sampras’ coach and pulled off some feats on tour. Not sure how that isn’t a real thing – did happen.

He didnt watch the match….I’m sure he would tell you every match is different. His view seeing only match point means nothing to me.

He’s been a convenient target for allegations from the masses throughout his career for varying reasons, some of which may be valid to a degree but it just needs to be pointed out that Rafa was a Top 2 player & Grand Slam Champion for a decade straight; going back to his late teens… He has also been a Grand Slam Champion & #1/#2 in the world player with both a muscular & slimmed down physique… He isn’t someone who suddenly & unexpectedly rose to the top & became superhuman after having previous chronic stamina issues… We don’t know the definitive truth about any of these Great Players but I have said it once & I will say it again, even if PEDs have been involved, all they will do is elevate an athlete’s level to to the next level of what they are to begin with naturally… A Great player becomes an All-Time Great, good becomes very good & so on… Taking something isn’t turning a challenger series pro into a Major winner just like it won’t turn a club fighter into a unified World Champion like Gennady Golovkin or Sergey Kovalev… To be a Super Champion like: Roger, Rafa & now Novak are, there has to be Special & Elite talent there to begin with that is capable of being “Enhanced”… Until definitive proof or positive drug tests come out, we will all continue to have some suspicions about certain players but we can’t assume that those suspicions are the end all, be all!

miss that one slam wonder Roddick – mouth of an american muscle car too 😉 lol

And a stable relationship base. Djokovic’s had his family on tour forever and his girlfriend now wife. He really took off when she joined his camp. Happiness off the court, bliss on the court. You need a team – you can knock off a top player once in a while, but to do this at the top levels? You need an entourage.

I feel Rafa improved areas of his game in 2010 & 2013, serve & cross court backhand respectively… Overall though, he has only reached his Top level periodically & I think it’s because no player has ever punished their body more with such a physical style of play… The guy put in 4-5 hour practice sessions for years that matched his ferocity in live matches… Rafa definitely improved & became a well-rounded player over the years but by his late 20s, there wasn’t much he could add anymore because his body won’t allow it… He still is a top 3-4 player, he just isn’t the Freak he once was… Inevitable given his brute force style of play… Stubborness doesn’t help IMO either because Rafa can apply some different tactics to his game because he does possess the tools… A coaching addition who would emphasis more come forward, attacking play would benefit him greatly but the admirable but seemingly pointless at this time devotion to Uncle Toni won’t allow Rafa to make a change… He is a great net player but Rafa is determined to grind from the baseline to the very end at whatever physical cost to his body even though he doesn’t have to… Just my take… On another note, chronic asthma being so rapidly overcome by hyberloic egg chambers isn’t the norm medically but it has done wonders for the Djoker! 😉

I recognized early also that Djokovic was a Big Time talent & Excellent player… He’s not some ordinary hack who came from nowhere & I never said as much… This era has produced the Top 3 Champions in history & being a witness to something this Great, has been & is a privilege that I will always cherish as a Sports Fan!

I agree also Scoop that Connors & Aggassi along with Rafa are the GGOAT (Greatest Grinders of All Time)… Connors played with a similar maximum energy & effort on every point FURY as Rafa; rarely if ever not going to retrieve every ball… Agassi bludgeoned the ball from the baseline on every point too… Admirable to watch guys grind to the max but it comes with a price physically… It’s like the bruising-style RB who puts in a few top seasons but my ages 30-32, their body can’t withstand any more carries due to the heavy contact they absorb… Marshawn Lynch & Earl Campbell for example… Another example would be the brawling type Mexican blood & guts warriors in Boxing… Their reigns at the Top as World Champions usually aren’t meant for longevity due the toll that the give & take punishment from the pocket style brings… Thrilling to watch as a Fan but you have to enjoy it while you can… Guys like Israel Vazquez, Rafael Marquez, Erik Morales & soon Francisco Vargas only have so many toe-to-toe ring wars in them!

Connors was blue collar also which is why we was Adored in certain places, especially NYC for the US Open… Those who work hard for everything they earn always are loved… Arturo Gatti won fights with his will & heart – which made him heroic in the ring!

Still repeating this horsesh$t all these years later:

“…the US Open QF night match with Roddick where they had a near physical confrontation in the locker room after and Roddick bullied and verbally abused Djokovic and made him cry”

Scoop, before you cast your Trump vote remember the blowhard has said he’ll weaken the libel laws.

@CS3 “Connors was blue collar also which is why we was Adored in certain places, especially NYC for the US Open”

In no way, shape or form was Connors adored in NYC — he was not liked at all — until very late in his career. Even Jmac eventually managed to get 2 or 3 fans, on a good day.

Also it’s absurd to suggest either the West Side Tennis Club of all places or the Corporate crowd at the USTA National Tennis Center adored players perceived as “blue collar.”