Djokovic (1) vs Nishikori (6) - 2016 Rome Masters semifinal

Winner?

  • Total voters
    46
Djokovic2011 said:
It's normal for the #1 player to be winning the vast majority of his matches. Relax!
Click to expand...

It's not normal for him to be winning all of them every time for a good portion of the last 2 years with no signs of change in the nearest future at least. You can't attribute everything to Djokovic being that good all the time. Peak Federer was as good if not better and he still lost more - because he had prime Nadal on clay which already blocked him on an entire surface or people like Safin or Nalbandian who could catch fire and beat him in a big match. These scrubs can't even do that.
 
tennis_pro said:
In this case Karlovic's win over Djokovic in Doha a year ago has more value than the great winners that Nishikori pulled off today in a yet again losing effort.
Click to expand...
Well that's one way of looking at it I suppose. I sure know which player the viewers and spectators would prefer to watch though.
 
tennis_pro said:
But that's where it starts. Also, since Federer is 35 and barely plays anymore and Nadal has declined a lot there is absolutely 0 hope of anyone truly challenging Djokovic on a consistent basis the way Nadal did to Federer back in the day or the way Djokovic challenged Nadal a couple of years ago. So as I said this is just a starting point. I wouldn't be camping in the Djokovic match threads wanting him to lose if he had a legit rival who could challenge him.
Click to expand...
He is there. He is waiting for someone new. Dealt with Fed, dealt with Nadal, dealt with Murray, is dealing with others.
tennis_pro said:
I'd have a completely different attitude than yours if I followed tennis at the time. Unlike you I do understand that not everyone can love the guy I'm supporting, especially since he's in every final.
Click to expand...
LOL no you don't. You are trying to force everyone to think Djokovic is boring every day. Pathetic attempt from you there, trying to sound objective and reasonable.
tennis_pro said:
Except that Djokovic's domination has as much to do with his level of play as with lack thereof from everyone else. Federer was dominating in times where a lot of good players were in their primes, he was just better than everyone else and at least you always had Nadal on clay as a remedy for tennis fans who didn't support Fed. Right now Djokovic is dominating old, declined men and the weakest new generations tennis has ever seen.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Novak's 11 Majors in his entire career have to do with other guys' level while Federer won 11 Majors just in that one 4 year period against several awesome prime players where he was just awesomer, right? :D Strong insecurity right there.
 
Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil said:
He is there. He is waiting for someone new. Dealt with Fed, dealt with Nadal, dealt with Murray, is dealing with others.
Click to expand...
Yes, Djokovic is doing his part. I've been blaming the competition for half a year now. Of course it's not Djokovic's fault but I'm not gonna sit here and pretend everything is fine and dandy just because he's not to blame. Djokovic being a bore doesn't help the matter either.
Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil said:
LOL no you don't. You are trying to force everyone to think Djokovic is boring every day. Pathetic attempt from you there, trying to sound objective and reasonable.
Click to expand...
Dude, you're someone who roots for a player just because you were born in the same country yet you have the guts to call me biased? I'm rooting for particular players because of something they do, not because of someone they are, so gooby...I'm not even sure you'd watch tennis at all if Djokovic never existed.

Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil said:
Yeah, Novak's 11 Majors in his entire career have to do with other guys' level while Federer won 11 Majors just in that one 4 year period against several awesome prime players where he was just awesomer, right? :D Strong insecurity right there.
Click to expand...

I never questioned Djokovic's majors before 2015. Way to go.
 
cc0509 said:
+1. Exactly. Nothing wrong with wanting just a little bit of competition at the top. Some of these "sensitive flower" Djokovic fans can't comprehend something so simple.
Something is very wrong when the players ranked 2-6 can never beat the #1 player in any of the bigger tournaments. It will change eventually though as nobody goes on winning everything forever.
Click to expand...

Not sure about that. For Djokovic, it's the perfect confluence - a great player with zero competition. If any all-time great, Borg or anyone, enjoyed a period such as this, who would have beaten them?

Given the state of the game, if Djoker doesn't challenge or overtake Fed and Nadal, I will be surprised.
 
tennis_pro said:
Yes, Djokovic is doing his part. I've been blaming the competition for half a year now. Of course it's not Djokovic's fault but I'm not gonna sit here and pretend everything is fine and dandy just because he's not to blame.

