That aint **** haha. Just kidding, felt like saying that, but anyway, how about when MJ had the flu, was given Gatorlode instead of Gatorade, and still went out and dropped, what like 37 points?
More Arrogance from the Quitter Djokovic
- Thread starter Blue Drop
- Start date
That aint **** haha. Just kidding, felt like saying that, but anyway, how about when MJ had the flu, was given Gatorlode instead of Gatorade, and still went out and dropped, what like 37 points?
Leublu tennis
Legend
Thank you for this clip. You really should listen to it again. What he says about the Brits is that kids grow up being spoiled. They have everything, so they are not hungry for achievement. Thats probably true, it certainly is true about the US kids. But the whole interview was a very interesting reasoned analysis of his career, nice words about Federer and Murray, and professional tennis as such. A great interview. Look at it again, please.
dr325i
G.O.A.T.
Do you believe someone can win 12 Grand Slams in 4 years and make it to like 25+ straight finals?
If it's so unbeliveable, why would he make up that he had mono?He might as well say that he lost to Djokovic at the AO because he had a massive heart attack at the end of the 1st set. :roll:
Do you even know what mono is? DO you know what are the possible consequences of playing infected by it a the pro level?
Don't write such a childish replies without knowing the background on the issue.
People react to different things in a different way. Djoko may be bothered by a little caugh because his lungs as we all know are more sensitive. He also is not up there mentally where more experienced Fed is. We also know that Nadal would continue playing with his led broken in 3 pieces... We also know that Pete would beat the exhaustion and continue playing...
We also know that none of those heroes went through the hell childhood to get where they are, so that may be playing an emotional role for the rest of their lives...
What Novak said about British tennis players is exactly the same type of comment Fed said after getting his ass kicked by Murray a few weeks back. So what?
As a brit I'm afraid I have to agree with Djokovic here. The fact that some of our juiniors turned up for practice WITHOUT A RAQUET disgusts me. They are given this amazing opportunity to one day play for their country and really go somewhere and they simply throw the opportunity back in the faces of the very people who are backing them. Many of the good players are now coming from eastern europe - when we should be having a decent quota from the UK as well. As Macenro said - I think it was last years Wimbledon- players in the uk are just not hungry enough - maybe they are having it too easy.
zagor
Bionic Poster
I think I even remember Henman recently saying something similar to what Djokovic just said but I think it's never that simple.I don't think you can just point at one thing and say that is the reason Brits don't have more top players,I think it's always multiple factors.With all that said you did have Henman who was a very good player and now you have Andy Murray who certainly has a lot of potential so I don't think it's all that black.I think Murray has a potential to be a slam winner in the future.Reaching 8th place in the world and having a winning record against Federer are very good accomplishments by his age,he is on the right track.
slice bh compliment
G.O.A.T.
Yes, I remember those comments, too, but Timbo never had this kind of comedic timing.
zagor
Bionic Poster
Haha,yeah the timing was definitely bad with that lame move he pulled on Roger in Monte Carlo but I still agree with what he said about Brits and Murray.
One would think if Novak was used to bad conditions, he wouldn't quit because of a sore throat. Maybe that proves even more what a mentally weak competitor he really is. And its not this was a one time thing. He has been accused of faking injuries in the past when he's losing. I think we all know the real reason for retiring that match, and it is far more mental than it is physical.
Yes we HAD Henman but that was yesterday - I was looking to the future of tennis as a whole - Henman was also one of the old school - he understood the discipline - regardless of the fact he never really won Wimbledon - he still carried on. But it is also very sad when we hear that our no 1, Murray, has to take directives from Djokovic regarding how he should approach a match i.e with more fighting spirit - why shouldn't he have come to this conclusion himself?
British sport still suffers from an issue with class. Someone mentioned the emergence of young footballers, yet few footballers with middle class backgrounds make it. Sports in the UK can almost be categorised by the social classes of their participants.
Middle class parents don't take sport seriously as a career choice for their children as the odds remain stacked against their kid making it as a pro, while business is always gonna need solicitors, people are always gonna need doctors, so there are far more well-paid jobs available through the professions.
