Comments on: Wimbledon – Djokovic v Nadal

By: Alex Heyworth

Alex Heyworth — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 13:13:56 +0000

Definitely from the upper rank of Wimbledon finals, but not quite up there with the very best. In my time of watching Wimbledon (going back to before Bjorn Borg came on the scene) Pete Sampras has been the supreme player, although only by a whisker from Federer. Sampras’s performance to win the 1999 final in straight sets was perhaps the highlight of his career, and took tennis to an exalted plane. To quote from the article on the Wimbledon website: “The 1999 final against Andre Agassi was possibly the greatest display of grass court tennis that Wimbledon has ever seen. Sampras had stumbled around the circuit for the first half of the year, winning nothing and looking miserable but then he went through that Lazarus moment as he returned to the grass. He won at Queen’s and then began his campaign for The Championships.

Round by round he gathered momentum until he was ready for Agassi. His fellow American had just won the French Open, he was the story of the moment having hauled himself back from a ranking of 141 and reinvented himself as a champion. Agassi was at his peak. And in the first set he had the temerity to manufacture three break points on the Sampras serve.

That was it. That was the moment Sampras moved from champion to genius. He snatched back the break points and then took off. For a couple of minutes Agassi shook his head and tried to work out what had happened but by then the first set was gone and he was a break down in the second. It was not that Agassi was playing badly, it was just that Sampras was sublime.

“Today he walked on water,” Agassi said later. Sampras said simply: “Sometimes I surprise myself.” He ended the match on a second service ace – naturally.”

IIRC, Agassi was also quoted as saying he had played the best tennis of his life in this match – Sampras was simply better.

By: Edim

Edim — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:18:03 +0000

Djoković is in the zone. Very focused, much fitter (more training, new diet) and amazing emotional stability.

By: biddyb

biddyb — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:24:05 +0000

Fantastic match, although distraught that Rafa lost. He just didn’t seem able to find any rythem and the usual accuracy of his shots seemed to have deserted him, probably because of the pressure from Novak.

Just to make you all green, we have got tickets for the Olympic men’s final next year (at Wimbledon)- yahoo – a great day out to look forward to.

Monopole – I think it was Seles too. I hope she wasn’t stabbed in the shoulder because of it or some of the girlies are in for trouble. Mind you, after watching a couple of their matches and the shrill shrieking that goes on, I would willingly have murdered them. If you let it get to you in a match it must completely destroy your concentration. It isn’t necessary and should be stopped. If they can learn to change their grip/serves/forhand/backhand/volley/smash, they sure as hell can learn to stop making a noise. It is possible to exhale quietly.

By: Marlowe Johnson

Marlowe Johnson — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:14:24 +0000

IIRC it started with Seles…

By: Monopole

Monopole — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 03:01:03 +0000

I also enjoyed the tennis but the continual grunting is distracting to say the least. The women are worse in this respect than the men. (I have no issue with grunting in some other activities but if I go there this comment will be snipped). I can’t pinpoint when grunting in tennis began but it sure wasn’t that much of an issue when I watched the likes of Laver and Newcombe in the 60′s and 70′s. Why do they have to do it?

By: Marlowe Johnson

Marlowe Johnson — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:23:08 +0000

Was anyone else confused by Novak’s reluctance to serve and volley until the second last point? For the longest time he allowed Nadal to passively chip back his serve with deep/slow slices without any fear of reprisal…

I agree with others that both Rafa and Nole push the limits of sportsmanship with their delay tactics, in much the same way that many women do with grunting. (Reminds me of the story about Connors/Gilbert where Connors intentionally prolonged an argument with the umpire so that Gilbert would get cold). One of the things that makes Fed so great IMO is that he doesn’t do any of these things…

By: Alan

Alan — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:41:16 +0000

He is no djoke but he is @DjokerNole on Twitter and quite entertaining.

By: Michael Jennings

Michael Jennings — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:48:59 +0000

A brilliant match between two highly skilled and well conditioned athletes which was a joy to watch. There is now no question Djokovik is the worlds top player. I guess you could say he is no djoke?

By: Vorlath

Vorlath — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 22:17:20 +0000

Between points, you’re only supposed to get 20 seconds. Djokovic goes to the line and starts bouncing the ball. The chair umpires usually let you go beyond 20 seconds if it looks like you’re about to serve. They rarely call you on it. So Djokovich uses this to get more time. He used to bounce it 20 times, but started to get warnings. Now he bounces it about 10 times. In the third and fourth set, he was going above 15 bounces. But don’t think he’s the only player that does cheap trick. Nadal is quite the a-hole too. He makes everyone wait before the match when they come out because the higher ranked player has to go out first. After the match, he often does the same thing just to tick the other player off (though most tournaments don’t have rules for when you can leave). Just to give you an idea, he often makes the other player wait 5 to 15 minutes before the match. He couldn’t do it to Federer for the longest time. But now he gets to do it to everybody… though he has just lost the #1 title, but I’m sure he’ll get it again.

By: Robin Edwards

Robin Edwards — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 20:52:03 +0000

Did anyone follow the Tomic match with Djokovitch? This young guy is something to contemplate. He gave Novak quite a bit to think about. A future champion, in my opinion.