US Open 2015: Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs. Feliciano Lopez (ESP) [18]

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 740774
  • Start date Start date

Who wins?

  • Novak

    Votes: 15 30.0%

  • Feliciano

    Votes: 4 8.0%

  • Novak in 3

    Votes: 10 20.0%

  • Novak in 4

    Votes: 10 20.0%

  • Novak in 5

    Votes: 3 6.0%

  • Lopez in 3

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Lopez in 4

    Votes: 5 10.0%

  • Lopez in 5

    Votes: 3 6.0%
  • Total voters
    50
D

Deleted member 740774

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Interesting matchup, but you would think Novak is happy with this opponent. Novak has been fairly convincing so far, only dropping one set, but looked shaky holding serve against Agut. Lopez has to be very happy with himself so far, only dropping sets to Mardy Fish (who must be feeling bad right now, he served for the match against Lopez, who won the next 2 matches in straights). I think Novak takes this in 4, maybe 5, What do ya reckon?

Edit: seems like I forgot a few things
http://www.stevegtennis.com/head-to-head/men/Novak_Djokovic/Feliciano_Lopez/
There's the head to head. Djokovic leads 5-0, only dropping one set, their last meeting was 2012.
 
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I'd think if anything, Fish would feel better knowing that the guy who beat him didn't get dumped out of the tournament the following round. I like Lopez, but I think Djokovic is going to pass him all day. Hopefully they make it to four sets.
 
So does this get the evening match or does Joe Willy and the defending champion?

I'd love to see this in the day which would benefit Lopez at it is going to be ultra hot and fast Tuesday. I believe the stadium is playing fast too. Normally, no chance for Lopez. Lopez took a set in Dubai 2011 from Nole. They've not played since 2012.
 
If Djokovic plays well (apparently a big if these days) he should win this... My guess is he'll clown at least one set away

It will also depend on whether they schedule this as a day match or an evening match... A day match will improve Feliciano's chances
 
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Yes, it would seem easy for Djokovic. Many thought it would be easy for the Fog, as well.
The thing about Lopez, though, is that he never backs off after a few passes or missed volleys - he just keeps on attacking, which, combined with the low slice and an amazing serve, are things that bother Djokovic more than any baseline-game.
 
I'd say Djoko in straights, but since he dropped a set against Agut tonight, he might as well drop one against Lopez too. But that's all.

A 5-setter would be very surprising, and a victory from Lopez is totally impossible.
 
junior74 said:
Yes, it would seem easy for Djokovic. Many thought it would be easy for the Fog, as well.
The thing about Lopez, though, is that he never backs off after a few passes or missed volleys - he just keeps on attacking, which, combined with the low slice and an amazing serve, are things that bother Djokovic more than any baseline-game.
Click to expand...

So Djokovic in 3?
 
tennis_pro said:
So Djokovic in 3?
Click to expand...
At this stage, from what we've seen so far in this tournament, I absolutely think Lopez is a bigger task for Novak than B-A. Djokovic needs to up his game soon if he wants to win this tournament, and I think he knows that, but the lack of tests in his draw holds his game back. If Lopez gets a bad start, it can be over in 80 minutes. If Lopez is on, no one knows. He has a game of his own, which I respect a lot. Novak in 4.
 
I truly admire Lopez. Such a beautiful, clean game. No baseline grinding, no pushing.
Loved his interview after the Fognini match. "Hoenstly I don't know what to do to beat Djokovic, but I wanna play against the best player in the world."

Hopefully he can make it interesting.
 
DelPo2016 said:
Interesting matchup, but you would think Novak is happy with this opponent. Novak has been fairly convincing so far, only dropping one set, but looked shaky holding serve against Agut. Lopez has to be very happy with himself so far, only dropping sets to Mardy Fish (who must be feeling bad right now, he served for the match against Lopez, who won the next 2 matches in straights). I think Novak takes this in 4, maybe 5, What do ya reckon?
Click to expand...
OP, could you (and other match OP's) provide a link to a h2h in the future? It's quite relevant when discussing a specific match. Thanks.
https://matchstat.com/tennis/h2h-odds-bets/Feliciano Lopez/Novak Djokovic - 5-0 to Djoko with Lopez winning but 1 set.

I see a repeat, Djoko in 3-4. Lopez serve will keep the sets somewhat close, but Novak will pound the BH all day and Lopez doesn't hit the ball big enough on the forehand to really hit through Djoko.
 
