Goran explains how Djokovic can win the 2021 French Open

clayqueen said:
Roland Garros 2020
Goran Ivanisevic names Novak Djokovic favorite against Rafael Nadal
Further, the Croatian coach went ahead and called Djokovic the favorite for the title. “I went a little too far, but in my opinion, Novak is the number one favorite. He brought his body, his head, and preparation to perfection."

“He prepares everything in detail, from tactics, technique, to nutrition, and he adheres to it. But he knows it makes him better, he wants to progress every day and it’s very interesting to work with him because he wants something better every day, at least 0.00001 percent, but something has to be happening.”

Today:
"In the Roland Garros final he did not seem ready to stay on the court for fifteen hours if that is what it would have taken to beat Nadal. He was shortening points with drop shots and some other bad choices".
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A bit disrespectful but not really over the top either...Really challenging to like anyone from his team...@goran - nothing to do with where you come from - I’m just not fond of you or your comments.
 
BeatlesFan said:
Now Goran claims Djokovic wasn't physically "at his best" in the 2020 FO final.

‘It will hardly go the same way’, says Novak Djokovic coach on potential Rafa Nadal rematch

Coach Goran Ivanisevic says a repeat of the 2020 French Open final result is unlikely, as Novak Djokovic was not physically at his best. When asked about a potential rematch between Djokovic and Nadal in Paris, Ivanisevic said, “It will hardly go down the same way. To be honest, I do not think Novak could repeat it even if he wanted to. Rafa is the favourite, no doubt about that, but favourites do not always win."

“First and foremost, Novak must be physically at his best, he needs to feel powerful enough to stay on the court as long as it takes. For example, in the Roland Garros final he did not seem ready to stay on the court for fifteen hours if that is what it would have taken to beat Nadal. He was shortening points with drop shots and some other bad choices. Against Medvedev in the Australian Open final, you could tell that he was prepared to be on that court for thirty hours if needed.
That is the state Novak has to be in before that potential encounter with Nadal."

Link won't work, it's on tennis head dot net today.
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Team Djokovic still salty. Fantastic lol. Where is that gif of Rafa and Roger laughing together when we need it.
 
BeatlesFan said:
Novak has defeated Rafa at RG (obviously in Rafa's worst year on tour, 2015) and has beaten him 7 times on clay, more than anybody else has ever achieved. Sure Djokovic knows he can beat Rafa on clay, but doing it in an RG final is another dimension entirely.
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It's hard, but not impossible, that's all... 100% Novak vs 80% Rafa, and we have a match...
 
beard said:
It's hard, but not impossible, that's all... 100% Novak vs 80% Rafa, and we have a match...
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No not any more. I am not sure over 5 sets it has ever been a close contest bar 2013 and Nadal was just back from injury. 2015 was 10 per cent Rafa really although he got better later that year. That clay season he would have lost to Murray and federer as well.
Injury permitting it surely will be Nadal on 21 Majors. Does not really matter though as the narrative is set. Nadal and Federer will be the titans of tennis. The dynamic duo. The standard bearers.
 
BeatlesFan said:
Now Goran claims Djokovic wasn't physically "at his best" in the 2020 FO final.

‘It will hardly go the same way’, says Novak Djokovic coach on potential Rafa Nadal rematch

Coach Goran Ivanisevic says a repeat of the 2020 French Open final result is unlikely, as Novak Djokovic was not physically at his best. When asked about a potential rematch between Djokovic and Nadal in Paris, Ivanisevic said, “It will hardly go down the same way. To be honest, I do not think Novak could repeat it even if he wanted to. Rafa is the favourite, no doubt about that, but favourites do not always win."

“First and foremost, Novak must be physically at his best, he needs to feel powerful enough to stay on the court as long as it takes. For example, in the Roland Garros final he did not seem ready to stay on the court for fifteen hours if that is what it would have taken to beat Nadal. He was shortening points with drop shots and some other bad choices. Against Medvedev in the Australian Open final, you could tell that he was prepared to be on that court for thirty hours if needed.
That is the state Novak has to be in before that potential encounter with Nadal."

