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Sep/16

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Wawrinka is blasting Djokovic again

unnamedDjokovic is three games away from second place again to Stan Wawrinka after winning the first set -It’s clear that Wawrinka is stronger and fitter than Djokovic and his defense is actually better if not quite as aesthetic – I’m shocked at how many long physical points Wawrinka plays and he’s never tired after – Djokovic hasn’t given up but he’s down two sets to one and 0-3 in the fourth – The fat lady is in the green room and ready to take the stage —

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33 comments

  • Dan Markowitz · September 11, 2016 at 8:30 pm

    It’s the Stanimal! Unbelievable. That backhand down the line and his movement are amazing. I want to go to Sweden and visit my good friend Magnus Norman (I went to London to do an article on Magnus for Tennis Magazine then happened to be in Stockholm a week later and bumped into Magnus outside a tennis club there–really nice guy) and see what kind of amazing academy he has there.

  • Dan Markowitz · September 11, 2016 at 8:32 pm

    Djoko is now a very pedestrian 12-10 in slam finals. Can you be in the running for the GOAT with little more than a 500 record in slams?

    If Djoko had won, what would’ve been the opinion of him taking not one but two injury timeouts for an injured toe?

  • Thomas Tung · September 11, 2016 at 8:45 pm

    Yeah, Iron Stan too tough for the Joker in the end.

    BTW, was that a toenail ripping off Novak’s foot there, during the medical timeouts?

  • Thomas Tung · September 11, 2016 at 9:14 pm

    And this was a hilarious ending to a fun final:

    “We’d like to welcome those of you who watched Stan Wawrinka defeat … (crickets chirping) … Djovak Nokavic …”

    https://twitter.com/MRisingStar18/status/775131580515905540

  • Dan Markowitz · September 12, 2016 at 3:38 am

    Hello! As Pat Mac likes to say. Are you kidding me? Wawa becomes the oldest US Open champ since Ken Rosewall in 1970. He spent twice as much time on the court compared to Djoko and yet still was the man who didn’t call for two injury time outs at the end of the match and looked the fresher of the two. We haven’t heard of any gluten-free diets from Stan or hyperbolic chambers, how does he do it? Incredible. He’s now won twice as many slams over 30 than his compatriot, Federer. The fact that two Swiss in this generation have won multiple slams when a Swiss male had never won a slam before is also mind-boggling, and both of those players have one-handers.

    Djoko, what can you say, the fake injury time outs at the end of the match are a big reason why the guy is not universally liked. Stan was pissed. He yelled out before the first one, “Not before my serve!” But Djoko couldn’t unravel the Stanimal. After playing doormat Monfils in the previous round, he hit a rock in Wawa. Now Djoko’s quest to break Fed’s record of 18 slams is in serious jeopardy. He’s going to have to win 4 of the next 8 slams and then he’ll be on the cusp os being 32 with 16 slams won and we’ll see if he can eke out another slam or two at 32-33.

  • catherine bell · September 12, 2016 at 4:02 am

    This is irrelevant to the match action but I just have to say that over this year’s big events, including Olympics, I’ve never in my life seen so many men on tennis courts hugging each other and/or crying at the end.

    Many of the women players often seem positively frosty in comparison. Inhibited almost.

    Intriguing. 🙂

  • Dan Markowitz · September 12, 2016 at 7:19 am

    Better rivalries in men’s tennis than women’s. There are no rivalries in women’s tennis these days so less of a reason to hug your opponent out of respect after the match.

  • catherine bell · September 12, 2016 at 7:39 am

    You could be right Dan.

    But I’d also say men are more relaxed about showing emotion publicly than was the case 20 plus years ago.

    (Venus and Serena hug but you can understand that – lots of feeling around when they play each other)

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 12, 2016 at 8:46 am

    Great final – Wawrinka is just too big and strong for Djokovic -we saw it before and we just saw it again: When Stan gets in that zone he is too much for Djokovic – And something about Djokovic’s game seems to suit Stan perfectly because it brings out his best tennis -How Stan is 3-0 in major finals with all three wins coming vs standing world no 1s is a stat that may never ever be equaled – Stan has also won his last eleven finals – right now I have to rate Stan’s career as more impressive than Andy’s – Rafa made Fed look helpless- Djokovic did that to Rafa – now we see that Stan is the kryptonite for Djokovic – every great player has his kryptonite – Not sure who would rate as Sampras’ kryptonite perhaps Hewitt –

  • catherine bell · September 12, 2016 at 9:10 am

    McEnroe’s kryptonite – Lendl ?

    Borg’s kryptonite – McEnroe ?

