HardCourtMaestro
Rookie
A part of tennis will die if Dull wins yes, but Nole win would spell end of dulls career. Dull is never winning a slam off clay again
All the pressure on Djokovic
- Thread starter Beckerserve
- Start date
Sunny014
Legend
Lol, Federer himself won slams after his reign was over and you expect these mugs to prevent Novak from winning more slams even if they win 1 slam?
LOL
Beckerserve
Legend
Novak is close to done. Nadal will outlast him as mentally he is calmer.
catskillthunder
Professional
I respect that response. The same can be said for Rafa as well, especially the FO where he is a 13 time champion for a reason. These two are the best of the best for a reason and hopefully they showcase their full abilities in their best form tomorrow and give us another instant classic.
Joker fan, but to say he does not feel pressure is crazy. Did you see the venting at the end of the match yesterday. He was about to boil over. On a serious note, which is probably a waste of time here, but it may have been Sampras who said he felt like puking before each match, and he missed that excitement. I may have the athlete wrong, but they all get nervous.
Beckerserve
Legend
Bigger for Djokovic by a mile
Kralingen
Talk Tennis Guru
I have him as the favorite at this year’s USO actually. Djokovic will sell out to win his Olympic gold medal and arrive at the USO tired and beat up
HardCourtMaestro
Rookie
Novak is close to done?! Are you mental lol? Dull is the one who’s on his VERY last legs. Nole obliterated the best HC talent in just January and still making semis of clay which by far his worst surface. Dull won’t be a factor again till next May
HardCourtMaestro
Rookie
Nah he’s not an idiot, will prioritise USO (unless gone mad)
catskillthunder
Professional
Just out of curiosity, what facts do you have to substantiate your claim that Nadal is on his "VERY last legs"
HardCourtMaestro
Rookie
Eyes lol. Awul at non clay slams. Declining at clay events (shouldn’t even have won a clay title this year, if not for epic MP chokes). He’ll challenge at rg 22 though and stat pad it again most likely
Kralingen
Talk Tennis Guru
The only match I've seen him legitimately crushed after losing is that Olympics match to DelPo. He has talked about how winning a gold for Serbia would be up there with one of the accomplishments of his career. He will definitely play the Olympics at the very least
InsideOut900
Legend
I think Novak put pressure on himself before last year's final by thinking he was cofavourite after they had a roughly similar road to the finals. (minus the number of sets dropped, but whatever).
Nadal has no problem handling the pressure in RG, even if he is the one that would be hurt the most by a loss here.
Otoh, Novak should treat this match like it's 2007 again (in regard to how he approached the match in the 2007 RG SF), so instead of thinking he is no1 in the world and could win any Slam he enters and put pressure on himself this way, he should just focus on implementing a gameplan that would give him the best shot, especially since they are much more even in level compared to 2007, where his plan was to boom 1st serves and go for broke on the 2nd and 3rd shot with the FH. He was tactically clueless in the RG 20 F and very unclutch. Work on that and you have a shot.
Nadal has no problem handling the pressure in RG, even if he is the one that would be hurt the most by a loss here.
Otoh, Novak should treat this match like it's 2007 again (in regard to how he approached the match in the 2007 RG SF), so instead of thinking he is no1 in the world and could win any Slam he enters and put pressure on himself this way, he should just focus on implementing a gameplan that would give him the best shot, especially since they are much more even in level compared to 2007, where his plan was to boom 1st serves and go for broke on the 2nd and 3rd shot with the FH. He was tactically clueless in the RG 20 F and very unclutch. Work on that and you have a shot.
No probably pretty equal, but dealing with pressure in matches they say has some baked in components as in genetically people deal with it differently. They will both be amped to the max.
daggerman
Hall of Fame
Absolutely. Everything I said about Novak is true about Rafa, too, I think.
Beckerserve
Legend
Tell me more about this as to how people deal differently. That is interesting
Beckerserve
Legend
Why so triggered. I feel pressure is on Djokovic. Djokovic fans have lost the plot on this thread lol
HardCourtMaestro
Rookie
Hmm maybe, be the wrong decision imo if gasses himself for this. Olympics is a non factor
Nadal_Django
Legend
Bud... 
catskillthunder
Professional
I had no idea we had our very own professional tennis evaluator on the forums. My apologies for not realizing who you were.
Beckerserve
Legend
Sorry who won USO last?
Nadal legs are close to done. Djokovic mentally is losing it. He will never get to 20 Majors trust me.
No you don’t.
Beckerserve
Legend
20-20-18. I rest my case.
HardCourtMaestro
Rookie
Lol, he is the still the favourite for 3 slams for another year at least..
T
TheNachoMan
Guest
LOL. The pressure is on the 13 time champion, not Novak.
