Is Novak Djokovic taking advantage of one of the weakest seasons in tennis history?

ARIARAIDEN

ARIARAIDEN

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I know this topic isn't the most favourable topic for many Djokovic fans/****s but it's time someone says what everyone is thinking out loud already: this season is weak. Players outside of the top 5 have been even muggier than usual and even the ones who are known for their domination have fallen in their so called quality. Nadal for starters, someone I totally dislike, doesn't seem to be the same, past-his-peak Federer is even slower than usual lately and murray is quite inconsistent as always.

But don't get me wrong, it's not that Djokovic hasn't improved. He clearly has. But to attribute his spectacular success to his 'sheer talent' or to 'his diet' or to his 'dedication to the game' is just way too limited and narrow-minded. It is my opinion that this year happens to be one of the weakest seasons in tennis history in what already was a pretty weak era to begin with.
 
Weak or not, he has beaten every single opponent in front of him, and pulled through plenty of tough matches, you can't hate on that.
 
Even with a weak field it is remarkable to lose just 1 match in 8 months. Whichever way you put it, Djokovic deserves all accolades he gets, and then some.

That said, the Fed-Nadal decline we have seen was inevitable. The only disappointment is that no one else has risen up. Guys like Murray, Del Potro, Soderling etc have all massively underperformed.

Hence it's likely to be a 1 man show for the next few yrs maybe, and Djoko is on course to having the best tennis season in the history of the game. Incredible stuff!
 
TennisFan3 said:
Even with a weak field it is remarkable to lose just 1 match in 8 months. Whichever way you put it, Djokovic deserves all accolades he gets, and then some.

That said, the Fed-Nadal decline we have seen was inevitable. The only disappointment is that no one else has risen up. Guys like Murray, Del Potro, Soderling etc have all massively underperformed.

Hence it's likely to be a 1 man show for the next few yrs maybe, and Djoko is on course to having the best tennis season in the history of the game. Incredible stuff!
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I completely agree,but I will say his dominance will be helped greatly due to the lack of good,solid competition. Makes what he's been doing not a special as it's made out to be to me.
 
With that kind of logic, one could say that Fed took advantage of Rafa's injuries in 2009 and Nadal took advantage of Djoko hitting rock bottom with his serve in 2010 (while Fed is obviously aging). There is no difference between 2011 and other tennis seasons.
 
Are you the same guy who posted this on other tennis forum and got deleted by mods or you just copied his failed attempt to underestimate Djokovic's incredible year? Both way it's pathetic :)
 
So Nadal has fallen off his game has he? Last year HE won loads of titles when Djoko and Federer were off their games, he's come into this year reaching an incredible amount of finals but Djokovic is just beating him.

I don't get when people insist Novak is getting lucky this season and Nadal is not playing well when Nadal is reaching more finals this year and if anything LAST year was the weak season, since after the AO nadal was the only player who played consistantly good tennis. At least this year Djokovic is constantly coming up against Nadal. Hence there is someone else who is consistant
 
veroniquem said:
With that kind of logic, one could say that Fed took advantage of Rafa's injuries in 2009 and Nadal took advantage of Djoko hitting rock bottom with his serve in 2010 (while Fed is obviously aging). There is no difference between 2011 and other tennis seasons.
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Exactly. One can make those arguments for any player. Many feel Federer dominated the worst field in tennis history from 2004-2006 but it still doesnt take away from what he achived in that period, espeicaly if you ask *******s, the same ones who are now looking to diminish Djokovic's record this year.

Djokovic is kicking ass this season and having one of the best years in history so far. Any other conclusion is sour grapes.
 
Well all the players get their fair share of good and bad luck so all the achievement they get is deserved. Djokovic is playing ridiculously well and his accolades are well deserved.
 
A Weak Season ?

And what would you expect for a strong season ? Just what would make you happy ?

No one player is going to win every match every time they play. You think with all of the dynamick's in today's game that we have a weak season. So
you may as well miss this year's US Open, it may not live up to your exprctations.

On the contrary, not only is this season not over we are in one of the most exciting eras tennis has ever seen.
 
recreationalplayer said:
And what would you expect for a strong season ? Just what would make you happy ?