Tennis is unashamedly middle class in the UK. To really take it seriously you need to be a member of a club, and that doesn't come cheap. There are precious few communal tennis courts in towns and cities, and finding coaching is often ridiculously difficult. To play football, you need a couple of jumpers for goalposts, a football and a few friends, the cost is so negligible that it becomes a part of growing up.
The other issue is that clubs and organisations in the UK (and it's not restricted to sport) have become obsessed with profit margins and funding. The top sports clubs, like Manchester United, now buy in established foreign stars and neglect the quality development of their home-grown youngsters, with the result in football that the clubs do well at the expense of the national team. Who can claim this is different in tennis, when the LTA naturalise Rusedski (remember he was fairly highly ranked before Henman's emergence, when the top British tennis player would have struggled to make the top 100), and discuss the option with Djokovic?
Middle class parents don't take sport seriously as a career choice for their children as the odds remain stacked against their kid making it as a pro, while business is always gonna need solicitors, people are always gonna need doctors, so there are far more well-paid jobs available through the professions.
Tennis is unashamedly middle class in the UK. To really take it seriously you need to be a member of a club, and that doesn't come cheap. There are precious few communal tennis courts in towns and cities, and finding coaching is often ridiculously difficult. To play football, you need a couple of jumpers for goalposts, a football and a few friends, the cost is so negligible that it becomes a part of growing up.
The other issue is that clubs and organisations in the UK (and it's not restricted to sport) have become obsessed with profit margins and funding. The top sports clubs, like Manchester United, now buy in established foreign stars and neglect the quality development of their home-grown youngsters, with the result in football that the clubs do well at the expense of the national team. Who can claim this is different in tennis, when the LTA naturalise Rusedski (remember he was fairly highly ranked before Henman's emergence, when the top British tennis player would have struggled to make the top 100), and discuss the option with Djokovic?
dr325i
G.O.A.T.
Accused by WHO??? You???
WHo gives the rat's *** what you (and like you) accused him of?
I don't think you/we really know what the real reason is...
zagor
Bionic Poster
I don't think that Novak is a mentally weak competitor,far from it.Just remember his matches against Bagdathis and Hewitt last year in Wimbledon,against Stepanek at USO,Patience at FO etc,both his tiebreak and five-set records are very good.In my opinion what happened here was that he was simply losing to a guy whom he already "dethroned" in his mind and his ego and that of his parents couldn't stomach a loss to Federer(after all the crap they said about him like "The King is dead","Novak will never lose to Federer again" etc.)so he retired in order to deny Roger the satisfaction of a legitimate win which was a very lame move in my opinion.In my opinion It has much more to do with his overinflated ego and lack of class than with his mental strentgth which is in my opinion up there with Roddick's and only behind Nadal's and Federer's.
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slice bh compliment
G.O.A.T.
He has great mental strength. It's the emotional weakness that showed. If things are close, he shows no fear and brings his best stuff. If he has been outplayed or if he has not brought his best stuff and he's about to lose ... that's a different story emotionally. Psychosomatic attic insane...sore throat, whatever floats his boat?
gj011
Banned
You obviously can read Novak's mind, since you know for sure why he retired.
Anyway this whole thread is bunch of BS and failed attempt from couple of fed trolls, to stir some more controversy about Novak. Fortunately most of the people see this interview as what it is.
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zagor
Bionic Poster
I never said that my opinion is a fact,that's just the way things looked to me.As for this interview Novak gave I see nothing arrogant about it as well.
gj011
Banned
Djokovicfan4life
Legend
Read the whole interview, not just the bad like I suspect you did:
(Djokovic, however, insists Murray - a close friend and rival of his from their junior days - can never be described as spoiled.
And he also expects the Scot, who was developed outside of the British system, to join him in the top five sooner, rather than later.
"He has enough quality, enough talent, and enough potential to be a top-five player, and everybody expects him to do that," Djokovic explained.
