In this week’s edition of the Changeover Podcast, Brodie of Mind the Racket, Lindsay and Juan José recap the second week of the US Open. They rave about both the men’s and women’s final, touch on the flourishing rivalry between Serena and Azarenka, Rafael Nadal’s incredible season, Flavia Pennetta’s amazing run, Andy Murray’s disappointing performance in Flushing Meadows, try to figure out what’s up with Novak Djokovic, and much, much more.
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Another winner for USO should be Andrea Hlavackova. She won the mixed title with Max Mirnyi and the doubles title with Lucie Hradecka. First player to win both since Cara Black to win USO in 2008. Then, she and Hradecka won their first round match in Quebec City.
Djokovic’s dominant year of 2011 and Federer’s reign have something in common along with all dominance in sports. They both existed because their level of tennis defied the steady overall curve of progression. They both ended when others played catch up-esp Nadal but also Murray,Del Potro etc.
Imho Federer’s long reign as the goat was due to the fact that he was able to continuosly implement his revolutionary brand of tennis-it seemed he’d introduce a new shot every Grand Slam. But to say that the 26 year old Federer who lost his no.1 ranking was not playing as well as before-eg ‘not hitting the ball as hard’ is simply not true. Just as the Djokovic of today is not as good as the 2011 Djokovic is also false.
The Nadal and Djokovic of today would have no problem beating the Nadal and Djokovic of 2011. If either travelled back in time they’d have excellent chances to win the calendar slam in 2011. For example Djokovic of today would have very few problems claiming RG in 2011. Imagine Wawrinka going back to 2011. Imo he’d have great chances to win a slam.
2011 was 2 years ago. Eons ago. Tennis evolves and evolves faster than ever-and not just around the rivalries of the top 2. Every upset of a top player revolutionizes tennis-Del Potro upsetting Federer in the Us Open had a huge impact on Djokovic’s game and the rest of the ATP just as Soderling’s upset of Nadal. In fact DelPotro and Soderling raised the bar in terms of power for the 2-handers of the ATP. Leave it to Djokovic and Nadal to capitalize and disseminate it.
2011 is what it is and not more-a dominant year for Djokovic. He was a clear cut above the rest including Nadal who was 2nd best. Since then in terms of progress most everyone(at least most players) have moved on including Djokovic himself.
Lets not forget that in the Grand Slams Djokovic is the most consistent of 2013. Besides winning Aussie, he was inches away from claiming RG, and he was there in the finals of the other 2. Sure its very frustrating and he’s taken quite a mental beating not winning at least 1 of the 3 remaining slams coming so close-but to say that he’s gone down since 2011 is taking away credit from the opponents he’s had to face(Murray,Nadal,Dimitrov esp) and also himself. Too bad he doesn’t seem to know any better-clinging on to his Monte Carlo and his 2011. Thats a trap to plateau right there set up inadvertently by his critics,his fans etc. Consciously set up by his rivals I might add.
You might even go so far as to say that there’s a certain pettiness to his rivalries because he doesn’t compete for more. He’s not a true contender when it comes to rivalries-he’s proven he can do it with a superior game and superior game plan. But then again who can’t? He’s arguably the most talented player of the ATP. Noone can take that away from him. But he’s not the type of fighter who can rise again from down under like like Batman. Or he has yet to prove so-to make that climb a 2nd time.
As a sidenote I have suspicions his diet in the long run actually does some harm to his game in terms of long-term mental focus. Ofcourse I could be way off-what do I know of dieting lol. Does low blood sugar level affecting concentration? Thats what it seems like to me.
On the one hand I can only imagine what its like to face the pressures of playing Rafa in a 5 setter but then again some of Djokovic’s unforced errors seem way-off…whacky…put away shots at the net consistently hit out which is unaccpetable for the no 1. In the last set of Roland Garros is more undersantdable but this time around in the US Open-much worse let alone in Wimbledon vs Murray. He could take some sugarpova in between games to boost his concentration levels. I’m sure it would’ve helped him in the Wimbledon finals. He looked like he was baking out there.