Djokovic No Joke at US Open
Novak Djokovic made quite a name for himself Thursday night, and not just for his straight set win over Carlos Moya. If you flipped off the tube after the match you missed one of more hilarious moments ever on Arthur Ashe court. ADHEREL
At the urging of USA’s on-court interviewer Michael Barkan Novak went into a few of his player imitations mimicking Maria Sharapova’s pre-serve routine and Rafael Nadal’s run the baseline followed by his infamous ass pick.
Very funny stuff from Novak and it sounded like the crowd ate it up. I know I did and I wasn’t there but it was hilarious to watch on TV. Those Serbs have a thing for drama, don’t they?
If you missed it (or you haven’t heard about it) here’s the footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKj4PdWrK-o
Today, however, will be no laughing matter for Novak. The Serb faces the unrelenting backboard David Ferrer as each attempts to advance into their first Grand Slam final.
Djokovic will have the pressure since he’s failed at this stage in the last two Slams, losing both to Rafael Nadal. Then again this is Ferrer’s first Slam semi.
On paper Novak’s the much better player and has far more firepower, but he’s also more capable of having more ups and downs, whereas Ferrer is pretty much going to try to get every ball back and extend the rallies. If Novak can minimize his slumps and cut down the errors he’ll get through, which I think he will in four sets.
I think Nikolay Davydenko should match up pretty well Roger Federer, but for some reason he really doesn’t. Federer’s 9-0 and has won 15 of the last 16 sets against Davydenko so asking Nikolay to win three sets in one afternoon is asking a little too much.
That said I like the way Nikolay stands on top of the baseline – a la Andre Agassi – and takes the ball early taking time away from his opponents and dictating play. And this time Davydenko should feel better about the match with Federer. Davy’s yet to drop a set all tournament (has he even faced a set point?) while Federer’s last three opponents have been big servers – John Isner, Feliciano Lopez, Andy Roddick – so the Swiss will have to make the adjustment to playing the baseline game quickly.
But this one is looking like three sets and a good NYC dinner tonight for Fed.
As for the women’s final, everything appears to be and should be going Justine Henin’s way. I’d be surprised even if her match tonight against Svetlana Kuznetsova was even close. A 6-2, 6-3 sounds about right.
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