    Good game to play.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 12, 2016 at 9:32 am

    Graf’s K -Seles / Hingis K – Davenport and William’s

  • Andrew Miller · September 12, 2016 at 11:36 am

    Wawrinka torpedoes “big four” mythology again. Torpedoes Djokovic’s “best ever” mystique for third time in three years (2014 Australian, 2015 French, 2016 US Open). Pro tennis may even return to its “any given day” promise, rather than 11 years now of four players’ dominance interrupted by a few memorable, incredible upsets. Because Wawrinka decided his fate’s on his racquet, we can all thank him for saving the sport.

    His coach too. Maybe a small mention to Donna Vekic for going postal on him when Dan was in the house.

  • Andrew Miller · September 12, 2016 at 11:48 am

    Murray’s great with Lendl. Without him=nice career. With him=big 4 label. But if Wawrinka writes another chapter to his own career, I think the big four thing falls apart.

    It already is in its last throes.

    I’m not saying this because I want to see the big four cartel broken – I say it because it’s already morphed into something else.

    Injuries and low confidence have sunk Nadal the champion; old age is catching up with Federer despite his ability to keep putting up big, not huge, results; Djokovic upset his lady and has not sealed much of any deal outside of a nice summer Masters run (it’s not much for Djokovic but it’s still a hiccup); and Murray’s huge feat this US Open, after lucking out in facing Raonic at Wimbledon for his second Wimbledon title, was beating up on his practice partner Dimitrov.

    As they say in the biz, what have you done for me lately. If all you can do is put on a sterling show by bullying around one of your buddies, that raises a lot of questions. I’d think Lendl might even re-think having come back, unless the money is awesome. That might be what keeps him there.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 12, 2016 at 12:52 pm

    “The Big Three” is now Andy Stan and Djokovic – Fed and Rafa have fallen out of the super group –

  • Hartt · September 12, 2016 at 12:54 pm

    I wish Lendl could get Murray to focus better on the court. It takes so little to distract Andy – spidy cam, fan’s movement, noise. OK, the gong was annoying, but he let it get to him to the extent of losing the next 7 games. This lack of focus is Andy’s Achilles heel. He keeps looking at his player’s box, wanting them to show more support or whatever is bugging him at the moment. If only he would just focus on what HE needs to do to win the match. But at this point in his career doubt if he can, or will, change.

    Rod Laver talked about just focusing on the ball, nothing but the ball, letting everything else go. If only Murray could do that I think he would have more success.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 12, 2016 at 1:07 pm

    Andy is fine when winning but he acts out when losing perhaps to try to distract the opponent and vent his frustrations – it’s too contrived to be out of control – I think it’s by design to distract and vent – tennis is “tension tension tension” as one of the players said for Facing mcenroe –

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 12, 2016 at 1:11 pm

    Did anyone notice how detached wife Jelena was? Apparently banished to the back row in the corner only talking with the one guy next to her and no spirit or apparent concern about the battle below unlike how she used to get really into it sitting in the front row – just about totally detached – would have been interesting to see if they hugged if Novak won –

  • Dan Markowitz · September 12, 2016 at 2:38 pm

    Jelena wasn’t into it, but Djoko’s main trio these days are Boris and his two thugs–oh sorry, I meant physios–and it’s really hard to say if Jelena had been more vocal and present if Djoko would’ve responded better. I was surprised to see Djoko’s parents back in the mix of the box. They’ve been banished for a while.

    Look, the whole box/entourage thing was a little embarrassing and awkward in this final. On one side, you’ve got Boris looking a little Donald Trump-ish with the dyed hair (granted Boris has much better hair than Donald) and the sour-puss mug and the rest of Djoko’s crazy family and in the other you’ve got the Swede Magnus Norman who never emotes and sitting in front of him you’ve got the 20-year-old babe, Donna Vekic, who Wawa left his wife and his five-year-old daughter for.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 12, 2016 at 6:57 pm

    Don’t leave out Winrinka’s sisters who were in the front row with Vekic and the parents and the Yonex rep and a few others. The way Jelena Ristic was so out of it and not emotionally engaged in the match like she used to be I think shows there definitely is a personal problem and it could be the root of Djokovic’s disappointing and underachieving summer. The poor wife looked like she was pushed into the back corner and nobody talked with her except that one fellow. Anna Wintour was there for the semi and was chatty with Ristic but she was not there for the final. This personal problem could have expedited the downfall of the might Djokovic.

  • catherine bell · September 13, 2016 at 2:50 am

    Re Andy

    I suspect that’s one reason Amelie decided it was no go – she couldn’t do anything constructive about Andy’s behaviour lapses, it was affecting her too, and they both recognised that.

