|
|
Post by pupdurcs on Apr 4, 2022 1:21:34 GMT
Carlos Alcaraz just won a Masters Title, The Miami Open at age 18, dethroning Djokovic as the youngest winner of the event in it's history.
As I said earlier , we are witnessing the arrival of the next GOAT level player in Alcaraz. He's young enough, if things go right for him to make a play for the records of the Big 3. He makes all the much heralded Next Gen players (Tsitsipas, Zverev etc) look average, and they're not. It feels like he should be able to win a Grand Slam by next season. I feel he could win one this year.
|
|
|
|
Post by brancaleone on Apr 6, 2022 7:45:58 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by pacinoyes on Apr 6, 2022 12:48:55 GMT
This is a good article - overly optimistic tbh -that sounds like I wrote it - right down to that "5 set thing" - about how right now things maybe favor Novax and how they could favor him as the undisputed GOAT just 3 months from now. And trust me if this happens I'll be quiet and dignified - what - I can do that sometimes, yanno - I'm not a monster after all!! Geesh  I don't think this is likely but with Satan's recent injury and Medvedev's too - Alcaraz is very dangerous but only looming for now - this could be a big chance for Djoker........unless he belly flops and is not able to recapture his form again - which is entirely possible. Djoko will be ranked #1 at RG & Wimbledon 2022 ..... it's an exciting time to be a fan in the next few months with these developments and underlying drama and Ash Barty's retirement too - I would have to consider One Court Wonder the favorite in RG if he's not hampered by his rib though.
Yet if we see anything like peak Novak in Monte Carlo next week, the tennis world will be given a message that he means business.
As he has proved time and again in the majors over recent years, Djokovic is a tough nut to crack in the best of five-set format and by the time Wimbledon ends in the first week of July, the Grand Slam-winning table could conceivably look like this:
Djokovic – 22
Nadal – 21
Federer – 20 www.tennis365.com/atp-tour/djokovic-nadal-federer-goat/ |
|
|
|
Post by pacinoyes on Apr 10, 2022 10:25:12 GMT
What a huge week - Djokovic returns in Monte Carlo - if he can win here - it makes him more possible as a threat to win RG - if he comes up short, it will be yet another disappointment.
If he and Alcaraz win 2 matches they would meet in the quarters - so it is huge for Alcaraz too
|
|
|
|
Post by Kirk-Picard on Apr 10, 2022 15:15:42 GMT
Best is still between Djokovic and Federer.
Nadal just statpadded with an extremely weak clay era with guys like Ferrero,Coria and Kuerten all retiring early and then feasting on some of the easiest US Open draws in history
|
|
|
|
Post by pacinoyes on Apr 12, 2022 14:20:35 GMT
Djoko drops the first set - wtf.........already the upset of the year and that's even if he wins  You just can't turn it on pal |
|
|
|
Post by DaleCooper on Apr 12, 2022 14:41:47 GMT
I think it's fairly expected that Djokovic struggles now as he has barely played a competetive match for five months now. He should play all the clay masters (if he's allowed to) to get some match rythm before Roland Garros . Winning Monte Carlo would of course be great for him, but for him getting time on court to work on his game is the most important thing (it's not looking good today, that's for sure).
|
|
|
|
Post by DaleCooper on Apr 12, 2022 15:03:35 GMT
Djokovic with one of the worst misses I've ever seen right now.
EDIT: Later on Davidovich Fokina hits three staight doubles to gift another break.
EDIT: Then a little bit later on Djokovic decides to run around his backhand what feels to be well outside the court and completely mistimes the shot to gift the break back again. Back on serve, Djoko needs to hold in order not to go out.
|
|
|
|
Post by themoviesinner on Apr 12, 2022 17:20:53 GMT
Djokovic with one of the worst misses I've ever seen right now. You mean this  : |
|
|
|
Post by DaleCooper on Apr 12, 2022 22:19:22 GMT
You mean this :  That was terrible as well. But the one I meant was the volley at deuce when 2-3 down in the second set. Don't have a video of that though, unfortunately. |
|
|
|
Post by pupdurcs on Apr 13, 2022 6:02:32 GMT
 The claims that Nadal somehow won an illegitimate Australian Open Title because Djokovic didn't play are looking dumber and dumber every day. Djokovic is getting trounced by guys outside the top 100 and now losing to like the 7th best Spanish player in first rounds of Masters events. The man is not invincible. Every season starts afresh and so far we've seen this season that Djokovic’s form is awful and he is beatable by pretty much everyone on tour. It's a damn shame that when Djokovic is in poor form, he often isn't even good enough to go deep enough in tournaments to meet a rival like Nadal. Because Nadal this year would feast on Djokovic on every surface. Even in Nadal's worst years in terms of form (like 2015), he was often still good enough to get to quarter-finals or whatever, giving the likes of Djokovic the opportunity to pad their H2H on poor or injured versions of Nadal. Djokovic in his worst periods of form (like 2017) will rarely get far enough in a tournament to get a beating from Nadal. Is Djokovic done? He's an all-time great level player so you can't count him coming back to the level we are used to from him, but it used to be fair normal for players his age (or younger even) to have a sudden massive drop-off in form and never quite get back to their previous level. The locker room has no fear of him right now and everyone sees him as beatable. So yeah, this may be the end of the road for him in terms of winning slams. Who would have thought the walking sick note Nadal, of all the Big 3 might end up having the best longevity in terms of playing dominantly to the highest level. Up until he cracked his rib playing Alcaraz, Nadal was clearly the best player in the world (on form, if not ranking).