Link won't work, it's on tennis head dot net today.
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:-D :-D

Will he get fired if he keeps failing at figuring out how to get Djoker to beat Rafa on Clay? Seems to always have the "plan" but it never works.
 
Lleytonstation said:
:-D :-D

Will he get fired if he keeps failing at figuring out how to get Djoker to beat Rafa on Clay? Seems to always have the "plan" but it never works.
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If Djokovic got more than 6 games off Rafa at the FO this year i would be genuinely surprised. He is made for Rafa on clay and slower high bouncing hard courts. Shame neither will play Miami. Would have loved them to square off there.
 
Beckerserve said:
If Djokovic got more than 6 games off Rafa at the FO this year i would be genuinely surprised. He is made for Rafa on clay and slower high bouncing hard courts. Shame neither will play Miami. Would have loved them to square off there.
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Djokovic owns Nadal in Miami 3-0, Monte Carlo would be a better place since the H2H is 2-2 and Djokovic leads Nadal by 5 sets to 4, so closer competition there.
 
Hitman said:
Djokovic owns Nadal in Miami 3-0, Monte Carlo would be a better place since the H2H is 2-2 and Djokovic leads Nadal by 5 sets to 4, so closer competition there.
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Yes but its 2021 now and Djokovic is not the same player he used to be. His game is built for quick courts not grinding long rallies. I would like to see the match up in Miami. Indian wells would be better but miami would have to do. Monte carlo is not that interesting as by clay time all i am thinking is Roland Garros.
 
Beckerserve said:
Yes but its 2021 now and Djokovic is not the same player he used to be. His game is built for quick courts not grinding long rallies. I would like to see the match up in Miami. Indian wells would be better but miami would have to do. Monte carlo is not that interesting as by clay time all i am thinking is Roland Garros.
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You know Miami courts in the new location are quick right?
 
Beckerserve said:
No idea tbh. Not seen a ball hit there in 2 years. If the CPI has been released for this years event i have not seen it. What is it?
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The last few years that it played, all the players especially Federer who enjoyed the conditions said it played very fast and slick. This isn't the Key Biscayne courts of the past, these are fast and these will not be helping Nadal against Djokovic. You're better off sticking to IW out of the these two if you hope for Rafa to be competitive then.
 
TennisFan3 said:
Novak might have a bigger problem with Thiem as well in the French Open. Forget about Nadal.

Novak CANNOT be as good as clay as he is on hardcourts. PERIOD. Clay will always be his least effective surface. Technically speaking his main weapons - Return of serve and serve are dented on clay. He has an edge on hardcourts because he can win free points on serve and be very offensive on ROS. On clay, Novak loses the edge on the serve return - given that Nadal/Thiem and other clay players can return just as effectively (if not better), as the slower surface gives more time to line up the ROS.
Furthermore, you don't get free points on serve on clay and that dents the 1-2 strike tennis as well.

Also Novak does not have the edge in movement on clay. Since Nadal, Thiem etc can move and slide better on the surface. Novak cannot take time away from them on the neutral rallies as the ball penetrates slower through the surface.

In short: To win French Open: Novak would need to play his very best and hope that he does NOT have to play both Thiem and Nadal. Also hope that Nadal/Thiem are not at their best.
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This.

Novak is just a little better at things (serve, return, grinding from the Baseline) on Hard Court, that is flipped and/or negated a bit on clay. Most of the things that Novak is great at, Rafa is better at on clay.
 
Beckerserve said:
If Djokovic got more than 6 games off Rafa at the FO this year i would be genuinely surprised. He is made for Rafa on clay and slower high bouncing hard courts. Shame neither will play Miami. Would have loved them to square off there.
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Yep, but I really do think another blowout to Rafa should put into question Gorans coaching ability. One thing to lose, but to look clueless? Nah.
 
BeatlesFan said:
Now Goran claims Djokovic wasn't physically "at his best" in the 2020 FO final.

‘It will hardly go the same way’, says Novak Djokovic coach on potential Rafa Nadal rematch

Coach Goran Ivanisevic says a repeat of the 2020 French Open final result is unlikely, as Novak Djokovic was not physically at his best. When asked about a potential rematch between Djokovic and Nadal in Paris, Ivanisevic said, “It will hardly go down the same way. To be honest, I do not think Novak could repeat it even if he wanted to. Rafa is the favourite, no doubt about that, but favourites do not always win."