    Lendl used to be a good absorber of A’s tension etc but not so much at the Open apparently. Sometimes familiarity doesn’t help, the brain finds ways around a particular technique – ie: ‘you can’t fool me with that again’. 🙂

  • catherine bell · September 13, 2016 at 3:09 am

    Oh -and maybe Jelena decided not to sit bang in the public eye for that match.
    I don’t get the impression she’s stupid.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 13, 2016 at 8:26 am

    I guess Lendl saw an opening for Andy to win more majors with Djokovic slumping this summer and Fed and Rafa fading – so Lendl hopped back on the bandwagon – Andy didn’t get the job done though –

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 13, 2016 at 8:27 am

    She sat in the back for all the matches – she used to sit first row – was almost like: Girl we don’t want your drama get out of our way we all have a job to do now sit quietly in the back and don’t cause any trouble –

  • catherine bell · September 13, 2016 at 10:42 am

    Scoop –

    Don’t imagine Jelena would take any notice of what other people wanted her to do. She most likely made the decision herself – or she and Djokovic agreed together.

    Whatever – it was the right one IMO.

  • Andrew Miller · September 13, 2016 at 12:11 pm

    I am pro Ristic. Djokovic sounds like he made a dumb mistake. Despite his stupidity personally on this one I’m not going to stick a fork in him, either on his results this year or what could happen next year.

    No one else has two slam trophies on their racquet save Kerber from the women’s tour. So a lousy second half of a year is still part of a year where he joined the tour’s most elite club – owner of all four slams.

    Just that despite his on court brilliance for most of the year so far, he’s been stupid personally for whatever reason. Sometimes you can have it all and then you lose – you may lose it all, you may lose important things. Anyone can get drunk off fame & power.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 13, 2016 at 12:18 pm

    Djokovic is still far and away the world no 1 with a huge lead over Andy and Stan in the rankings so no reason to tap the panic button just yet Andrew – It’s got to be tough for Djokovic to resist all the female attention he surely is getting and going to continue to get everywhere he goes – If he had a secret affair and got caught it’s hardly a surprise – But it’s very unfortunate that such a class and beautiful woman like Jelena Ristic has to suffer this – But then again these are the prices to huge success in sports – seductive beautiful women are not easy to resist –

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 13, 2016 at 12:22 pm

    Catherine: whatever happened with the dynamics of team Djokovic it was clear that Ristic was on the outside looking in and she was detached from the team and also the matches – She looked like she would have rather been somewhere else while before in better times he was totally immersed and engaged into the match and physically exhorting her beloved on – and in some tight matches I really believed her animated awesome support made the difference like in the Aus Open SF and F’s that one year she was incredible and I said and still say she is the greatest most animated supporter of any wife or gf I have ever seen in pro tennis –

  • Dan Markowitz · September 13, 2016 at 3:13 pm

    Better than Brooke Shields!? Say it ain’t so, Scoop.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 13, 2016 at 5:55 pm

    Brooke Shields proved to be a fame digger looking to revive her dead acting career – and Agassi was her vehicle to do that –

  • Andrew Miller · September 13, 2016 at 9:25 pm

    Haven’t read Brooke Shields’ memoir. Agassi no saint, but I like him. I like the part of his book where he’s playing challengers & his wife is doing a movie shoot.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 14, 2016 at 8:08 am

    Andrew: Shields lost the plot on being the wife of Agassi – she ran off and married Hollywood and Broadway and left Andre on the tennis court –

  • Todd · September 16, 2016 at 9:33 am

    Dan – need to correct some stats you threw out. Djoker is 12-9 in GS Finals, not 12-10. Fed has 17 GS titles, not 18.

    As for the match….Stan’s raises his game as well as anyone on the biggest stages. Scoop – right on re Waw’s Def – he frustrated Djoker by getting everything back in those long rallies, and Djoker seemed to always be the first to blink. Djoker lacks the HEAVY knockout punch…whereas his usual oppents succumb to his ‘death by a 1000 cuts’ methods, Stan survives those cuts when the stakes are highest.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 16, 2016 at 9:39 am

    Todd: Would you say Stan plays better defense than Djokovic but aesthetically it just doesn’t appear to the eye to be that way? Stan and Delpo have more heft on their shots than Djokovic – These bigger stronger guys like Pouille who can motor around the court could be the blueprint for how Djokovic will be overthrown – Previously thought it would be Father Time that best Djokovic but I think this summer we learned that power will dethrone Djokovic – I find it incredible that Del Potro has been injury free below the hips – his legs are incredible but his wrist is the soft spot of this mighty Argentine gladiator –

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