How to beat Djokovic?

[JohnKramer]

It's his inside-out forehand that he hits most of his winners with. The CC forehand is his rally shot, where he pushes his opponents further and further behind until he gets an error or a weak reply to put away.

Btw - I still don't agree with the tactic on the wide Djokovic' serve. I don't think you realize just how hard it would be to try and hit a drop shot, while stretched on your backhand on a 115 mph wide serve - 80+% of the time, he would either fail or give Djoko a very, very easy ball. Less than 5 % he would win outright. 10 % would end up in a neutral rally position. Imo.
As far as aiming for deep in the ad-court, sure - but it would also give more mistakes as the target is much smaller -> not Nadal's style.

I think you didnt get what I was saying. I understand its very difficult to return the wide serve, thats why I said instead of wasting energy, think you are losing that point and play with soft hands towards the net away from djokovic.
If you can hit a backhand return on the wide serve, it would be at the same difficulty level in playing with soft hands.
The goal and intention here is save energy and cut short the running without control that Nadal usually does.
By running too much for such returns Nadal would also give an upper hand to the opponent. Play easy for those types. I think even if he doesnt win the point, he will make djokovic moving there by making him tired

 

[JohnKramer]

Djokovic's game is pretty unidimensional. He loves to receive the same ball over and over again, he feel really confortable against that, and that's why he feels somewhat confortable against Nadal (who doesn't have any effect aside for his constant top spin) and really confortable with big shooters like Berdych and Delpo.

When he faces players that varies the shots, changes the heights of the ball constantly -this means, not giving Nole the same ball over and over again -one hight ball, one low ball, one slice... Djokovic HATES this. This is when he tends to make mistakes and get out of his confort zone.

You think its coincidence that an all rounder cappable of changing effects contasntly like old Roger is able to beat this guy? No, it is not. Why Murray always trouble Djokovic too ?

It's not science guys. I agree with the guy that commented above. He would have been troubled a lot back in the 90s with all the all rounders playing back then.
Instead, he is finding a lot of success in a era where the players doesn't have varity on their shots. Tennis has become very unidimensional with the years, and Djokovic is the king of them.

I agree with you.
One more mistake Nadal does is he hits where djokovic is standing and not away from him. I have seen shots going to exactly where djokovic stands like for 5 consecutive times, by that time djokovic will be in full control and hits a winner.
Nadal needs to change directions....away from djokovic. He should not hit to the place where djokovic stands for 2 consecutive times. If he hits the third shot and beyond...he would be giving the control to djokovic on that rally.

 

[Chanwan]

I think you didnt get what I was saying. I understand its very difficult to return the wide serve, thats why I said instead of wasting energy, think you are losing that point and play with soft hands towards the net away from djokovic.
If you can hit a backhand return on the wide serve, it would be at the same difficulty level in playing with soft hands.
The goal and intention here is save energy and cut short the running without control that Nadal usually does.
By running too much for such returns Nadal would also give an upper hand to the opponent. Play easy for those types. I think even if he doesnt win the point, he will make djokovic moving there by making him tired

I think the reason for our differences in this is partly that I don't see the pressing need for Rafa to save his energy - he's hardly ever looked depleted to me in actual matchplay. And I still do think it's a lot harder to play a drop-shot while stretched on a wide serve rather than taking a swing at it or make a high deep moonball to buy yourself time.
And I presume everyone who plays tennis would agree with that.

 

[Bender]

Rob him of rhythm, make his FH a liability, and keep him running.

That means throwing in junkballs, low slices, and changing direction.

Far from an easy method, IMO, unless that is that is your A game to begin with. Explains why Federer can keep his own against Djokovic, even on a bad day, while Rafa cannot.

 

[Gonzo_style]

try to win last point of the match...

 

[dominikk1985]

there is no strategy to beat novak. novak is super consistent and has no weaknesses. he also is not just a grinder and can hit winners off both wings.

the only way to beat him is to play great tennis for a couple of hours. I feel that federer and even nadal can play better than novak when everything is clicking but they have to play at the limit all the time which they usually can't at this point.

there certainly is no obvious go to strategy like there is against fed (pound BH) or nadal (take balls early and hit hard) because novak just has no weaknesses (but also not extreme strengths like fedals FHs although he can hit winners off both wings).