I am not a DR so I don't know. I think it was a video from Essential tennis, and they were interviewing some guru about match pressure.
Has nothing to do with what was being discussed but OK.
In fact, it just undermines your point as to who is under pressure more.
Beckerserve
Legend
Lol not even 2nd fav at USO bud. He is largely a non factor there now. Last 2 years not even reached QF!!
Beckerserve
Legend
Has everything to do with it. Chasing makes the pressure that much harder.
HardCourtMaestro
Rookie
You’re trolling lol, you cannot seriously think Dull has a better chance on hard courts than the GOAT
I Am Finnish
Bionic Poster
Beckerserve
Legend
Nadal 4-3 Djokovic USO. USO is hard court. You do the math. Oh h2h is 2-1 Nadal btw.
HardCourtMaestro
Rookie
Oh man, that draw of mugs like Bummitini and Kevin Anderson has led to some real USO dull delusions. The clay specialist will challenge at FO for years to come but leave the hard courts to the big boys!
Beckerserve
Legend
Excuses excuses lol. Your salty tears give me pleasure lol
Kralingen
Talk Tennis Guru
You think Nadal is USO favorite? I was saying the Olympics could really put it in his favor.
Wimbledon Final - July 11th
Olympics starts July 24th, ends August 1st
Then Canada/Cincinnati weeks of 9 August and 16 August
USO starts 30 August.
That is a ton of mandatory tennis, all on hard courts, for Djokovic's 34 year old legs. Nadal will likely be able to conserve energy better.
Beckerserve
Legend
I think Nadal is more likely to win USO then FO this year. Ive said that for months.
For me USO is the big one this year. A 5th USO to tie Federer Sampras and Connors would be beyond epic.
And what is Nadal chasing? Thin air?
Beckerserve
Legend
He leads the slam race!! Jointly with Federer but that is still top.
NoleFam
Bionic Poster
He said he won't play it if there are no crowds.
Beckerserve
Legend
Really? Just gone up massively in my estimation.
Kralingen
Talk Tennis Guru
If Djokovic skips the Olympics or doesn't go deep at Wimbledon I'd still take him pretty easily. And in a H2H I definitely favor Novak on HC.
But I think Nadal is definitely being slept on and people saying he will definitely never win another HC slam are way off.. He's the defending champ at the USO (skipped 2020) and knows that this is likely his best chance to win #5. Will give everything at the USO, while he usually isn't peaking or in form at the AO these days.
Beckerserve
Legend
If Rafa wins FO i think he skips W to prep for USO.
NoleFam
Bionic Poster
So the man who has more USO finals than anyone else, and made like 11 SFs in a row is a non-factor at the USO? LOL
HardCourtMaestro
Rookie
Tsetse fly is coming for Dull's bald head on Sunday
GabeT
G.O.A.T.
No need to post jinx or anti jinx threads. Both are under pressure but clearly the greater pressure is on Nadal. He is the clear favorite and rightly so. He is the clay GOAT and the FO GOAT. He has never lost at an RG SF in 13 different attempts. So he is clearly expected to win.
Novak, on the other hand, is not bad at clay but it's his weakest surface. The 7-1 RG results against Nadal and last year's results all point to the challenge he faces. If he won it would be the greatest upset in years, maybe even decades. He has some things going for him, like the serve, but he would need everything to go right for him while also Nadal's level would need to dip a bit. Could happen but it's not expected.
Novak remains the favorite outside clay which means he won’t win everything of course but has plenty more chances. This ain’t over
Novak, on the other hand, is not bad at clay but it's his weakest surface. The 7-1 RG results against Nadal and last year's results all point to the challenge he faces. If he won it would be the greatest upset in years, maybe even decades. He has some things going for him, like the serve, but he would need everything to go right for him while also Nadal's level would need to dip a bit. Could happen but it's not expected.
Novak remains the favorite outside clay which means he won’t win everything of course but has plenty more chances. This ain’t over
GabeT
G.O.A.T.
This is such nonsense that I’m bookmarking for a laugh in a few months
swordtennis
G.O.A.T.
Perhaps.
The post match rage released what pressure there was.
After last year there really is no other place to go but up.
Just going to "battle" as Novak stated in post match presser.
#6 has pressure.
The post match rage released what pressure there was.
After last year there really is no other place to go but up.
Just going to "battle" as Novak stated in post match presser.
#6 has pressure.
Beckerserve
Legend
You are funny in a good way. Love the banter. Half agree. It will be Zverev
Beckerserve
Legend
You were bookmarking me before RG2020 bud.
Djokovic is a bigger threat to Rafa tomorrow than USO. Reason? USO is slower.
It is why Federer made the mistake of his career withdrawing . Conditions this week were tailor made for him.
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