“First and foremost, Novak must be physically at his best, he needs to feel powerful enough to stay on the court as long as it takes. For example, in the Roland Garros final he did not seem ready to stay on the court for fifteen hours if that is what it would have taken to beat Nadal. He was shortening points with drop shots and some other bad choices. Against Medvedev in the Australian Open final, you could tell that he was prepared to be on that court for thirty hours if needed.
That is the state Novak has to be in before that potential encounter with Nadal."

Link won't work, it's on tennis head dot net today.
Click to expand...

Agree. Djokovic looked much stronger in A.O. Put a couple pounds of muscle on those gluten free bones.
 
Hitman said:
The last few years that it played, all the players especially Federer who enjoyed the conditions said it played very fast and slick. This isn't the Key Biscayne courts of the past, these are fast and these will not be helping Nadal against Djokovic. You're better off sticking to IW out of the these two if you hope for Rafa to be competitive then.
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I was unaware Miami was so much quicker. I would love Indian Wells to be where they match up its a bigger better event but for some unknown reason they have postponed the event. Given vaccines are now out seems a daft decision.
 
Sport said:
200.gif
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Exactly lol Novak said himself he went out there thinking he could win and he got surprised by Nadals level.
 
Hitman said:
You know Miami courts in the new location are quick right?
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Rafael Nadal: 'I play better on fast than slow hard court'

Tennis - Rafa opened the new season with wins over Nikoloz Basilashvili and Pablo Cuevas in Perth
Author: Jovica Ilic | 2020-01-07 22:40 | 11156 reads
 
Lleytonstation said:
Plus you have him talking a big game and making excuses. Just not a good look.
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I have a feeling Goran and the other pundits picked Djokovic for the RG title because they didn’t expect Rafa to make the final because he lost in Rome, he moaned about the conditions and generally looked unhappy with the whole set up - wrong ball etc etc. Then the court had been refurbished with a roof to boot, so it was no longer the PC court that Rafa owned and Djokovic likes roofs.

Wilander, Courier, Petchey, Santoro, ESPN etc who all predicted without any shadow of a doubt that Djokovic would win the title suddenly became noncommittal on the day of the final. Even Djokovic said in the prematch interview - he is Rafa and he is in the final.
 
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It shouldn't be his goal at all tbh. Already has the title and a win against Rafa, no matter how crappy he was at that time.
Better to focus on the rest of the slams.
 
D.Nalby12 said:
This must be the man who told him drop shots will beat Nadal at FO.
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Just before the final match started Wilander and JMac were cooing about how the drop shot would be a great asset to Djokovic in beating Rafa as he had won 78% of the points on his drop shots in the preceding rounds. JMac even joked about Gaston's excessive use of the dropshot saying Djokovic was far better at it.
 
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clayqueen said:
Rafael Nadal: 'I play better on fast than slow hard court'

Tennis - Rafa opened the new season with wins over Nikoloz Basilashvili and Pablo Cuevas in Perth
Author: Jovica Ilic | 2020-01-07 22:40 | 11156 reads
Click to expand...

Djokovic is still by far the best fast hard court player after Federer, a match in fast low bouncing conditions of Miami doesn't favor Nadal against Novak.
 
clayqueen said:
Rafael Nadal: 'I play better on fast than slow hard court'

Tennis - Rafa opened the new season with wins over Nikoloz Basilashvili and Pablo Cuevas in Perth
Author: Jovica Ilic | 2020-01-07 22:40 | 11156 reads
Click to expand...
He can say it a thousand times, but that doesn’t mean it’s true. His inability to consistently take the ball on the rise and the lower bounces are the reasons for this.
 
Fedinkum said:
Goran talks too much these days.
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Goran has always talked a lot, I am sure you saw him during his actual playing days and how outspoken he was about things.