No one player is going to win every match every time they play. You think with all of the dynamick's in today's game that we have a weak season. So
you may as well miss this year's US Open, it may not live up to your exprctations.

On the contrary, not only is this season not over we are in one of the most exciting eras tennis has ever seen.
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Not in my opinion.
 
Yes, Nole is taking advantage of a relatively weakened field this year...

And yes, Nole is playing some great tennis...

Its both-and, not either-or: the two scenarios can (and do) exist at the same time!

I'm sure the level of competition will improve; Nadal, Murray, Tsonga, and Delpo should get better and/or return to previous higher tennis forms. And there is always hope that another player might join the upper echelon. However, Federer is not getting any younger.
 
NadalAgassi said:
Exactly. One can make those arguments for any player. Many feel Federer dominated the worst field in tennis history from 2004-2006 but it still doesnt take away from what he achived in that period, espeicaly if you ask *******s, the same ones who are now looking to diminish Djokovic's record this year.

Djokovic is kicking ass this season and having one of the best years in history so far. Any other conclusion is sour grapes.
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Perfectly said. I couldn't agree more.
 
By definition, there is no weak season. Unless of course every top player is injured and one isn't. Its like evolution. The game or state of things can't be bad or weak, otherwise we'd still have more players like Rafter, Sampras etc.
 
Isn't Djokovic 8-1 against Federer/Nadal, two of the greatest players in history? That's an enormous statistic right there...he has shown up in every big match.
 
You have to ask, why is this season being painted as weak, what makes it different from last season?

1. Nadal not winning as much. But he's making the finals of most tournaments, he's just losing to Djokovic. So that means Djokovic is better, no?

2. Federer on the decline. Yes, but after the AO last year he was on the decline. He didn't make another slam final that year. This year he made the french final. Plus Djokovic beat him last year in a major and also this year.

So there is no difference other than Djokovic playing much better. You can even say Del Potro being back on tour makes it have more depth.
 
So I am seeing more and more djokovic is dominating because it is a weak season. Someone please define what a weak season is. Is it when one person dominates? When the top players (nadal or federer) lose out before the semis? From what I can see from this season as opposed to last season and even season previous to last, basically the same players make to the semis and finals of the big tournaments (1000 and higher). You almost always see nadal or federer and sometimes murray making it to at least the semis in many of the 1000 and grand slam tournaments in previous seasons no? Hmm this season apart from the recent rogers cup hasn't nadal or fed made it to at least the semis or finals of the 1000 and grand slam tournaments. Its basically the same players dominating within the last several seasons except djoko is on top right now like nadal was on top last year and federer years before but these players would almost always get the good results. From the results of the big tournaments I don't see how this is a weak season cause this would make many of the past seasons weak also. I started seeing more of these weak season thread right around the time both fed and nadal lost out in the rogers cup earlier than usual. I hope these weak season arguments don't stem just because of this one recent tournament because the results have been pretty consistent for the big three in the other big tournaments just that djoko has won all but one grand slam and all but one 1000 since he opted not to play madrid. I say its not a weak season its just the ebb and flow of tennis. Top players rise and fall its inevitable. Taking away from their accomplishments by saying its a weak season is weak. I say just take it like a man and admit when someone is just overall better than everyone else. Last year it was Nadal, before that Fed, now Djoko.
 
ARIARAIDEN said:
I know this topic isn't the most favourable topic for many Djokovic fans/****s but it's time someone says what everyone is thinking out loud already: this season is weak. Players outside of the top 5 have been even muggier than usual and even the ones who are known for their domination have fallen in their so called quality. Nadal for starters, someone I totally dislike, doesn't seem to be the same, past-his-peak Federer is even slower than usual lately and murray is quite inconsistent as always.

But don't get me wrong, it's not that Djokovic hasn't improved. He clearly has. But to attribute his spectacular success to his 'sheer talent' or to 'his diet' or to his 'dedication to the game' is just way too limited and narrow-minded. It is my opinion that this year happens to be one of the weakest seasons in tennis history in what already was a pretty weak era to begin with.
Click to expand...