"But obviously he has so much pressure on him because Great Britain needs a champion, badly, and a Wimbledon champion especially, so they expect him to do that in the next couple of years, and obviously that creates some pressure.
"But, throughout his entire career, he's been mentally a very strong player, so I can expect that he's going to come fast to the top five.")
(Djokovic, however, insists Murray - a close friend and rival of his from their junior days - can never be described as spoiled.
And he also expects the Scot, who was developed outside of the British system, to join him in the top five sooner, rather than later.
"He has enough quality, enough talent, and enough potential to be a top-five player, and everybody expects him to do that," Djokovic explained.
"But obviously he has so much pressure on him because Great Britain needs a champion, badly, and a Wimbledon champion especially, so they expect him to do that in the next couple of years, and obviously that creates some pressure.
"But, throughout his entire career, he's been mentally a very strong player, so I can expect that he's going to come fast to the top five.")
If he can't emotionally handle the loss then he is mentally weak.
Djokovicfan4life
Legend
They can be two completely different things and I suspect that you know that.
There's a HUGE difference between mental strength like, say, serving an ace down 30-40 and emotional stress from personal issues.
I think it was the breathing that got to him, myself, but it's impossible to know for sure unless your name is Novak Djokovic.
ksbh
Banned
Against Mardy Fish in the Indian Wells final, Djokovic served 3 consecutive aces when down 0-40 on serve. I haven't seen any mentally weak player do that. I haven't seen any of them win grand slams either!
slice bh compliment
G.O.A.T.
Well yeah obviously mental and emotional components are inexorably linked. I'm just saying there are fine lines within. He's good at dealing with some kinds of pressure and making shots, and bad at dealing with others (like losing)......and he's still very young. I hope he grows out of this. And I hope his widdle thwoat feews bettew.
I can't distinguish his emotional issues from mental strength because its all part of the mental part of his game. If he didn't quit there is a chance he could've come back and won. Instead he gave up and that is a sign of weakness. Call it what you want.
tangerine
Professional
I think Richard Gasquet retired from a match with a sore throat sometime last year (sorry, can't remember what tournament).
The baby balls (Murray, Gasquet, Djokovic) are turning out to be a bunch of wussies, eh?
It's not random, Djokovic sat down for an interview with the BBC recently and they asked him about Murray and British tennis.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tv_and_radio/inside_sport/7374188.stm
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BreakPoint
Bionic Poster
That's EXACTLY why Federer wouldn't make up the fact that he had mono. It would be akin to him saying that he had a heart attack. No one would believe him unless it was true.
He played the AO because he didn't know he had mono. The doctors in Australian mis-diagnosed it as food poisoning. Had Federer or his doctors known he had mono, he wouldn't have played at all. The fact that he did play and still got to the semis is a testament to what an incredible athlete and physical specimen he is.
SempreSami
Hall of Fame
TC in only reading headline shocka.
el sergento
Hall of Fame
Starting fires are we?? Now I'm going to have that song stuck in my head all day, thanks!
ksbh
Banned
No, it means that either-
1. He is super human, or
2. He didn't have mono
Now obviously, he's no super human. So therefore, there can be no other conclusion ... he didn't have mono. It can be embarassing to get spanked by the same player, a certain Spaniard, time and time again. So at this point, I don't mind him using that as an excuse though!
Some players complain of a sore throat and withdraw in the middle of a match and some players just attribute their loss to mono!
1. He is super human, or
2. He didn't have mono
Now obviously, he's no super human. So therefore, there can be no other conclusion ... he didn't have mono. It can be embarassing to get spanked by the same player, a certain Spaniard, time and time again. So at this point, I don't mind him using that as an excuse though!
Some players complain of a sore throat and withdraw in the middle of a match and some players just attribute their loss to mono!
slice bh compliment
G.O.A.T.
el sergento
Hall of Fame
[shaking fists] Damn you!!!! ;-)
BreakPoint
Bionic Poster
Winning 12 Grand Slams in 4 years, winning 24 straight finals in a row, and losing an average of only 5 matches per year? If that's not "super human", I don't know what is!No, it means that either-
1. He is super human, or
2. He didn't have mono
Now obviously, he's no super human. So therefore, there can be no other conclusion ... he didn't have mono. It can be embarassing to get spanked by the same player, a certain Spaniard, time and time again. So at this point, I don't mind him using that as an excuse though!