 

[torpantennis]

...there certainly is no obvious go to strategy like there is against fed (pound BH) or nadal (take balls early and hit hard) because novak just has no weaknesses (but also not extreme strengths like fedals FHs although he can hit winners off both wings).

How wrong one could be. I agree in that there's no MODERN TENNIS methodology to beat Nole, i.e blasting hard topspin all the time. Instead, the strategy against him is from CLASSICAL TENNIS methodologies: Slice, he seriously fails with handling it's low bounce. That's due to his extreme grips, i.e his perfect contact point is high up at shoulder level. At and below knee level, he's in trouble.

So a perfect strategy against Nole: Low bouncing slice setup shot, and then blasting FH to end the point. That's the favorite of prime Federer, too bad he doesn't always use it against Nole nowadays. But when he's in the zone, he absolutely drives Nole nuts with it!

Wonder how Nole would be able to handle Rosewall's slice. :lol:

 

[JohnKramer]

Rob him of rhythm, make his FH a liability, and keep him running.

That means throwing in junkballs, low slices, and changing direction.

Far from an easy method, IMO, unless that is that is your A game to begin with. Explains why Federer can keep his own against Djokovic, even on a bad day, while Rafa cannot.

You are right , attacking his forehand might be the key along with making him run.

 

[JohnKramer]

I think the reason for our differences in this is partly that I don't see the pressing need for Rafa to save his energy - he's hardly ever looked depleted to me in actual matchplay. And I still do think it's a lot harder to play a drop-shot while stretched on a wide serve rather than taking a swing at it or make a high deep moonball to buy yourself time.
And I presume everyone who plays tennis would agree with that.

He needs more energy especially while playing because djokovic with his return game extends the match and one should be patient and have energy until the last point.
I agree with you drop shot from there would be difficult. I play tennis I tried myself on such serves. Even though it is difficult, whenever I placed it properly I used win that point.
Agree with you on another option like high deep moonball when facing wide serves from djokovic. That might be an excellent idea too

 

[JohnKramer]

Maran Cilic couldn't do it.
We need to see if Tsonga can try and defeat djokovic.

 

[ultradr]

Hit more toward more toward middle and more to his forehand. Don't go for angle too many times
unless you are going for winners.

Attack second serves very aggressively.

And hope for the best.

 

[JohnKramer]

Hit more toward more toward middle and more to his forehand. Don't go for angle too many times
unless you are going for winners.

Attack second serves very aggressively.

And hope for the best.

I agree with you...attack forehand, make him run, always hit away from him.
And great serve.

Cilic and Tsonga couldn't do it.

A chance for Raonic to execute and play perfect shots. In Rome he almost did it.

 

[JohnKramer]

there is no strategy to beat novak. novak is super consistent and has no weaknesses. he also is not just a grinder and can hit winners off both wings.

the only way to beat him is to play great tennis for a couple of hours. I feel that federer and even nadal can play better than novak when everything is clicking but they have to play at the limit all the time which they usually can't at this point.

there certainly is no obvious go to strategy like there is against fed (pound BH) or nadal (take balls early and hit hard) because novak just has no weaknesses (but also not extreme strengths like fedals FHs although he can hit winners off both wings).

You are right.
Now he is into semifinals, it is possible he can win FO title whoever the opponent might be.

Raonic used slices very well and earned some points.
But whatever we are discussing here, we don't see any player implementing these ideas.

Especially, Raonic was targeting djokos backhand which was a blunder.
Never ever try to target djokos backhand, as that is his main strength.

The key is to attack forehand. The shots towards djokos backhand side should not be beyond 30 percent of the total shots.

Let's see how Gulbis is going to perform.
We will know if the recent success against federer is a fluke or not by looking at the match against djokovic.
He is definitely talented, all he has to do is return everything and dont hit towards djokovic backhand side.

Slices, attacking djokos forehand, serve and not hitting towards djoko BH side are the key for the Gulbinator,

 

[JohnKramer]

Will there be an upset in Gulbis vs djokovic match.

Let's see.