You open my eyes. Thank you. Now I feel much better.
 
benxten said:
So I am seeing more and more djokovic is dominating because it is a weak season. Someone please define what a weak season is. Is it when one person dominates? When the top players (nadal or federer) lose out before the semis? From what I can see from this season as opposed to last season and even season previous to last, basically the same players make to the semis and finals of the big tournaments (1000 and higher). You almost always see nadal or federer and sometimes murray making it to at least the semis in many of the 1000 and grand slam tournaments in previous seasons no? Hmm this season apart from the recent rogers cup hasn't nadal or fed made it to at least the semis or finals of the 1000 and grand slam tournaments. Its basically the same players dominating within the last several seasons except djoko is on top right now like nadal was on top last year and federer years before but these players would almost always get the good results. From the results of the big tournaments I don't see how this is a weak season cause this would make many of the past seasons weak also. I started seeing more of these weak season thread right around the time both fed and nadal lost out in the rogers cup earlier than usual. I hope these weak season arguments don't stem just because of this one recent tournament because the results have been pretty consistent for the big three in the other big tournaments just that djoko has won all but one grand slam and all but one 1000 since he opted not to play madrid. I say its not a weak season its just the ebb and flow of tennis. Top players rise and fall its inevitable. Taking away from their accomplishments by saying its a weak season is weak. I say just take it like a man and admit when someone is just overall better than everyone else. Last year it was Nadal, before that Fed, now Djoko.
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Well said. You're right Nadal and Federer are making the latter stages very often.

Aussie Open - Djokovic, Federer, Murray all in the semis, Novak takes out Fed and Murray
Dubai - Djokovic and Federer in final
Indian Wells - Nadal, Federer, Djokovic in semis plus Del Potro. Novak beats Fed and Nadal
Miami - Nadal, Federer and Djokovic in semis, Novak beats Nadal
Madrid - Nadal, Federer and Djokovic in semis, Novak beats Nadal
Rome - Nadal, Djokovic and Murray in semis, Novak beats Murray and Nadal. Murray played his best tennis on clay this season.
French Open - Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and Murray in semis.
Wimbledon - Nadal, Djokovic and Murray in semis. Novak beats Nadal.


Belgrade and Montreal are the only titles Djokovic has won where the other top players haven't played or gone deep. Monte Carlo and Montreal are the only big events the whole season that haven't had more than one player go deep. It's STRONGER than many recent seasons.
 
NadalAgassi said:
Exactly. One can make those arguments for any player. Many feel Federer dominated the worst field in tennis history from 2004-2006 but it still doesnt take away from what he achived in that period, espeicaly if you ask *******s, the same ones who are now looking to diminish Djokovic's record this year.

Djokovic is kicking ass this season and having one of the best years in history so far. Any other conclusion is sour grapes.
Click to expand...

I have news for you, *******s are not the ones trying to diminish Djokovic's results this year for the most part. *******s are often the ones trying to cast a negative light on Djokovic's results.

Results are results no matter what the circumstances are.
 
MrFlip said:
By definition, there is no weak season. Unless of course every top player is injured and one isn't. Its like evolution. The game or state of things can't be bad or weak, otherwise we'd still have more players like Rafter, Sampras etc.
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Extremely weak reasoning here!

I don't understand why you and some others are just ill-equipped to make qualitative judgments on the players' forms and level of tennis.

This season's level of play by the top players has been relatively weak, besides Nole.

Nadal's results speak more to this than Nole's does! In previous years Nadal would not have made it to so many finals playing the way he is right now, because competition was stronger than this year's!
 
Clarky21 said:
I completely agree,but I will say his dominance will be helped greatly due to the lack of good,solid competition. Makes what he's been doing not a special as it's made out to be to me.
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Man most of the mens top players are old now. I hope we get a lot of good young talent or some of the mid aged players start stepping their games up.

What's Nole's record now?

but you know maybe it's not a weak field. Maybe everyone is playing good, and he just playing amazing (like old fed). even still what he's doing is amazing. He's bagling pretty good players, and domination damn good players.
 
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cc0509 said:
I have news for you, *******s are not the ones trying to diminish Djokovic's results this year for the most part. *******s are often the ones trying to cast a negative light on Djokovic's results.