|
|
|
|
Post by DaleCooper on Apr 13, 2022 10:01:24 GMT
I don't get why everything needs to be so absolute. In 2018, when Djokovic had missed the last 5 months of 2017 through injury, it took him a good 6 months of going out early in different competetions before finding his form again and then winning 3 slams in a row from Wimbledon that year. I'm not saying the same will happen this year, but the fact that he's barely played a competitive match since November is clearly affecting him. I think the fact that Djokovic lost yesterday means about as much as when Federer lost his first round match in Stuttgart in 2017 after skipping the clay season (he went on to win Wimbledon without dropping a set).
If Djokovic gets back to the top or not is entirely up to if he can find his form (you could see glimpses of it yesterday, although few and far between, but he was also clearly lacking the timing you get from getting matches), and not if the locker room "fears" him or whatnot. I'm sure a lot of people wrote him off mid 2018 as well, not having won a slam for two years while being very beatable in just about every tournament he played - look at how that turned out.
|
|
|
|
Post by pupdurcs on Apr 13, 2022 10:44:25 GMT
I don't get why everything needs to be so absolute. In 2018, when Djokovic had missed the last 5 months of 2017 through injury, it took him a good 6 months of going out early in different competetions before finding his form again and then winning 3 slams in a row from Wimbledon that year. I'm not saying the same will happen this year, but the fact that he's barely played a competitive match since November is clearly affecting him. I think the fact that Djokovic lost yesterday means about as much as when Federer lost his first round match in Stuttgart in 2017 after skipping the clay season (he went on to win Wimbledon without dropping a set). If Djokovic gets back to the top or not is entirely up to if he can find his form (you could see glimpses of it yesterday, although few and far between, but he was also clearly lacking the timing you get from getting matches), and not if the locker room "fears" him or whatnot. I'm sure a lot of people wrote him off mid 2018 as well, not having won a slam for two years while being very beatable in just about every tournament he played - look at how that turned out. Wasn't Federer out for half a year, then in 2017 came straight back to win the Australian Open. Wasn’t Nadal out for a half a year injured with no competitive matches, then played and won a small warm up tourney, then won the Australian Open in 2022. These guys can come back after being injured for half a year and dominate straight away. Djokovic finds it much harder to get back into form after lay-offs or lack of matchplay compared to the other two. But if we are talking about the GOAT level guys, that is somewhat a mark against him that he can't just come back from lay-offs or injury and be dominant pretty much straight away. We'll see if he goes on to recover his best form eventually, but it'll be hard if he keeps losing early against relative scrubs |
|
|
|
Post by DaleCooper on Apr 13, 2022 12:05:43 GMT
I'm not really sure what you are arguing for here, but exactly because Djokovic seems to be slower to return to form after lengthy lay-offs (and injuries) is why we shouldn't look at this match and draw too many conclusions from it. Again, look at how many early round exits he had in the first half of 2018, before finding his groove in the grass season and not looking back from there. I would imagine grass season this year would be when he might find his form again, as while the clay-field is pretty deep, very few players are good on grass.
Whether him not returning fast from lay-offs is good or bad for him in the GOAT conversation I couldn't be more disinterested in.