Some players complain of a sore throat and withdraw in the middle of a match and some players just attribute their loss to mono!
We've all made mistakes in our lives. I think that it was a mistake to retire from this match or other matches where it seemed like it was more emotional distress than anything else. However, since he's famous, he's under the microscope at all times. I'll bet most of us have had moments in our lives that are far worse than quitting a tennis match or dramatic injury time-outs. The only difference is that they're not videotaped...usually! He's 20, a millionaire, famous, and very, very good at what he does for a living. If I were him, I might have a distorted perspective under these conditions too. Granted that's not an excuse to act badly but it'd be an oversimplification to say that anyone is 100% quitter, jerk, egomaniac, etc. I wouldn't want to be discribed as a quitter although I've probably given up when I shouldn't have. I wouldn't want to be discribed as a jerk even though I've occasionally said things that make me sound arrogant and insensitive. I wouldn't want to be discribed as an egomaniac even though I've probably been a little too proud of my accomplishments at times.
doctor dennis
Semi-Pro
I saw the interview on the beeb and i agree with Djokovic. He isn`t the first to say it. I even heard John Lloyd say it to some degree in an interview a few years back. When the Russians started spouting top players from all angles he commented that "we (British) aren`t hungry enough like other countries and simply hand out grants to players for fun which makes some of our top juniors lazy." Whereas in the likes of Serbia and Russia for example, the top junior players generally have to leave their home to go to a completely different country to pursue a tennis career. It seems like thet have more desire.
Just my opinion.
Just my opinion.
ksbh
Banned
http://www.insidetennis.com/0508_federer.html
Roger Federer thinks Novak is mentally strong, so if you won't believe him then who will you believe?
Roger Federer thinks Novak is mentally strong, so if you won't believe him then who will you believe?
Djokovicfan4life
Legend
Haha, just saw that a few hours ago; and this coming from someone who supposedly hates Djokovic. It's just tennis guys, we don't always have to have a little soup opera going on behind the scenes.
The balls in your court.
Banned
Yes he did. He just got beat. And prior to the mono it was blisters, wind, noise, not playing well , bla bla bla..... But at least fed did finish .
BreakPoint
Bionic Poster
BreakPoint
Bionic Poster
At least Federer doesn't use a bad haircut as an excuse like Djokovic does. :shock:
BTW, when you hardly ever lose, the media pressures you for a reason for why you lost. "Not playing well" is a legitimate reason because everyone knows that when he plays well that he's unbeatable. He has to tell the press something that they can actually believe.
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
HAHA!!!! rotfl ! Get weww thoon, Novak!
I think Novak's gotten off on the wrong foot with a lot of peeps. No one's giving him a chance. I saw him in the USO against Radek in that epic 5 setter. Yes, I was rooting for him. I wouldn't call him weak and a quitter. I would give him benefit of doubt, or believe him just the way I've believed in what Fed has said.
Or maybe most of us are already die-hard Fed/Nadal fans, and we can't stand a 3rd person crashing into the party ?
I don't know what the real reason is, but I have NOT seen a plausible reason for people calling Novak arrogant, or a quitter or lacking heart.
I also would rather watch Djoko playing that almost all others players (of course not as much as Federer - hehe).
zagor
Bionic Poster
I wouldn't call him mentally weak or lacking heart either,I've seen him win far too many close matches to think that.I believe that in the mental toughness department he is only behind Nadal and Federer.What he did was IMO immature and unsportmanlike,similar to what Henin(my favourite player on WTA) did to Mauresmo in AO final but what most people seem to forget is that he is still very young and will probably mature in the future,distancing himself a little from his parents's influence wouldn't hurt either.
The balls in your court.