Results are results no matter what the circumstances are.
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Maybe for those who are incapable of making qualitative judgements and therefore lack reason!

Circumstances are crucially important, especially when comparing players of different eras or time spans.
 
It's simple.Whenever anyone wins anything it's because it's a weak era. Whenever anyone has won something in the past it was because they had no competition.

The only way we can prove a non weak era is when a tournament ends with no winner. Because everyone was so good that no-one could win. Until that day we know the entire history of tennis has been sickeningly weak
 
DRII said:
Extremely weak reasoning here!

I don't understand why you and some others are just ill-equipped to make qualitative judgments on the players' forms and level of tennis.

This season's level of play by the top players has been relatively weak, besides Nole.

Nadal's results speak more to this than Nole's does! In previous years Nadal would not have made it to so many finals playing the way he is right now, because competition was stronger than this year's!
Click to expand...


Nadal loses early - he's not playing well = weak era
Nadal gets to loads of finals - his opponents are not playing well = wek era
Nadal wins everything like last year where everyone rolls over for him - Nadal is the GOAT = era stronger than diamonds

:? :?

or should that last option be

Nadal wins everything - his opponents are weak = weak era again?
 
There's no way to determine if this is a "weak year". Do you mean that players are putting in less effort than last year? Or that players who were playing quite well last year haven't improved this year?

IMHO, I think the field is stronger than at any other point in history. Maybe last year the overall level was a bit higher, or maybe it was a bit lower. Who knows?

But the reason Djokovic is dominating is that he is playing with rare confidence - the kind of confidence Fed had from 2004-2006 and Nadal had in 2008 and 2010. He's also serving better than Nadal ever has, moving as well as anyone ever has on a tennis court, and hitting his backhand and forehand - both - at a top-five level.

His abilities are posing new problems for even the best players, and they haven't been able to figure out how to beat him now that he has the confidence to play at this level for entire matches at a time. They don't think they can beat him, he doesn't think they can beat him, and everyone's right.

I don't think Djoker has raised the level of play in tennis like Federer did when his power and angles baseline + defense + net play + touch + fantastic serve combination matured in 2004, or as much as Nadal raised it again when he rounded out his game ala Federer in 2008. But beating Nadal five times and Federer three times in six months is pretty good evidence that he's taken the game up another half notch, at least.
 
DRII said:
Maybe for those who are incapable of making qualitative judgements and therefore lack reason!

Circumstances are crucially important, especially when comparing players of different eras or time spans.
Click to expand...

Right. Just like the *******s lack of qualitative judgements when it comes to looking at his results against Federer or his results in general. Most of his wins against Fed or against anybody have come on clay. For somebody that suggests looking at stats and making qualitative judgements why can't you do the same in judging Nadal's stats? Double standard I guess. :confused:
 
Just to remind you and make you sick. Right now, Novak Djokovic is best player on the planet, and there is nothing you can do about this.
 
So if we take Djokovic out of the picture, Nadal would have won most, if not all, the finals he was in, then would it still be a weak field? He won 3/4 slams last year, a clean clay sweep, and some other titles, so is it a weak era then? You need to define why it's weak before you call it one.
 
ARIARAIDEN said:
I know this topic isn't the most favourable topic for many Djokovic fans/****s but it's time someone says what everyone is thinking out loud already: this season is weak. Players outside of the top 5 have been even muggier than usual and even the ones who are known for their domination have fallen in their so called quality. Nadal for starters, someone I totally dislike, doesn't seem to be the same, past-his-peak Federer is even slower than usual lately and murray is quite inconsistent as always.

But don't get me wrong, it's not that Djokovic hasn't improved. He clearly has. But to attribute his spectacular success to his 'sheer talent' or to 'his diet' or to his 'dedication to the game' is just way too limited and narrow-minded. It is my opinion that this year happens to be one of the weakest seasons in tennis history in what already was a pretty weak era to begin with.
Click to expand...

If this year is weak then supposedly next year and the year after will prove it (unless the field never improves).
 
cc0509 said:
Right. Just like the *******s lack of qualitative judgements when it comes to looking at his results against Federer or his results in general. Most of his wins against Fed or against anybody have come on clay. For somebody that suggests looking at stats and making qualitative judgements why can't you do the same in judging Nadal's stats? Double standard I guess. :confused:
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Your post shows you're lacking in judgement.

