It's unlikely but not impossible. He could still beat anybody on tour on his day, except Novak. As long as he doesn't face him, he's got a chance at any tournament. Especially on hard and grass.
Tennis 2016
- Thread starter saivet
- Start date
I hope Murray's taking lots of notes of Novak's weak points from this match.
Taint his legacy would be harsh and unfair - he's cruising to SFs of grand slams at 34 we probably should be adding it to his legacy. Sadly humiliations like tend to stick long in the memory.
Heh, thought this started at half 9... Think I'll give it a miss.
How? He still enjoys playing, and making later rounds of Slams at his age is wonderful.
Novak is destroying pretty much everyone, not just Fed.
Does Djokovic ever use slices? It's pretty amazing how he gets his backhand on top of so many balls. There's nobody on the tour even close to him in that regard.
There's just one man better than him, and still should retire?
Welcome to this semi final Fed, 4-2 up.
If I had a million pounds, I would put it on Djoko to break straight back!!
Good thing you don't have it!
Haha and yes I would be a very poor man now!!
Đoković can't make a mistake with challenge. Federer complete opposite!
Desperation. One challenges as he genuinely saw it's out, the other hopes. I know how that feels.
Now lets see if Federer can take it to a fifth or whether he'll have grabbed his consolation set and crumple in the fourth as has been the case lately vs Djoko.
An early break for Djoko now and an easy cruise to win the fourth if it's the usual scenario between these two.
An early break for Djoko now and an easy cruise to win the fourth if it's the usual scenario between these two.
Unfortunate for Roger. That point where the ball hit the top of the net and went over Federer's racquet turned the momentum completely.
Federer losing the 4th is fine. He lost that in a not too dissimilar fashion to how he won the 3rd. It's the first two that were inexplicable. As well djokovic played federer was dozing away. You dont turn up for 2 sets against the no.1 and you lose.
He could be on 11 slams by monday. If he has another two or three years playing at around this level he will break Federer's record. Amazing considering he only started to truly amass slams in his mid twenties.
it's amazing that Djokovic will most likely have better head to head against Nadal and Fed and the end of his career. I still think Murray is tougher opponent for him than Fed because he can take him to fifth set.
Scrap that. Didnt know federer had 17 instead of 16 grand slams. Tough task. Djokovic will at least equal Sampras but that will be it. Age against him.
Novak will go down as the GOAT. His career isn't as storied as Nadal's or as Federer's but his brutal domination is just too hard to look past.
Djokovic will benefit massively from the fact that unlike Rafa with Roger and Djoker with Rafa there is no one ready to take over when his game starts to go down. Djokovic can play 50% of his current level and still beat most of the generation coming up. The fact that Rafa despite having one of the worst years of his career still managed to finish 5th in the world and ahead of all the players from the next generation is a really bad sign for the ATP
was it ever any different for all time greats? Agassi was playing GS final at the age of 35.
Pretty much went as expected, but the first two sets were a little more one sided than I thought. Fed just makes too many errors against Djokovic. It's frustrating because if you stick Berdych or whoever at the other side of the net then those forehand or backhand shots don't go into the net or long.
Impressive performance from Djokovic though, obviously the very heavy favourite. Don't see anyone beating him. Whoever said Federer should retire is wrong. Djokovic lost six times last season, three of those to Federer! Why should the guy who can beat him more than anyone else retire? Anything he achieves at this stage of his career is just a bonus. The fact that a 34 year old is Djokovic's closest competition says a lot about the rest of the tour. They need to step it up.
Impressive performance from Djokovic though, obviously the very heavy favourite. Don't see anyone beating him. Whoever said Federer should retire is wrong. Djokovic lost six times last season, three of those to Federer! Why should the guy who can beat him more than anyone else retire? Anything he achieves at this stage of his career is just a bonus. The fact that a 34 year old is Djokovic's closest competition says a lot about the rest of the tour. They need to step it up.
Not impossible, but I'd be very surprised if his current level of consistently making it so far in every GS will continue for that long. He's 34, and the level can nose-dive at any point over the next 1/2 years. On top of that, I'd also be surprised if the men's field remains so poor. So while he's doing so well to remain as fit as he is and come close in every slam, the longer he doesn't make it count the more impossible it will get.
The real sad thing is that the guy who could (and would) have been challenging Djokovic has had his career stopped by injuries.
With regards to Djokovic catching Federer's 17 Grand Slam's, it will obviously be very hard, but he's got a great chance right now to wrack them up given how poor the competition is. His best competition is a 34 year old which says it all. He needs to make 28 to 30 really really count.
But Djokovic genuinely worked his way up in a tennis world that was dominated by Federer and Nadal. There is maybe an argument for Federer dropping off due to age at one point but he did what the Swiss could not do, beat the shit out of Nadal when he was still at his best (basically turning the tables and make Nadal feel how Federer feels vs him).
Federer also benefited from an era where Andy Roddick and Safin were his closest competitors. One has an average top level for a former world no. 1 and the other is an inconsistent psycho.
My point wasn't about the greats though, it's about the fact that when these greats were doing well there were young players coming up who were going to replace them, there were Hewitt and Roddick competing well and a young Roger Federer coming up but that isn't the case at the moment with the current crop of players aged 21-26.
Oh absolutely, I wasn't trying to put down Djokovic or his achievements. Just talking in general about the future. I remember after Djokovic beat Rafa at RG last year that he could genuinely win everything for the next 2-3 years but somehow Stan stopped him though he is still on course to clean up everything over this period
He could just fall away in a year or so though and his tennis is very demanding on the mind and body. To maintain this level in the latter stages of your career requires a mammoth feat of mental and physical strength. We have seen a sudden decline of many top players in their late twenties.
I doubt he can win maintain this three grand slams a year average for the coming two or so years which he needs to beat Federer.
Nadal's game is essentially built to beat Federer. It is virtually impossible for Fed to beat Nadal, there was nothing he could really do to change that. On the other hand Djokovic's game is built very well to beat Rafa. It's just the way the match-ups worked, I don't place a lot in the idea that there is genuine difference in quality between them.
Federer would have a far better H2H against Djokovic if he started doing a Nadal and going out earlier in slams.
He'll probably keep making semis and finals for the next year and half and end up 8 behind in the H2H.
He'll probably keep making semis and finals for the next year and half and end up 8 behind in the H2H.
Federer would have a far better H2H against Djokovic if he started doing a Nadal and going out earlier in slams.
He'll probably keep making semis and finals for the next year and half and end up 8 behind in the H2H.
Yet he still had a terrible h2h against Rafa
I don't expect him to surpass 17, but this his time to make it count really.
What's happened has been pretty natural. The torch passed from Federer to Nadal to Djokovic, with Federer now maintaining his fitness and level at the age of 34 to make it appear as though we presently have a proper rivalry (we don't). The only anomaly there is that Nadal's game is completely suited to exploit Federer's weaknesses whereas every other match up is a good one.
Federer? That's more down to playstyle. Nadal's topspin and high bounce is wonderfully suited to exploit Federer's single-hander.
This. Not to mention they met on clay a lot, where Rafa is the GOAT.
Nobody believes in Murray anymore, eh? He is the number 2, after all.
Not in his current form. If he was at his best and played a game similar to the one Simon played against Djokovic I think he could win though.