Dude, you're someone who roots for a player just because you were born in the same country yet you have the guts to call me biased? I'm rooting for particular players because of something they do, not because of someone they are, so gooby...

I never questioned Djokovic's majors before 2015. Way to go.
Click to expand...
Question all of his Majors if it pleases you, they will still stand.

LOL I can name you at least 15 other reasons why I support Djokovic. You have been spitting all over his and Murray's achievements and you have the guts to call me biased, me who never said anything bad about any other player? What a brat. :rolleyes:
 
Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil said:
LOL I can name you at least 15 other reasons why I support Djokovic. You have been spitting all over his and Murray's achievements and you have the guts to call me biased, me who never said anything bad about any other player? What a brat. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Yeah yeah, whatever. Everything about Djokovic is great. He's Serbian, you're Serbian and I'm a biased Fed fan despite not being Swiss or having anything to do with that country. Anything to add?
 
tennis_pro said:
It's not normal for him to be winning all of them every time for a good portion of the last 2 years with no signs of change in the nearest future at least. You can't attribute everything to Djokovic being that good all the time. Peak Federer was as good if not better and he still lost more - because he had prime Nadal on clay which already blocked him on an entire surface or people like Safin or Nalbandian who could catch fire and beat him in a big match. These scrubs can't even do that.
Click to expand...

Well, this is where you need to look beyond win rates. Win rates don't tell the whole story. Match scores don't even tell the whole story. Case in point, Rod Laver's career winning percentage is like 80 percent or something like that. So what conclusion is drawn from that? That Lendl is better than Rod Laver? Or could it be that Laver had to play his all-time-great rivals more than 100 times each in his career? You can't draw many conclusions from win rates. Just like you can't draw many conclusions from slam counts.

Djokovic is an all-time great. Everyone agrees on it. If his win rate were a percent or two higher or lower, it isn't going to change that.

But I agree with your sentiment. Back in Federer's day, you at least had Nadal/Federer matchups to look forward to. Back in Sampras' day, you at least had Sampras/Agassi to look forward to. Connors/McEnroe. Borg/McEnroe. Laver/Rosewall.

These days, you end up with Djokovic/Nishikori or Djokovic/Murray. Definitely not on par with past fields.
 
tennis_pro said:
Yeah yeah, whatever. Everything about Djokovic is great. He's Serbian, you're Serbian and I'm a biased Fed fan despite not being Swiss or having anything to do with that country. Anything to add?
Click to expand...
I could add several things, but I don't want you to start crying and go to the mods again when I speak truth that hurts, you brilliant unbiased Fed fan. :D
 
Novak has already produced three gems on the clay this season, the Madrid final, the Rome quarter final and the Rome semi final. All with different opponents. I think he has had the perfect preparation for RG, and honestly doesn't need to go all out in the Rome final. He is ready, mission accomplished in the clay masters this year.
 
tennis_pro said:
Dude you literally have nothing on me. I've had entire camps against me here, you think one teenage boy is gonna make a difference xD? Go ahead.
Click to expand...
If I wasn't an issue, a certain baby wouldn't ask for protection. Luckily I sorted that out.
And btw, I love how sooner or later you always mention my age. :D You're actually doing me a favor.
 
Loved ND's fight back today, playing with his B or C game.

But lost respect for him snipping at the ballkids. Then the comment to Nishikori/Lahyani about the 1st serve "do you want a 1st serve? What about the point?" (or something to that effect) - that was weak. That was a long delay - of course he's getting 2 serves.
 
Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil said:
If I wasn't an issue, a certain baby wouldn't ask for protection. Luckily I sorted that out.
And btw, I love how sooner or later you always mention my age. :D You're actually doing me a favor.
Click to expand...
2JZfd.gif
 
West Coast Ace said:
Loved ND's fight back today, playing with his B or C game.

But lost respect for him snipping at the ballkids. Then the comment to Nishikori/Lahyani about the 1st serve "do you want a 1st serve? What about the point?" (or something to that effect) - that was weak. That was a long delay - of course he's getting 2 serves.
Click to expand...
weak? you know what's weak? those shorts. they were fine when he was winning a slam every now and then. once out of the top ten though is another story....
 
tennis_pro said:
It's not normal for him to be winning all of them every time for a good portion of the last 2 years with no signs of change in the nearest future at least. You can't attribute everything to Djokovic being that good all the time. Peak Federer was as good if not better and he still lost more - because he had prime Nadal on clay which already blocked him on an entire surface or people like Safin or Nalbandian who could catch fire and beat him in a big match. These scrubs can't even do that.
Click to expand...
Peak Federer actually won more Slams than Nole, which is why he has 17 today. The difference is that Nole has shown greater consistency in M1000s.
 
