Djokovic got punished for playing DC + Exhos + United Cup instead of resting !!!

DC + Saudi exo + United Cup ... Did these cause his downfall ??

  • Yes....playing post ATP Finals cost his downfall

    Votes: 19 39.6%

  • No.... He lost because of the tour getting better

    Votes: 29 60.4%
  • Total voters
    48
Razer

Razer

G.O.A.T.
He thinks he can go toe to toe with everyone the whole year at age 36-37 without resting......

Like a big fool he played post the ATP Finals with Sinner and Alcaraz forgetting that they are 14-16 years younger to him.

Has he learned his lesson? I guess not...

Now he is going after some lame Olympic medal ....I am sure he ain't winning any Olympics and there is a chance he might ruin his chances at other slams too....
 
Genie Of the Bank

Genie Of the Bank

Hall of Fame
Probably playing Davis cup and United Cup was a wrong move, exhibition with Alcaraz was fine by me. Still one major semi isn't a downfall, more his body telling him to slow down a bit. We will see the reality after Wimbledon, both for Rafa and Novak.
 
Razer

Razer

G.O.A.T.
weakera said:
Djokovic's immeasurable and boundless arrogance caught up with him
Click to expand...

True that. All those sparring with youngsters in useless tournaments he failed to see that he is over playing himself and also bridging the gap between him and them.. His body has given him a sharp warning with this defeat. Federer, Nadal got career ending injuries as a result of over playing, Novak is still in better shape but he seem to be arrogant enough to take it for granted by playing silly tourneys with ppl who are 15 years younger and rapidly getting better every day... The hubris to play all those, I had a feeling last year that he would have to face consequences soon....
 
weakera

weakera

Talk Tennis Guru
Razer said:
True that. All those sparring with youngsters in useless tournaments he failed to see that he is over playing himself and also bridging the gap between him and them.. His body has given him a sharp warning with this defeat. Federer, Nadal got career ending injuries as a result of over playing, Novak is still in better shape but he seem to be arrogant enough to take it for granted by playing silly tourneys with ppl who are 15 years younger and rapidly getting better every day... The hubris to play all those, I had a feeling last year that he would have to face consequences soon....
Click to expand...

He should have paid his dues at Roland Garros as well. Cramping of Alcaraz saved him.
 
S

sportsfan1

Legend
No, he just got punished by sinner with his brutal and powerful baseline game. Djokovic knows he has a sinner problem. He didn't even have his usual anger outbursts on court in this match,as he felt the inevitability of facing sinner.

As someone said on another thread, if not for sinner he would have won the Australian open. He'd have S&V'ed to a title in straight sets over med like at the uso, and we would be talking how he can win with an injured wrist.
 
Mivic

Mivic

Hall of Fame
Pretty obvious that he wins the AO if he plays up to par. Why he failed to do so is another question entirely. Probably just one of those off days with no discernible cause that occur more frequently as you age, not sure I’d pin it on anything more significant than that.
 
pirhaksar

pirhaksar

Professional
Razer said:
He thinks he can go toe to toe with everyone the whole year at age 36-37 without resting......

Like a big fool he played post the ATP Finals with Sinner and Alcaraz forgetting that they are 14-16 years younger to him.

Has he learned his lesson? I guess not...

Now he is going after some lame Olympic medal ....I am sure he ain't winning any Olympics and there is a chance he might ruin his chances at other slams too....
Click to expand...
I agree with general spirit of what you say and have the same feeling about Olympics he is nonsensically obsessed with a pageantry award. But did he really overplay though? The tourneys he played were in November of last year. In fact his fans were might upset he is not playing some more to get to 400 weeks back then. He had 1 month + rest, what more rest does he need!? I don’t think he can just turn up and play a major without any reps which explains the United cup prep.
 
G

geromino

Rookie
Sport said:
Ken Rosewall is the player with best longevity ever. Only tennis playwr to win a Slam aged 37 in the Open Era.
Click to expand...
Rosewall won his first pro slam at the 1957 Wembley Championship at age 22 and last slam at 1972 Australian Open at age 37, a 14.5 year span.
Djokovic won his first slam at 2008 AO at age 20 and most recent at 2023 USO at age 36, a 15.7 year span.
Djokovic has arguably already achieved better longevity with his career yet to conclude. And considering the difference in physicality between now and the 70s, it's not even close.

