If Djokovic loses in straight sets to a qualifier on his best surface how can he have been a lock to win a slam?

Whilst I think the AO would have been a completely different story from what happened to Djoker in Dubai, if he was cleared to play in Australia, it's possible that an odd result like this could have happened given all the pressure and distraction and less than ideal preparation. He is a mental giant but everyone has a breaking point.
 
FrontHeadlock said:
Why would you not include Nadal's 2005-2007 RG titles?

I mean, I know, why, but the extra three titles is a large reason as to why he's the gold standard. A lifetime record of 105-3 is a win pct. of 97.22%. Meanwhile even if you exclude Djoker's 2005 AO and simply judge him from the same age (19), he is 82-7 and his win pct. is 92.13%. At those percentages a 5% swing is massive.
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Comparing both runs from 2008, is skewed and unfair.
From 2005 is the real one. Thanks for posting the real percentages.
 
FrontHeadlock said:
But aren't you ignoring the circumstances? Having been prevented from playing the AO, and needing to do well to retain his No. 1 ranking, surely he'd have a lot of incentive to do well, no? Are you saying he tanked? Didn't prepare? What, exactly?
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Right on the money.

When Djokovic lost to Sonego in Vienna, he didn't care, because he had accomplished his goal.

In this "two bit tournament" Djokovic had a point to prove, and a position to hold.

He didn't do neither one.

Just another fiasco.

He won't sleep well tonight!
 
One can cogently believe both of these things:

1. Nadal won AO ‘22 fair and square—just like Wilander won the ‘82 French fair and square with Borg noticeably absent from the draw.

2. He probably wouldn’t have won it if Djokovic competed.
 
Kralingen said:
Did you watch the match?

I can't think of too many higher ranked pros who have weapons like the Vesely serve...
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Vasely is inconsistent.
But today, he looked like a mix of McEnroe and Ivanisevic.
Serve, volley, forehand, backhand, you name it, he had it at a high level.
Djokovic didn't play badly, he was just got outplayed, and didn't have answers for that.
No medical timeout, no faked injury, no upping his level.
He just got outplayed.
Vesely was in the zone.
Tomorrow Shapo, we'll see if Jiri can build upon todays victory.
 
It's called easing yourself back into tennis, getting back into form after an hiatus, etc.. This can be quite a bumpy road.

And no one ever has a lock on a slam so the thesis is without merit.
 
Call him Vesely Snipes…
wesley-snipes-blade-1.jpg
 
intrepidish said:
It might have and it also might not have.

The fact that Djokovic lost to a qualifier in straight sets in a tournament where he slept in a hotel and had solid preparation for the tournament stands in stark contrast to the AO where he had just had covid and was sleeping in a detention center.

Anything can happen even in ordinary conditions much less those conditions as you start to get older. Djokovic has lost to players like Istomin and Chung at the AO and has 9 titles in the 18 years since he's been entering the tournament which is awesome but far from a lock.
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A lock is a slang term used to describe a perceived "sure thing". It is not meant to indicate you should bet your house on it or go on about it endlessly after it didn't even begin to happen.
 
This is how it starts.

You're number one, but getting older, getting rusty. You start dropping matches to lesser players, then opponents no longer see you as invincible.

I think Novak is on a slide. Missing IW and Miami won't help.
 
intrepidish said:
If Djokovic loses in straight sets to a qualifier on his best surface how can he have been a lock to win a slam?

Please explain....
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Let's be honest, ANY of the top 3 can loose to some qualifier off on a tear. Happened to each of them. Make Nadal's 13 even more epic that he staved off that outlier stat for so long until this last year.
 
Djokovic was always going to get scudded at the Australian Open this year.

Novak is already at the departure lounge with a one-way ticket to Helsinki.

He isn't passionately against vaccinations, he's just using it as an excuse to chicken out of tournaments where the downturn of his game is now glaringly exposed.
 
TimHenmanATG said:
Djokovic was always going to get scudded at the Australian Open this year.

Novak is already at the departure lounge with a one-way ticket to Helsinki.

He isn't passionately against vaccinations, he's just using it as an excuse to chicken out of tournaments where the downturn of his game is now glaringly exposed.
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Okay, but does that make Tim Henman an ATG?
 
martinezownsclay said:
I don't think he was a lock either. I do think he was an almost lock to beat Nadal if they met. I don't think he was a lock against the rest of the draw though, both Medvedev in the hypothetical final, or the rounds before the semis to Nadal. He is too vurnerable all around at this point, to be a lock anywhere, even Australia. He did lose his last 3 major events before Australia. I still would have given him a 50-60% likelihood if he played mind you. One thing to keep in mind btw is old, way past his prime Nadal seems to be a tougher match up for Medvedev than old, past his prime Djokovic is for some reason, and it is fairly clear.
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None of them were slams. Dude hasn't won WTF/IW/Miami in years and those were some of his best BO3 events, yet he was a match away from CYGS last year.

