Why doesn't Novak take his foot off the gas?

[sumithar]

Given the gap in his resume that's the missing French Open why didn't Novak ease up on IW and Miami and save his energy for the clay court season?
Yeah, he is making an assault on as many of Roger's records as possible and doing the IW-Miami bifecta twice is one such record- but is it worth it?

Doesn't he get those exemptions for missing the odd tournament here or there due to his years on the tour? Or would it be glaringly obvious if he exited a tournament at an early stage?

 

[insideguy]

Given the gap in his resume that's the missing French Open why didn't Novak ease up on IW and Miami and save his energy for the clay court season?
Yeah, he is making an assault on as many of Roger's records as possible and doing the IW-Miami bifecta twice is one such record- but is it worth it?

Doesn't he get those exemptions for missing the odd tournament here or there due to his years on the tour? Or would it be glaringly obvious if he exited a tournament at an early stage?

I think he can step off gas in clay season. He will only play two masters. My hope is he only plays one. But like I said before I think sometimes we overestimate how taxing these tournaments are on these guys.

 

[President]

I think he can step off gas in clay season. He will only play two masters. My hope is he only plays one. But like I said before I think sometimes we overestimate how taxing these tournaments are on these guys.

This, it is nearly 2 months till Roland Garros begins. I don't think what he does right now has much, if any, bearing on his energy levels in early June.

 

[Zoid]

Given the gap in his resume that's the missing French Open why didn't Novak ease up on IW and Miami and save his energy for the clay court season?
Yeah, he is making an assault on as many of Roger's records as possible and doing the IW-Miami bifecta twice is one such record- but is it worth it?

Doesn't he get those exemptions for missing the odd tournament here or there due to his years on the tour? Or would it be glaringly obvious if he exited a tournament at an early stage?

because he will be recovered from miami by friday

 

[Mainad]

Novak is a man obsessed. He is terrified that if he ever loses a match he will never win one again!

 

[sumithar]

because he will be recovered from miami by friday

Oh, I don't know- he'll be 29 in a month or so, I think recovery periods get longer as you age. And as has been mentioned plenty of times, 29 seems to be the age at which they fall off a cliff- Roger, Rafa and Sampras have just the one Slam since, right? (tho Agassi wasn't susceptible to that, it looks like)

Absolutely not implying it will happen and hoping nothing of the sort does- I guess they know their bodies the best!

 

[swordtennis]

I do not know op. I have been questioning his balls to the wall AO up to the French Open for the past 4 years.
It is some kind of mania or something.
I think it is rooted in that he loves all the events from the AO up to the French Open.
AO, IW, Miami, MC, Rome.
All of these are arguably the most difficult and taxing sequence of tournaments on the annual schedule.
However after all these years coming up short you would think team Djokovic would mix it up or something.
Every year he loses makes it that much more difficult to win.
He will prob go out and win Wimbledon comfortably this year after failing at the French Open.

 

[BeatlesFan]

Nole not taking time off and winning everything reminds me of Agassi in 1995. Andre swept everything in the American HC summer season only to lose to Pete in the USO finals. Andre later wrote that he had overplayed and he paid the price in the final of the USO final (never mind that he was Pete's pigeon there anyway).

Nole should have skipped Miami and gone home MC to start clay prep. A 6th Miami trophy means nothing on his resume. The only thing he should be focusing on now is RG.

 

[dunlop_fort_knox]

he operates on a higher plane. don't worry about novak. he will be fine for Paris. just fine.

 

[Deleted member 743561]

I do not know op. I have been questioning his balls to the wall AO up to the French Open for the past 4 years.
It is some kind of mania or something.
I think it is rooted in that he loves all the events from the AO up to the French Open.
AO, IW, Miami, MC, Rome.
All of these are arguably the most difficult and taxing sequence of tournaments on the annual schedule.
However after all these years coming up short you would think team Djokovic would mix it up or something.
Every year he loses makes it that much more difficult to win.
He will prob go out and win Wimbledon comfortably this year after failing at the French Open.

Which would result in the most regret? Giving your all, and racking up the wins while they're there... or, taking yourself out of the game, riding the pine... only to get rusty, and miss the most coveted prize anyway. With this approach, he keeps taking titles along the way.