|
|
|
|
Post by pupdurcs on Apr 13, 2022 13:25:50 GMT
I'm not really sure what you are arguing for here, but exactly because Djokovic seems to be slower to return to form after lengthy lay-offs (and injuries) is why we shouldn't look at this match and draw too many conclusions from it. Again, look at how many early round exits he had in the first half of 2018, before finding his groove in the grass season and not looking back from there. I would imagine grass season this year would be when he might find his form again, as while the clay-field is pretty deep, very few players are good on grass. Whether him not returning fast from lay-offs is good or bad for him in the GOAT conversation I couldn't be more disinterested in. Well, to be fair, this whole thread is a Big 3 GOAT thread, so everything in regards to these 3 players is filtered through that lens and their skillsets (or ability to return from lay-offs) . |
|
|
|
Post by pacinoyes on Apr 17, 2022 18:56:48 GMT
Stefanos Tsitsipas takes Monte Carlo.......he came so close at the French last year.......with Djoko stumbling, the one court wonder hurting.......he might be a smart pick for his 1st Slam this year tbh..... :focal(1245x382:1247x380)/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2022/04/17/3357040-68621068-2560-1440.jpg) |
|
|
|
Post by pacinoyes on Apr 20, 2022 16:21:19 GMT
Djoko about to lose his second straight first round match-up - he dropped the first set anyway to an unseeded player...... Trainwreck time unless he bounces back - he may lose early in the French if this keeps up - he's not getting enough time even playing on clay........ |
|
|
|
Post by pacinoyes on Apr 21, 2022 15:01:49 GMT
Djoko loses first set AGAIN - he has lost every first set or something like in last 4 or 5 tournaments........will probably lose now since he had a tough match yesterday but showing some flashes of hos GOAT level for the first time in 2022.
Wimbledon bans Medvedev btw ........ridiculous......
|
|
cherry68
Based
Man is unhappy because he doesn't know he's happy. It's only that.
Posts: 3,409 
Likes: 1,929
|
Post by cherry68 on Apr 21, 2022 15:20:38 GMT
Wimbledon bans Medvedev btw ........ridiculous...... Yah, I bet he's fully vaccinated... 😒 |
|
|
|
Post by pacinoyes on Apr 23, 2022 14:09:23 GMT
Djoko drops the first set - again wtf - then rebounds to play by far his best tennis of 2022 and beat the best player he's played this year - Khachanov.
So he's in the final in Belgrade........even if he loses.......he's starting to show flashes of his Beast-Mode form .....be afraid, be very afraid...he plays Madrid (so he says) and Rome ........and so does Mr. Claymation back (early?) from his injury - so you could see them a lot in the upcoming weeks - come on get into it!
Madrid starts in a few days...
Today: 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
|
|
|
|
Post by pacinoyes on Apr 24, 2022 12:49:24 GMT
Djoko drops the 1st set again.....it's obviously a huge issue for him with these pathetic slow starts.......may have shot his wad against a notably better player Rublev .........we'll see if he throws in the towel ......
|
|
|
|
Post by pupdurcs on Apr 24, 2022 14:45:39 GMT
"Beast Mode Djokovic " just got bagelled by Rublev in the final set of the Serbia Open in Belgrade. His form is horrible this year. Rublev is one of those "top players" that does nothing in Slams, so if Djokovic is losing and getting bakery products from this guy, he's a long, long way from slam winning form. I think he's going to get toasted by the first decent top player he runs into at the French Open (unfortunately, I don't think he'll get far enough to Nadal for Rafa to give him a spanking) . Finding form at Wimbledon looks like his best chance of a slam this year.
|
|
|
|
Post by pacinoyes on Apr 24, 2022 14:57:21 GMT
Djoko drops the 1st set again.....it's obviously a huge issue for him with these pathetic slow starts.......may have shot his wad against a notably better player Rublev .........we'll see if he throws in the towel ...... Djoko gets blanked 6-0 in the 3rd.......he was way tired too - not even going for some shots.........sort of 1 step forward 2 back - he played his best tennis in 2022 in some of this tournament - but dropping first sets and his conditioning is not there. At best he was like a 7+ of his GOAT form - played a great 2nd set today and last 2 sets a day ago........he'll have a real problem if he's giving away first sets like he has been @ RG On to Madrid and Rome....... 6-2, 6-7, 6-0 todayPossible sea change in RG this year with Tsitsipas and Alcarez........hungry and healthy...... |
|
|
|
Post by pacinoyes on Apr 30, 2022 1:37:36 GMT
Brutal draw today : Djoko (1), One Court Wonder (3) and Alcarez (7) in the same top half of the draw .....Zverev (2) and Tsitsipas (4) licking their chops in the other half
You'd have to guess Tsitsipas vs Nadal I guess but the top half of the draw is so stacked big people could be dropping in the 2nd round
Yikes
|
|
|
|
Post by pacinoyes on May 3, 2022 18:41:37 GMT
Ok, I know things are pretty bad when I'm celebrating a first round win in a tournament he is going to obviously lose to one of the big guns on clay any day now..........BUT he didn't drop the first set.....that's progress! Let's see if he can get passed the round of 16 in Madrid....baby steps 
Djoko 6-3, 6-2 |
|
:
That was terrible as well. But the one I meant was the volley at deuce when 2-3 down in the second set. Don't have a video of that though, unfortunately.