Nadal would be a better comparison with a 17 year slam winning span, but clearly Djokovic has remained more injury-free than Nadal.
 
Last edited:
Neptune

Neptune

Hall of Fame
Razer said:
He thinks he can go toe to toe with everyone the whole year at age 36-37 without resting......

Like a big fool he played post the ATP Finals with Sinner and Alcaraz forgetting that they are 14-16 years younger to him.

Has he learned his lesson? I guess not...

Now he is going after some lame Olympic medal ....I am sure he ain't winning any Olympics and there is a chance he might ruin his chances at other slams too....
Click to expand...

Totally agree.
I'm truly disappointed to see him participating in those subpar events at his age.
Another stands out is the Olympic Games doubles in 2021—couldn't have been a more unwise choice.
 
G

geromino

Rookie
mike danny said:
I mean people still do that for Fed acting like he didn't take enough care of his body.
Click to expand...
It's different for Federer. Federer was fit, but his fitness was not top tier. Federer had a bit of a gut and was often outlasted in long matches (4.5hrs+) or couldn't sufficiently recover after a long match to win the next one (e.g. 2012 Olympics). Clearly his fitness wasn't up to the level of Djokovic, Nadal, or even Murray.
 
mike danny

mike danny

Bionic Poster
geromino said:
It's different for Federer. Federer was fit, but his fitness was not top tier. Federer had a bit of a gut and was often outlasted in long matches (4.5hrs+) or couldn't sufficiently recover after a long match to win the next one (e.g. 2012 Olympics). Clearly his fitness wasn't up to the level of Djokovic, Nadal, or even Murray.
Click to expand...
You talked about longevity though, not fitness.
 
G

geromino

Rookie
mike danny said:
You talked about longevity though, not fitness.
Click to expand...
You talked about people criticizing Federer for not taking care of his body - the criticism makes sense if we are talking about top-tier fitness. I haven't heard anyone criticizing Federer's longevity, as he also had ATG longevity.
 
UnforcedTerror

UnforcedTerror

Hall of Fame
His off-season was very short indeed but it's not why he lost.

Sinner played a big match and Djokovic needed the night session (no sun or wind) and he would have done much better.
 
ghostofMecir

ghostofMecir

Legend
You cannot always be physically at the top of your game, and in any other era when you dipped a little bit, you would get beaten by younger players, but because these younger players have been so bad, nobody could take advantage of it.

People (including me) dismissed that beating that he received to ADM but he was the same listless player vs. Sinner. Djokovic has taken advantage of being at his physical best while adjusting his game slightly to hit bigger, while younger players could not take advantage of his slight decline but Sinner never blinked once. Truth be told, he was getting pushed around by Taylor Fritz in the first set, and was lucky to win it.

Djokovic doesn’t have the racket talent that someone like Federer has who can ameliorate for being less than 100% physically ready and you saw this against sinner—when he did try to start taking bigger cuts, he was making errors, not timing the ball correctly, and was generally a mess.

It’s a credit to Djokovic, regardless of how bad the competition has been that he hasn’t had more of these over the past three or four years, but part of it was also Sinner not looking like he was going to drop his level even once or come close to choking.
 
Last edited:
F

fafa

Semi-Pro
He certainly decreased his chances of winning by playing all those meaningless tournaments and exhos. Hope he learns the lesson.
 
Razer

Razer

G.O.A.T.
ghostofMecir said:
You cannot always be physically at the top of your game, and in any other area when you dipped a little bit, you would get beaten by younger players, but because these younger players have been so bad, nobody could take advantage of it.

People (including me) dismissed that beating that he received to ADM but he was the same listless player vs. Sinner. Djokovic has taken advantage of being at his physical best while adjusting his game slightly to hit bigger, while younger players could not take advantage of his slight decline but Sinner never blinked once. Truth be told, he was getting pushed around by Taylor Fritz in the first set, and was lucky to win it.

Djokovic doesn’t have the racket talent that someone like Federer has who can ameliorate for being less than 100% physically ready and you saw this against sinner—when he did try to start taking bigger cuts, he was making errors, not timing the ball correctly, and was generally a mess.