 

[NuBas]

Greed, he has a goal in mind.

 

[GabeT]

Hoy does skipping IW or Miami help him in any way for RG? At that level of performance you can't just skip playing for a couple of months and not have it affect your game.

 

[MichaelNadal]

Why should he when he knows he can play his D game while half drunk in the heat and count on a weak-era mug to flub a volley in winnable sets?

 

[ST_spitzertelescope]

Nole not taking time off and winning everything reminds me of Agassi in 1995. Andre swept everything in the American HC summer season only to lose to Pete in the USO finals. Andre later wrote that he had overplayed and he paid the price in the final of the USO final (never mind that he was Pete's pigeon there anyway).

Nole should have skipped Miami and gone home MC to start clay prep. A 6th Miami trophy means nothing on his resume. The only thing he should be focusing on now is RG.

Agree but perhaps he just sees it in the light of wanting to continually play in order to keep his form?

I can't think of any other reason

 

[Deleted member 688153]

Hoy does skipping IW or Miami help him in any way for RG? At that level of performance you can't just skip playing for a couple of months and not have it affect your game.

True. People forget this.
Taking time off the game is not often a good thing - I'm worried about Federer to be honest.

 

[Midaso240]

He's signed up for Madrid,so this means he will play 3 clay tournaments and then the French Open? Should he achieve satisfactory results in the first ones,he should skip Rome

 

[Enga]

Because the point of tennis is to win? Maybe statistics obsessed fans wouldnt understand. You dont think about slams that are months or weeks away. You schedule a tourname t, you show up, and you do your best to kick ass because anything less is a crap out.

 

[Zoid]

I do not know op. I have been questioning his balls to the wall AO up to the French Open for the past 4 years.
It is some kind of mania or something.
I think it is rooted in that he loves all the events from the AO up to the French Open.
AO, IW, Miami, MC, Rome.
All of these are arguably the most difficult and taxing sequence of tournaments on the annual schedule.
However after all these years coming up short you would think team Djokovic would mix it up or something.
Every year he loses makes it that much more difficult to win.
He will prob go out and win Wimbledon comfortably this year after failing at the French Open.

Is he losing based on fitness? Or just the other guy playing better on the day? Fed 11 played amazing, Wawrinka played great last year, Rafa played great when he beat him in various years -

It's more a case of bringing his best when he needs it at the French, rather than 'burning out'

The guy shapes up fine for Wimbledon afterwards

 

[tennis_commentator]

Given the gap in his resume that's the missing French Open why didn't Novak ease up on IW and Miami and save his energy for the clay court season?
Yeah, he is making an assault on as many of Roger's records as possible and doing the IW-Miami bifecta twice is one such record- but is it worth it?

Doesn't he get those exemptions for missing the odd tournament here or there due to his years on the tour? Or would it be glaringly obvious if he exited a tournament at an early stage?

Because deep down inside he doesn't believe he can win Roland Garros (that is clear every time he plays a final there), so he's going to try to win everything else.
Only real men win Roland Garros.

 

[TheMaestro1990]

The FO is still almost two months away. I think playing these tournaments won't hurt him. Either way, he won't have to play 100% to win nowadays so I can't really see it affecting him.

Will he skip Madrid this year? If so, I think it's good choice. Two clay court Masters is enough and if he skip Madrid it will give him time to rest and relax mentally.

 

[Mainad]

The FO is still almost two months away. I think playing these tournaments won't hurt him. Either way, he won't have to play 100% to win nowadays so I can't really see it affecting him.

Will he skip Madrid this year? If so, I think it's good choice. Two clay court Masters is enough and if he skip Madrid it will give him time to rest and relax mentally.

Don't think so. I think he will play all the clay Masters to get as many matches on clay as possible ahead of RG. He is determined not to risk another repeat of last year.

 

[GabeT]

Because deep down inside he doesn't believe he can win Roland Garros (that is clear every time he plays a final there), so he's going to try to win everything else.
Only real men win Roland Garros.

Come on TC. You can troll better than this! Don't let us down.

 

[Deleted member 410229]

Because deep down inside he doesn't believe he can win Roland Garros
Only real men win Roland Garros.