Banned
That's because girly boy Fed pays $800 dollars for his pretty little haircut ( and that's a fact).
And "not playing well" is an excuse that teenagers use after every loss. Roger is the biggest sore loser in the world. Fed has an excuse for every loss. But his loss to novak at the ao brought him to an all time excuse low. At least novak has the decency to make his excuses look real by quitting.
zagor
Bionic Poster
Federer biggest sore loser in the world? Not even close.Yes he gave excuses sometimes after a loss(like every player did and yes that includes even Nadal) but most of the time he gave credit to his opponent for playing great tennis to beat him.For example after losing to Mardy Fish he only talked about how great Fish player and didn't use any excuse,after he lost to Roddick this year in Miami he offered no excuses as well,also after his loss to Gonzo last year at Masters Cup etc. Excuse for every loss? No,don't let your obvious dislike for Federer cloud your judgement.Also using decency and quitting in the same sentence? I don't know about you but I have bigger respect for players that fight until the end no matter what(like Sampras,Hewitt,Chang,Nadal,Federer,Courier,Connors etc.),I guess we have different standards.
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
what's a fact ? "girly boy" or "$800 dollars" or even "pays".
He paid 800 ONCE for a haircut, so even "pays" is not a fact. And even if it is, does it mean everything else you said along side (girly boy) is a fact, too.
The ball will always be in your court!
The balls in your court.
Banned
People in glass houses should not throw stones . You talked about novaks haircut...... So I think it was fair game to talk about Feds hairccut.
You sure can dish it out pretty well but you you can't take it very well at all.
BreakPoint
Bionic Poster
So maybe Djokovic should also get $800 haircuts so that he can't use a bad haircut as an excuse for quitting!
A sore throat is a "real excuse" for quitting?
How about a pimple on his nose? Is that also a "real excuse" for quitting? :roll:
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
Agree with you, zagor. We cannot expect perfect behavior from sportspersons. A little leeway should be given, within limits of course. And I think Novak is well within limits.
Ball in court, it looks like you have registered only to post anti-Fed messages. You'll soon find yourself being on everyone's ignore list. Just giving you some friendly feedback.
Ball in court, it looks like you have registered only to post anti-Fed messages. You'll soon find yourself being on everyone's ignore list. Just giving you some friendly feedback.
Two observations:
1) Djokovic didn't say anything wrong in the interview. In fact, he made a lot of sense. His comments on the state of British tennis have nothing to do with his injury time-outs and retirements on the court so I don't see why anyone should make a big fuss.
2) Federer is universally respected by his peers, more so than almost any other champion in recent memory. He consistently gives credit to his opponents and by all accounts is a humble champion who gives back more to the game than any other recent #1. He's a guy who does wonderful charity work (like Roddick and Agassi), actually physically participating in his work and not just giving money. I'm surprised that some people can find reason to attack him as a person. I've heard a lot of cockamamy ideas on this board, but the idea that he faked being very sick with mono (when he clearly appeared gaunt and ill to any objective person) because he lost a single match rises to the top.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, these boards are full of biased posters, little kids (and people who act like them) and others who simply know very little about tennis (and seemingly have no desire to learn about it).
1) Djokovic didn't say anything wrong in the interview. In fact, he made a lot of sense. His comments on the state of British tennis have nothing to do with his injury time-outs and retirements on the court so I don't see why anyone should make a big fuss.
2) Federer is universally respected by his peers, more so than almost any other champion in recent memory. He consistently gives credit to his opponents and by all accounts is a humble champion who gives back more to the game than any other recent #1. He's a guy who does wonderful charity work (like Roddick and Agassi), actually physically participating in his work and not just giving money. I'm surprised that some people can find reason to attack him as a person. I've heard a lot of cockamamy ideas on this board, but the idea that he faked being very sick with mono (when he clearly appeared gaunt and ill to any objective person) because he lost a single match rises to the top.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, these boards are full of biased posters, little kids (and people who act like them) and others who simply know very little about tennis (and seemingly have no desire to learn about it).
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