Novak never fail to surprise

Novak in his entire playing days has surprised many pundits by winining 24 slams but yesterday he surprised even more by his loss to player way below in ranking.
Surely 250 is no big title and many will not take it seriously but it look likes writing is on the walls. Seriously if this year he does not play his A game he will not win .
 

gold soundz

Professional
I watched the whole match. Opelka played out of his mind/at a God level, with no dips. It was crazy stuff. Djokovic played very well - the one thing I thought he didn't do which he could have was mix it up more - moon balls, mix the pace up, try weird/extreme return positions, etc.
 

Subway Tennis

G.O.A.T.
I watched the whole match. Opelka played out of his mind/at a God level, with no dips. It was crazy stuff. Djokovic played very well - the one thing I thought he didn't do which he could have was mix it up more - moon balls, mix the pace up, try weird/extreme return positions, etc.
Agree with this. Maybe a slightly more aggressive return position early on would have helped Novak too.

But overall it’s not like Djokovic’s level was down at all. Opelka just played lights out.
 

norcal

Legend
Yeah I don't get the doom and gloom. Never seen Opelka hit his groundies like that, he was going for broke and the shots were landing. He was also hitting his spots with his serve, something he doesn't do as well as Isner did. Except he did this time.

Joker's second serve looks anemic, that was the only obvious flaw I saw.
 

nolefam_2024

Bionic Poster
Yeah I don't get the doom and gloom. Never seen Opelka hit his groundies like that, he was going for broke and the shots were landing. He was also hitting his spots with his serve, something he doesn't do as well as Isner did. Except he did this time.

Joker's second serve looks anemic, that was the only obvious flaw I saw.
5 break points created by Opelka. We nolefams are lucky it wasn't even more dominant win.
 

Genie Of the Bank

Hall of Fame
Opelka should have done the violin after his win.
Maybe the legendary 24 slam violin piece . ;)

tennis-violin.gif
 

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
I watched the whole match. Opelka played out of his mind/at a God level, with no dips. It was crazy stuff. Djokovic played very well - the one thing I thought he didn't do which he could have was mix it up more - moon balls, mix the pace up, try weird/extreme return positions, etc.
nah, this is old novak that should be on the beach sipping on tikila. he's too slow now to return Opelka serve. look for novak to lose in 1st round of aussie open to Basavareddy
 

Federev

G.O.A.T.
Yeah I don't get the doom and gloom. Never seen Opelka hit his groundies like that, he was going for broke and the shots were landing. He was also hitting his spots with his serve, something he doesn't do as well as Isner did. Except he did this time.

Joker's second serve looks anemic, that was the only obvious flaw I saw.

The margins are slim but important. Sometimes a player looks like he’s redlining when there is just a slight opening against an all-time great that he didn’t have before.

Saw it with Fed and Nadal and now Novak.

No one plays in a vacuum. Whatever else can be said about Opelka, this is not prime Novak. And Opelka surely felt that.
 

jackson vile

G.O.A.T.
Hopefully, it’s a wake up call for him at some point, let’s wait and see what happens but I don’t think Andy Murray is the right choice. I just really can’t understand that to any degree.
 

ShahofTennis

Hall of Fame
Look, I'm not a Djokovic apologist, but there's very little you can do when a 6'11 lumberjack is belting serves and groundies into your half of the court. Djokovic was lucky to get so far as a tiebreak in the first set.
 

vokazu

Legend
Opelka should have done the violin after his win.
That means he would have made fun of Djokovic's daughter. Tara asked his Dad to play the violin for her, it's not for mocking the opponent or the crowd.

Opelka gets along well with Djokovic off court, so no way he would do that.
 
Djokovic will drop out of the top 10 after Wimbledon.
2025 is all about wining some titles (big or small) .If he win some trophy ranking will take care itself.
Zerev is a example of that.
Nobody wants to see novak as top 10 player but with no titles to show.
2024 was not a good season (olympic gold was great but .....)
Repeatedmany times and repeat it again
If novak wins 1 title in whole season it is fine but if nothing comes in 2025 he can pack his bags.
 

Subway Tennis

G.O.A.T.
Good luck returning the bombs from 7 ft Opelka from an aggrressive return position.
Absolutely. You get a little bit of help cutting off the angle by standing in, but if he serves at the body you’re in trouble lol.

He really bullied Novak, but there wouldn’t have been many players who could have stopped Opelka in his last two matches. He is playing out of his mind, and if there is any justice he will embarrass Lehecka in straight sets tonight unless the wrist injury flares again.
 
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Sport

G.O.A.T.
Absolutely. You get a little bit of help cutting off the angle by standing in, but if he serves at the body you’re in trouble lol.

He really bullied Novak, but there wouldn’t have been many players who could have stopped Opelka in his last two matches. He is playing out of his mind, and if there is any justice he will embarrass Lehecka in straight sets tonight unless the wrist injury flares again.
I concur with your logico-methodological analysis. After seeing the highlights, I was schoked by Opelka's level. For sure, the outcome seemed to be more the result of Opelka's merit than Novak's demerit. Novak has always owned servebots like Raonic, but the extraordinary thing is that Opelka was playing good even from the baseline, confidently running (despite his mobility limitations due to his lassive height) and executhing Del Potro-like forehands out of nowhere. 10/10 performance from the Big Man.
 
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Subway Tennis

G.O.A.T.
I concur with your logico-methodological analysis. After seeing the highlights, I was schoked by Opelka's level. For sure, the outcome seemed to be more of Opelka's merit than Novak's demerit. Novak has always owned servebots like Raonic, but the extraordinary thing is that Opelka was playing good even from the baseline, confidently rnning (despite his relative mobility limitations due to his lassive height) and executhing Del Potro-like forehands out of nowhere. 10/10 performance from the Big Man.
Agree totally. Wasn’t about servebotting, more about just how good Opelka was playing off the deck. Only so much Novak could do when a guy is taking care of his serve and playing power baseline tennis like that. Just so sad to see Opelka have to withdraw in the final. His wrist injury has recurred too severely.
 
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