So it seems novack has some sense in him after all.

 

[Poisoned Slice]

Because he is the bone cracker.

 

[Rjtennis]

So far in his career it doesn't seem like we have seen a lot of losses due to burnout, but I totally get what the op is saying. Hopefully he plays a light clay court schedule. I'm not sure Novak has a ton of competition for the RG title outside of his own nerves and a big hitter who catches fire (i.e. Stan, Theim). I really can't see any of the big 3 taking him out if he is healthy.

 

[TheMaestro1990]

Don't think so. I think he will play all the clay Masters to get as many matches on clay as possible ahead of RG. He is determined not to risk another repeat of last year.

Oh ok. Guess there's a risk then that he could get tired at the end of RG. Also depends the kind of matches he faces in the tournament.

 

[swordtennis]

Which would result in the most regret? Giving your all, and racking up the wins while they're there... or, taking yourself out of the game, riding the pine... only to get rusty, and miss the most coveted prize anyway. With this approach, he keeps taking titles along the way.

Just what is that perfect balance? That is the question. maybe he is playing the perfect amount. Last year he looked really uncomfortable the whole french open. At Wimbledon the opposite.
Maybe he has to lose the french open to win Wimbledon. Djokovic has always needed suffering for motivation.

 

[Rina]

He's signed up for Madrid,so this means he will play 3 clay tournaments and then the French Open? Should he achieve satisfactory results in the first ones,he should skip Rome

Why, on earth, is he playing Madrid? Madrid hates him, he hates them, he doesn't need Madrid at all. I hope he ditches it at last minute. Maybe that is why he signed, so he can ditch them with some lame excuse? It would serve them right.

 

[Djokovic2011]

Because deep down inside he doesn't believe he can win Roland Garros (that is clear every time he plays a final there), so he's going to try to win everything else.
Only real men win Roland Garros.

Well, I guess if he's never gonna win Roland Garros then winning everything else will have to do!

 

[Rina]

because he will be recovered from miami by friday

I figure by Tuesday not counting jet leg, add a day for that! Serb doesn't need to recover, beasts by nature!

 

[patebon]

has been bookmark, this seems like a very interesting thread

 

[4-string]

He's killing the entire tour, without much resistance anywhere. No wonder he just keeps going.

Easy money, easy titles.

For Djokovic anyway, not that I could do it. [emoji3]

 

[fednad]

If he takes his foot of the gas, then gas will get released.
He does not like smelly farts, perhaps.

 

[beltsman]

Given the gap in his resume that's the missing French Open why didn't Novak ease up on IW and Miami and save his energy for the clay court season?
Yeah, he is making an assault on as many of Roger's records as possible and doing the IW-Miami bifecta twice is one such record- but is it worth it?

Doesn't he get those exemptions for missing the odd tournament here or there due to his years on the tour? Or would it be glaringly obvious if he exited a tournament at an early stage?

He's not expending any effort to mop up these weak era tournaments. Nobody can even make him break a sweat, so why not go win them?

 

[SpinToWin]

He could take it off the gas and still win the way things are going now.

 

[tennis_commentator]

Well, I guess if he's never gonna win Roland Garros then winning everything else will have to do!

Yeah better than nothing.

 

[Gazelle]

What's the bet that he legitimately doesn't use this thing at all?
That he's actually just a freak of nature?
That's where my money is.

I think there's a very good chance he honestly hasn't touched anything dodgy.
There are very few things that the right diet and exercise won't do (plus some good genetics).

His parents don't look that special physically, nor do his brothers, so I doubt he's a freak of nature. Nothing extraordinary in the Djokovices' genes.

 

[Deleted member 688153]

His parents don't look that special physically, nor do his brothers, so I doubt he's a freak of nature. Nothing extraordinary in the Djokovices' genes.

As far as I'm concerned there is no reason to believe anything other than that he is simply an incredible player.

He wins because he is that good, same as Federer did.

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

he tries...

 

[BVSlam]

You know you're dominating when people think you should skip tournaments because you'll win them anyway and therefore overplay.

 

[PeterHo]

Its 2 months away from RG so novak is fine.

If he is playing long matches then it might be a worry, but hes killing everybody in straights.

Skipping one of the clay masters is enough.