First off, I'm not a *******, not even close - I just give credit where credit is due.

Second, Of course most of Rafa's wins have come on clay; who would deny that. However, he has also dominated at Wimbledon in the last 4 or 5 years - winning more matches than anyone else (when he played). Nadal also has 2 hardcourt slams under his belt, which shows his versatility.

Third, and most important, you can't look at the stats and make qualitative judgements! The two acts are exactly inverse! Quality deals with 'how' someone is doing; quantity (i.e. stats) deals with 'what' someone has done.

Looking at this year vs last year; it is clear that the level of tennis in the ATP has dropped, except for Nole's level. I would have said this no matter what Nole's record would have been this year. I'm not saying the level is low, but just lower than previous years, and like I said before - Nadal's results speak more to this than Nole's does...
 
imo its really a bit of a weak season. its a mix of both djoker playing better and other pros worser/inconsistent. i mean even nadal and federer play ******** sometimes .. i never saw rafa playing worser than his last match vs dodig
and murray is even more inconsistent... 1 time he nearly beats djoker in a good match than he loses vs young. and the delpo hype is funny too bc actually delpo is nowhere near his usopen winner form. the only consistent + good player this year was djokovic and thats the result of it
 
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gunnd5000 said:
Djokovic can only beat the opponents in front of him he can't chose how good they are. He's doing the job and you can't complain.

He's absolutly pounding Federer and Nadal he has won 2 slams this year.
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So,pounding on an old,past his prime Federer,and a declining,past his prime Nadal is the same as when Novak was having to face those two in their primes? Not even close as we can all see by his record against them before this year.
 
I think Nadal is just having a little bit of an off year as far as form goes, he's not necessarily past his prime.

Federer is a different story obviously... No matter how good you are, you can't stop father time.
 
Nadal's year won't look 'off' if he wins the US Open. It will be the 3rd best year of his career. In fact it might be the 2nd best year of his career if he also wins the World Tour Finals. Should be interesting.
 
There is no denying the fact that Novak is Federer'ing this season.

After all he needs 4 such years to even be on same terms with the almighty and he is just begining his journey.

Let us not discourage the minnow.
 
During the Rogers Cup final yesterday, they showed his stats for the year and the one the commentators were most impressed by was the number of wins against top 10s (16), which was far more than past record winning steaks where players could/would duck top competition between majors. Pretty impressive.
 
BMC9670 said:
During the Rogers Cup final yesterday, they showed his stats for the year and the one the commentators were most impressed by was the number of wins against top 10s (16), which was far more than past record winning steaks where players could/would duck top competition between majors. Pretty impressive.
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Didn't Djokovic play the Serbian Open or some trash like that during his streak? And he skipped Monte Carlo :lol:
 
RAFA2005RG said:
Didn't Djokovic play the Serbian Open or some trash like that during his streak? And he skipped Monte Carlo :lol:
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I assume you're joking by the smiley face. His family owns his home-town Serbian Open. Who wouldn't play that? And he's won 5 Masters Series titles so far this year - a record. No ducking, here.
 
In fact Djokovic is dominating one of the strongest seasons in Open era. Even in his best years '08 and '10 The Great Rafa Nadal didn't reach finals as consistently as this year (8 of 12). And Federer has been on fire, look how close he fought Rafa at RG, like never before! Roger himself for the whole season has been saying that he plays good and feels good, it's just the guys who beat him are playing so great (I mean Tsonga, Melzer, Gasquet and of course the Top 2). Fish is having the season of his life, Soderling is doing great (3 or 4 titles), Almagro too, and almost everyone is fit (Tsonga, DelPo, Davy and other injury suspects). The only disappointment so far is Murray's hc Masters results, but outside it he's been sharper than ever (see AO, MC, Rome, RG, Queens, Win).
And that is not to mention the rise of new generation (Tomic, Raonic, Harrison, Dimitrov). That is as strong a field as I can remember. And Novak dominates it in unprecedented fashion. Now I understand people who started to call him The King as early as in winter, they saw that others couldn't.
 
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