The thing against Bautista is that Djokovic level of play in itself wasn't even bad, in fact it was very good but the issue came from Djokovic making bad decisions. Nole was being a bit brainless against his opponent by keep going to the FH side when Agut FH was the thing doing heavy damage to Djokovic. At some point they showed stat and Bautista Agut had like 20 FH winners but only 1 BH winner. Nole was being way too stubborn with his play which hurt him more than his level of tennis.

Nole will be holding serve against Lopez a lot easier than against Bautista given the latter can rally better than Lopez whose real threat is the serve in this game(and Novak can handle slices contrary to what people tend to believe, and his rushing to the net won't be a game changer against Nole given the latter ability with passing shots). With insurance of holding much easier, his return game will improve too(not that it was bad against Bautista or anything). I very much doubt this game will go to 4 sets, I'm expecting a 3 sets match wins for Nole
 
junior74 said:
At this stage, from what we've seen so far in this tournament, I absolutely think Lopez is a bigger task for Novak than B-A. Djokovic needs to up his game soon if he wants to win this tournament, and I think he knows that, but the lack of tests in his draw holds his game back. If Lopez gets a bad start, it can be over in 80 minutes. If Lopez is on, no one knows. He has a game of his own, which I respect a lot. Novak in 4.
Click to expand...
Absolutely not. I'd have believed that before watching Bautista match yesterday but after what I saw, the guy will end up being the much bigger threat to Nole due to his roaring FH in the match. Nole was having a hard time, in fact he was having a nightmare due to that FH. Lopez won't be bringing something like that into the match and he isn't much in baseline rally caliber compared to Nole to trouble him on serve. Nole will hold easier against Lopez than Bautista but will have a harder time to break him due to his serve, but Nole has handled bigger serveboat just fine
 
maupp said:
The thing against Bautista is that Djokovic level of play in itself wasn't even bad, in fact it was very good but the issue came from Djokovic making bad decisions.
Click to expand...
That's probably where I was trying to get at in the other thread @tipsa...don'tlikehim!
And bad decisions get punished at this level. And they tend to come more often with pressure.

I don't know.
 
Well RBA definitely deserves a credit for yesterdays perfomance. He brought level that I have never seen before, he played extremely aggresive for his usual style and the forehand was crazy. Hopefully he will produce this style more often, which would make him more fun to watch :-)
 
Algo said:
That's probably where I was trying to get at in the other thread @tipsa...don'tlikehim!
And bad decisions get punished at this level. And they tend to come more often with pressure.

I don't know.
Click to expand...
I understand what you mean, for me it was the consequence of Bautista-Agut putting a huge pressure on him from the baseline which is a rare thing to see, I felt Djokovic was stunned and somehow panicked at times by making bad decisions at the net. Against Lopez I see no threat at all, Lopez will be harmless from the baseline and he is not enough of a good server to trouble Djokovic like Anderson did. Even a better left handed server (Muller) didn't really trouble Djokovic at the Australian open.
 
Algo said:
That's probably where I was trying to get at in the other thread @tipsa...don'tlikehim!
And bad decisions get punished at this level. And they tend to come more often with pressure.

I don't know.
Click to expand...
At some point the commentators even call Djokovic an Idiot(well they worded it differently but the point they were trying to make was to say Nole was being a fool) which I tend to agree with them. Nole knew RBA FH was hurting him and his backhand side was harmless with only 1 winner at some point compared to 20 on his FH side, yet Nole kept feeding Bautista FH for some odd and stubborn reasons
 
My joke post from earlier aside, I do think Lopez would do well to learn from how Federer's been playing Djokovic lately. He has the serve, the slices, the net play... all things that can irk Novak and make the match tricky. Could serve as a good test for Novak too, to see how well he's prepared for Fedman
 
Meles said:
So does this get the evening match or does Joe Willy and the defending champion?

I'd love to see this in the day which would benefit Lopez at it is going to be ultra hot and fast Tuesday. I believe the stadium is playing fast too. Normally, no chance for Lopez. Lopez took a set in Dubai 2011 from Nole. They've not played since 2012.
Click to expand...
Late evening match, Nole in 3.
 
Was I the only one watching that thought it looked like BB's plan for Novak was to go to Bautista's FH and Nole, while executing it, was p*ssed off and letting his box know it?
 
90's Clay said:
Lopez is playing well.. Should make it competitive. At least he knows how to return a tennis ball. Unlike Isner
Click to expand...
Lopez's return games won is only 5% higher than Isner's this year. So there isn't that much difference there. He is playing some nice tennis though.
 
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