The thing is, the topic he speaks about now is Djokovic, and the GOAT race, because he is his coach, so what he says in regards to that topic and being in his new position goes a long a way to making waves.....however Goran has always been this way. Only those that don't know much about him think this is some new thing in regards to Goran.
 
clayqueen said:
Just before the final match started Wilander and JMac were cooing about how the drop shot would be a great asset to Djokovic in beating Rafa as he had won 72% of the points on his drop shots in the preceding rounds. JMac even joked about Gaston's excessive use of the dropshot saying Djokovic was far better at it.
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Well, this proves how much these tennis "experts" know compared to us, armchair experts.
 
Villain said:
He can say it a thousand times, but that doesn’t mean it’s true. His inability to consistently take the ball on the rise and the lower bounces are the reasons for this.
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Ultimately he can say whatever he wants, but what do the results show is the telling factor. Nadal is an all surface players, yes, but look at the conditions where he has won the majority of his titles.
 
Hitman said:
Ultimately he can say whatever he wants, but what do the results show is the telling factor. Nadal is an all surface players, yes, but look at the conditions where he has won the majority of his titles.
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Exactly. He is fine against the majority of the field on faster courts because he makes up for it with sheer athleticism and skill, but against better fast court players, he loses the advantages that make him the greatest slow court player ever.
 
Villain said:
Exactly. He is fine against the majority of the field on faster courts because he makes up for it with sheer athleticism and skill, but against better fast court players, he loses the advantages that make him the greatest slow court player ever.
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Nadal's hasn't beaten Djokovic in anything resembling fast conditions since USO 2013, all the wins post Sep 2013 are on clay and clay will always be the slowest surface. A match up in Miami favors Djokovic heavily.
 
Hitman said:
Nadal's hasn't beaten Djokovic in anything resembling fast conditions since USO 2013, all the wins post Sep 2013 are on clay and clay will always be the slowest surface. A match up in Miami favors Djokovic heavily.
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Rafa, unfortunately has hardly played at 100% fit since 2012.
 
Villain said:
Sadly, I don’t think we’re going to see that this year. To the clay season we go. Hopefully it turns out better than last year.
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I doubt it would have happened anyway, since it would have been a final, and in a best of three on HC the Next Gen have now become equals of the Big 3. With the conditions being relatively fast (going by the previous few outtings) and it being HC, don't think we would have seen it.
 
Hitman said:
I doubt it would have happened anyway, since it would have been a final, and in a best of three on HC the Next Gen have now become equals of the Big 3. With the conditions being relatively fast (going by the previous few outtings) and it being HC, don't think we would have seen it.
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Good point, so yeah, maybe it wouldn’t have happened anyway. Just a hope. USO is really where this match needs to take place this year.

I’m also real interested to see what clay tournaments our guy plays in. I’d like to see him play in two or all three of the clay Masters and pull off a win in at least one of them.
 
Villain said:
Good point, so yeah, maybe it wouldn’t have happened anyway. Just a hope. USO is really where this match needs to take place this year.

I’m also real interested to see what clay tournaments our guy plays in. I’d like to see him play in two or all three of the clay Masters and pull off a win in at least one of them.
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Yes, USO is most likely place on HC that they can play each other honestly speaking since they are still the better big match players, but in best of three it is far more competitive with the Next Gen believing that can beat them in those conditions.

It will be interesting to see where he plays on the clay, I do think he will likely play two masters, especially Rome, and then go all out for RG.
 
Lleytonstation said:
Plus you have him talking a big game and making excuses. Just not a good look.
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He has always been a headcase. And the thing is Rafa ALWAYS wins grudge matches. 100 percent.
One reason he now struggles with Federer is he actually really likes Roger and doesnt have the same ultra focus. He is on record as saying he wanted Roger to win W2019 which says it all. Uncle Toni said same thing. Team Nadal have Federer as GOAT, much of their Academy has things dedicated to Roger. Even if Rafa wins 25 Majors i think they will consider Roger the ultimate player.
Djokovic Fogini soderling berdych kyrgios and some others have mouthed off about Rafa, they end up getting a beat down time and time again.
I suspect now Rafa has tied Roger he would actually like to focus on turning the h2h round against djokovic. Shame they wont meet in miami. Djokovic would be favourite but i have sneaky feeling Rafa would have him .
Goran just the gift that keeps on giving.
 
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