If Djokovic loses in straight sets to a qualifier on his best surface how can he have been a lock to win a slam?
- Thread starter intrepidish
- Start date
martinezownsclay
Hall of Fame
Actually I was thinking Olympics, U.S Open, WTF. So yes one was indeed a slam.
Because the qualifier has always showed great potential and played a great match against the #1 who, due to lack of play, was not at his very best though he did play very well. Well played, deserving qualifier win. Good for him!
zagor
Bionic Poster
Fair enough but that's the only slam he didn't win last year. It's also his 2nd worst slam and he faced the unique pressure of going for CYGS. Keep in mind that Med didn't show the same form at AO either, he was zoning in USO and blitzed through the draw (and yes I know the draw was easy but still).
martinezownsclay
Hall of Fame
I said 55-60% so I didn't say he wouldn't have won the Australian Open. I just don't see it as a certainty.
And FWIW Djokovic 100% wanted to win the Olympics. WTF is debateable to its personal urgency, but there is no question he wanted to win both the Olympics and US Open and failed to win both.
ihitlikeagirl
Semi-Pro
if Djokovic lost to a qualifier in Dubai, he could and would anywhere. Which includes AO22. Under any conditions: quarantine hotel, not quarantine hotel, pandemic/not pandemic, having had covid/having not had covid/having faked having covid...
No one ever is a lock on anything. If they were what point would there be to watch sports? I do find it pretty funny though that this was the outcome for him or that people on this site waste time speculating about outcome of phantom matches not played/never would have been played.
No one ever is a lock on anything. If they were what point would there be to watch sports? I do find it pretty funny though that this was the outcome for him or that people on this site waste time speculating about outcome of phantom matches not played/never would have been played.
Incognito
Legend
Incognito
Legend
You sound mad jello, old fruit.
eww he looks like he has tiny one, that’s why he never won Wimbledon like Sir Andy Murray.
Subway Tennis
G.O.A.T.
Agree. I would say at this stage of his career he values an Olympic singles gold medal over every other individual title except another major.
vex
Legend
Spoiler alert: he wasn’t and it was obvious to anyone who was watching him limp thru close matches the last year
intrepidish
Hall of Fame
zagor
Bionic Poster
Not as a certainty but a strong favourite, and a near certainty against Nadal.
It doesn't matter if he wants Olympics, he always plays like crap there. Maybe he wants it too much, who knows. Either way not something I'd give to much weight when considering his AO chances.
intrepidish
Hall of Fame
I would assume everyone here discussing the match also watched the match.
Yes but he actually played the full tournament and was obviously tired afterwards (and didn’t really care about a 500). For Novak this is his first tournament in a long time. He had no reason to not go all out. The only excuse is the lack of rhythm, which would’ve also been the case at the AO
Breakpointerer
Legend
Don't know how he would've done at the AO, but I just wouldn't draw any conclusions from a loss in a Bo3.
intrepidish
Hall of Fame
Djokovic should have been better off in Dubai since he had extra time to prepare and was not sleeping in a detention center before and during the tournament.
Also, his well documented 'case of COVID' is further in the past which would also presumably make this a better period for him than AO 2022 would have been.
PURETENNISsense
Professional
Guy hasn't played much competitive tennis this year with all the stuff going on.... is he not allowed to lose a match? Did anyone watch this match? Did Jiri not play well?
Confidence is a big deal for the top guys and not being able to play a lot makes a big difference. Vessely has already played 6 events this year!
intrepidish
Hall of Fame
Sure, he's allowed to lose a match, Jiri played well and Novak may have had a lot going on. Did you notice however that Novak had a lot going on at the Australian Open as well?
Do you imagine that sleeping in a detention center, being actively hated by more people than ever and supposedly just having had COVID would have made for a less 'unusual' tournament than this?
PURETENNISsense
Professional
Absolutely a valid point.
I'm sure he's trying to get the tennis in when he can now that tournaments are having Vax rulings.
Besides getting the vaccine which he doesn't believe in. What else can he do? Play the tournaments he gets into and hope for some confidence where he can make it.
intrepidish
Hall of Fame
Yes, all good points and that analogy didn't make much sense in the first place given the context here.
Alfred Chicken
Rookie
Based on the vague phrasing of your original post, I took it as a read that you meant a very specific court rather than hard courts in a general sense, especially as the term "hard court" wasn't even hard-coded in your previous comments, at least up until post #59.
nadalvamos
Rookie
he would have lost to Nadal or Med if he played. Only Novak fans would say he might have won despite his form being terrible, losing to a qualifier? come on. be real. he would have lost to Nadal or med.
Alfred Chicken
Rookie
An astoundingly pronounced phantasmagorical image of my humble & irrelevant in equal shares cisgender self, but no thanks.
Similar threads