Tiki-Taka said:
It's fantastic. For a good part of us this is the favorite league win of this millennium. Wish you were here to be a part of the celebrations man.
Click to expand...
I can see why, it was tough.

There will be many more celebrations in the near future, some other year if I find myself there, maybe I will join. ;)
 
cc0509 said:
Do you include yourself in that mix because it appears to me you have criticized Federer more than the other great players who have dominated. You seem to have an anti-Fed bias.
Click to expand...
Nope. You are very wrong. I have pulled consistently for Nadal and Federer from long before I joined this forum. The only time I have been conflicted has been when they played each other.

I had anti-bias way back around 2007 though. It was not bias against Federer per se, but it started to feel boring. Nadal kept slams from being totally unpredictable.

But I always liked the way Federer played.

If anything I am probably biased against older players who are no longer on top - or guys who had careers cut short.

My favorite periods in tennis have been when there have been two or more great players when you never quiet knew who would pull through. Sampras/Agassis was fun, especially later in their careers. The Connors era was fun for me because you could just never be sure who would win at slams - with the exception of Borg during his 5 magic years at Wimbledon - but during that time the USO was up for grabs.

This time of dominance of Novak has not been fun for me at all. I try to watch his tennis with a totally open-mind, but I'm simply not excited about the way he plays. And I freely admit that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gn
tennis_pro said:
Dominance is boring, period. I'm not even sure if I could get through those entire 4 years back in 2004-2007 if I was a fan of Federer from the get go instead of starting to support him at the end of 2007 when I really got into tennis.
Click to expand...
OK. I can fully understand that. But I started watching tennis with passion in the mid 60s, and I've lived through a lot of times when players dominated. If you didn't like Laver and Rosewall the late 60s were a bad time to be watching. Then Connors went on a tear for awhile. I don't remember as many periods of steady dominance lasting for years back then. There were beat-down years. McEnroe had one. The difference was that most players skipped RG, and there were not frequent years of 3 slam dominance. I don't think the 90s were very good for anyone who did not like Sampras.

The end of 2004 to 2007 was probably as one-sided as today with the beginning of the Nadal reign of RG. 2008-2010 was probably more interesting, and 2011 was only one year of huge dominance. 2012-2014 was interesting. This period NOW is a lot like 2004-2007.

I won't be terribly unhappy if Novak snags RG this year. I don't have anything against him as a person. I think he deserves what he has gotten. But I'd like things to change after that. I really want the younger players to FINALLY start to dominante...
 
I missed the match and was gone all day. I heard it was a good one. I heard Djokovic hurt himself with his racket when trying to hit dirt from his shoe. How serious is the injury?
 
NoleFam said:
I missed the match and was gone all day. I heard it was a good one. I heard Djokovic hurt himself with his racket when trying to hit dirt from his shoe. How serious is the injury?
Click to expand...
Really? I didn't watch the match, so didn't see but wouldn't be surprised, for somebody who is so balanced and a great mover, he is also incredible klutz.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil
  • Poll Poll
Djokovic (1) vs Nishikori (6) - 2016 Miami Open final
17 18 19
Replies
942
Views
47K
JonnyMac
JonnyMac
N
  • Poll Poll
2016 Miami Open Semifinal - [24] Nick Kyrgios vs [6] Kei Nishikori
7 8 9
Replies
441
Views
23K
beast of mallorca
beast of mallorca
Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil
  • Poll Poll
Djokovic (1) vs Nishikori (3) - 2016 Rogers Cup final
8 9 10
Replies
466
Views
27K
Gary Duane
Gary Duane
Blinkism
  • Poll Poll
Djokovic vs. Nadal - Paris Masters 2009 Semifinal
7 8 9
Replies
443
Views
29K
Tony48
T
N
  • Poll Poll
2016 Madrid Open Semifinal - [1] Novak Djokovic vs. [6] Kei Nishikori
10 11 12
Replies
559
Views
28K
tennisenthusiast
T
Back
Top