Heck Nadal lost to Dark Helmet before murdering everyone at the FO in 2020. Reading into Djokodal BO3 results at this point is like gauging Pete's chances at a Wimbledon based on how he does at Queens.
 
He'll never win another Slam. Everyone knows that when a Big 3 member loses in Dubai their career is over at that very moment. Finito.

Next question?
 
intrepidish said:
In 2022, if there are important facts which can't be changed they are:

Djokovic lost the AO 2022 and then lost to a qualifier in straight sets in his next tournament in his return from a case of covid
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I'm sorry but Djokovic's poor performance yesterday can only be explained in one way: he must have caved into "their" pressure and got the experimental, highly dangerous, gene therapy that "they" are forcing people to get in order to avert a cold that has only killed people who weigh more than 750 lbs and are at least 100 years old.
 
Watched most of the match, looked like 3 things happened. Firstly Vesely served amazing. Secondly Vesely was actually very good on the defence which allowed him to open up on his aggressive groundstrokes. Thirdly Djokovic isn't match fit. It's a BO3 and these results happen even during peak seasons.

But a final point, this poster pretends to be one of the smart ones. Always ready to provide his "intellectually astute" comments on every point but looks to me like he's another troll. So yet again I have to use the ignore option. At this rate I'm not sure if there will be any sensible posters left to follow.
 
helterskelter said:
I'm sorry but Djokovic's poor performance yesterday can only be explained in one way: he must have caved into "their" pressure and got the experimental, highly dangerous, gene therapy that "they" are forcing people to get in order to avert a cold that has only killed people who weigh more than 750 lbs and are at least 100 years old.
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Very underrated comment.
 
helterskelter said:
I'm sorry but Djokovic's poor performance yesterday can only be explained in one way: he must have caved into "their" pressure and got the experimental, highly dangerous, gene therapy that "they" are forcing people to get in order to avert a cold that has only killed people who weigh more than 750 lbs and are at least 100 years old.
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I have made a promise that I will not get a cold until futher notice.
 
In theory a Djokovic loss in a 500 is not cause for alarm. He had similar head-scratching losses last year and 2021 went just fine.

With that said, no one in their right mind thought that the return in Dubai this year was a "normal" ATP 500 for Djokovic. This tournament had unprecedented context and importance that can't be ignored.

This was supposed to be the thundering return to the tour where Djokovic re-established order and threw into question the validity of the AO result by reminding everyone of his unchallenged supremacy on hardcourt.

Furthermore, in the current climate, ATP level matchplay opportunities are few and far between for Djokovic. He NEEDED court time. You can guarantee he desperately wanted as many matches as he could possibly get this week and testing his metal in a final would have been his expectation surely.

I know Djokovic doesn't major in minors and all that stuff, but this result was a substantial blow.

What was supposed to be a grand return to the tour this week has ended with a loss to Vesely and the ceding of the No. 1 ranking to his emerging nemesis Medvedev.

There surely must be a feeling in the Djokovic camp that the last four months have been completely wasted. He has pushed tennis to the background and in the process he has flirted with his form in a cavalier but hopefully not irreparable way.
 
Subway Tennis said:
no one in their right mind thought that the return in Dubai this year was a "normal" ATP 500 for Djokovic. This tournament had unprecedented context and importance that can't be ignored.

This was supposed to be the thundering return to the tour where Djokovic re-established order and threw into question the validity of the AO result by reminding everyone of his unchallenged supremacy on hardcourt.
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This is true and people are now overlooking what was becoming a very common narrative among Djokovic supporters that Dubai showed what really would have happened at the AO 2022. And this was even coming from supposedly reasonable Djokovic fans as in the following post after the Djokovic/Khachanov match in Dubai:

Hitman said:
it feel like Djokovic is doing a Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink to the crowd and everyone watching....Like saying "You know what would have really happened, don't you"
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intrepidish said:
This is true and people are now overlooking what was becoming a very common narrative among Djokovic supporters that Dubai showed what really would have happened at the AO 2022. And this was even coming from supposedly reasonable Djokovic fans as in the following post after the Djokovic/Khachanov match in Dubai:
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What a dumb comment from him...

Nadal disposed of Khachanov at the AO as well...

Good news is, he'll be gone till Wimbledon now :-D
 
The_Order said:
What a dumb comment from him...

Nadal disposed of Khachanov at the AO as well...

Good news is, he'll be gone till Wimbledon now :-D
Click to expand...

It was definitely a ridiculous comment and that poster admitted to not even having watched a single match at the AO on top of everything else.

Like I said, that was from a supposedly 'reasonable' Djokovic fan.
 
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