It’s a credit to Djokovic, regardless of how bad the competition has been that he hasn’t had more of these over the past three or four years, but part of it was also Sinner not looking like he was going to drop his level even once or come close to choking.
Click to expand...

Good points, it is a combo of both factors. You are right, he doesn't have racquet skills of Fed to compensate the decline but his body in 30s has been stronger than Fed's in 30s, same age wise. So the Davis cup and exhos also played their role along with Sinner just not dropping level of play. He has been terrible at AO this year except mannarino match which is unusual for the first slam of the year.

fafa said:
Now watch him sacrifice his chances at WB and USO for the Olympics.
Click to expand...

That could happen. If he fails to win Wimbledon then I think he risks never winning again, assuming Sinner-Alcaraz will be unstoppable at USO, so a slamless year and that ruins his confidence for next year as well. This could be the beginning of the end if he doesn't schedule better this year.
 
GabeT

GabeT

G.O.A.T.
When you have the slam record

The masters record

Share the WTF record

Have the weeks at number 1 record

The YE1 record

The technical response to any subsequent losses is “who gives a rodent’s behind”

Edit: turns out Novak does not share the WTF record. So greedy!
 
Last edited:
DSH

DSH

Talk Tennis Guru
Sport said:
Sinner has arrived. Too late for Novak.
Click to expand...
The good sinner finished off the biggest sinner in the history of Tennis in his favorite Major tournament.
Things are not looking good for the still world number 1 whenever he may face the young Italian player from now on.
:)
 
J

jeroenn

Professional
GabeT said:
When you have the slam record

The masters record

Share the WTF record

Have the weeks at number 1 record

The YE1 record

The technical response to any subsequent losses is “who gives a rodent’s behind”
Click to expand...

Then why compete?
 
T

TMF

Talk Tennis Guru
Whether he rested or not before the AO, he wasn't going to win this tournament. He had plenty of rest before his 1st round match.

It's his abysmal performance that he lost, not because he was tired
 
Razer

Razer

G.O.A.T.
There is more to win. He is still tied with Margaret Court according to many pundits and himself, he needs to break the tie, no ?
 
T

TMF

Talk Tennis Guru
GabeT said:
When you have the slam record

The masters record

Share the WTF record

Have the weeks at number 1 record

The YE1 record

The technical response to any subsequent losses is “who gives a rodent’s behind”
Click to expand...

If you are still angry/depressed that your idol lost, I suggest you take a some time away from the forum to recuperate
 
J

jeroenn

Professional
GabeT said:
You can always win more. And I’m sure he enjoys it. But we had a race among the big 3 for years. And that race is over. Novak won
Click to expand...

I think the champions mentality is you play to win effing everything you can without compromise. So I'm pretty sure ND gives indeed a 'rodents behind'.

As for the race, he won it for now and someday someone will come and take it away from him. Just as all those champions before him had to ultimately give up the reocrds. Denying that would be to assert that the game doesn't evolve, but it does.
Tennis in 20 years will be different enough so that ND would feel just as out of place as McEnroe would feel today facing a Sinner or Medvedev.
 
GabeT

GabeT

G.O.A.T.
TMF said:
If you are still angry/depressed that your idol lost, I suggest you take a some time away from the forum to recuperate
Click to expand...
When I became a Novak fan no one, not even the most ardent fans, thought he would ever get even close to Fed on slams or weeks at #1. Let’s just say Novak has surpassed all expectations. Very very very far away from being depressed or angry :whistle: :cool:
 
GabeT

GabeT

G.O.A.T.
jeroenn said:
I think the champions mentality is you play to win effing everything you can without compromise. So I'm pretty sure ND gives indeed a 'rodents behind'.

As for the race, he won it for now and someday someone will come and take it away from him. Just as all those champions before him had to ultimately give up the reocrds. Denying that would be to assert that the game doesn't evolve, but it does.
Tennis in 20 years will be different enough so that ND would feel just as out of place as McEnroe would feel today facing a Sinner or Medvedev.
Click to expand...
Maybe someone will break Novak’s records. Sure. But that’s for the future. In the race Novak participated he won it all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top