Borna Coric Clarifies: I’m Not The Best Of My Generation, But I Have The Best Ranking

Knowing the indian media and about times of india.. Coric statements are twisted.

January 7th, 2015 at 1:15 pm

Don’t change, Borna! There’s nothing wrong with self-confidence and a little cockiness, especially in sport! Don’t let them get at you!
Just look at another cocky youngster who was criticised for his arrogance while all his contemporaries were “classy” and knew their place!
Where is he, now? Where are they? :D

January 7th, 2015 at 1:43 pm

Djokovic has an interesting thing going on where he spots real promising top young talent like Cilic, Dimitrov, Raonic, unranked for now juniors, and now Coric and invites them to practice with him and hang out. Rafa and sometimes Fed will do this at a tournament, but not near the frequency of Djokovic.
Coric just finished a week with Nole as his practice partner and guest.

January 7th, 2015 at 2:20 pm

Making sure to assess all the weakness before a wild early round upset!

January 7th, 2015 at 2:45 pm

Even within the out-of-context quote, I don’t really see his statements as problematic (except for the ‘best of my generation’ portion, for which I think his explanation makes perfect sense). To me it seems totally natural for a young player to assess his own style in terms of contemporary champions. I mean, I suppose Murray might not appreciate the side of the comparison he’s on, but is there any knowledgeable tennis fan who can’t make sense of the analogy? Some people are just bent on finding something to criticize.

chris ford1,

I may be mistaken, but I was under the impression that this has been Fed’s MO forever as well, particularly at private training sessions outside of tournaments. You may be right regarding frequency, though; I’m not trying to argue with you.

January 7th, 2015 at 3:03 pm

mat4,

I just went through yesterdays news, it was Christmas day and I was busy with the other things, I want to express my deepest condolences to you and your people for that terrible act of terror that happened in your country. Beeing writer yourself and free speach loving person it must feel even harder on you.
May their souls rest in peace.

January 7th, 2015 at 5:18 pm

“Just look at another cocky youngster who was criticised for his arrogance while all his contemporaries were “classy” and knew their place!”

That other cocky youngster you’re referring to never disrespected his elders though. Only his mother did ;)

January 7th, 2015 at 5:43 pm

chris ford(1) : it’s nice to see Djokovic following the example of Federer who has been working with youngsters for many years both prior to tournaments and in training blocks between them.

January 7th, 2015 at 6:19 pm

‘Just look at another cocky youngster who was criticized for his arrogance while all his contemporaries were “classy” and knew their place’:

Errrrr…… has Novak not been anything but completely respectful to his elders such as Fed and Rafa?

Even the other day citing them still as great and challengers?

He must have saved the cockiness for others since towards those 2 he’s been all about respect, admiring them and talking of how much of a benchmark they are for him and the game.

Even elders such as Safin, Nalbandian, Agassi etc he’s shown respect towards. I don’t know where he displayed this ‘cockiness’ and to whom.

-‘Where is he, now?’:

On the trail trying to get to their level (fedal)(see post Wimbledon interview, pre Canada Open).

Once again: lacking in cockiness but oozing admiration for them.

-‘Where are they?’:

Last I heard one was tagged as the GOAT of the game, and the other was being mused by the media as whether he can win a 2nd career slam, 15th Grand Slam overall.

Based on that: wherever they are, I doubt they’re doing too badly. Nor would they swap their positions for others I imagine in the grand scheme of things. Yeah: wherever they are seems to be the best place to be since it seems to command everyone’s respect without question.

And certainly no one would be ‘cocky’ towards them since even idiots know which players to show the attitude towards.

And Novak ain”t no idiot. He’s a consumate professional, who’s a great champion in his own right whose also probably the nicest when he suffers a loss towards the victor. Cocky, I think not.

January 7th, 2015 at 6:21 pm

Re Borna:

A fan of his talent. I give him the benefit of doubt and trust him when he say’s he’s been misquoted.

Not the first time the media sensationalize something to generate the $$$$.

And to be honest: the tour as a whole has excellent professionals who rarely would say something this ridiculous.

The ego to say you like Novak at your best and when your poor you play like a 2 time Grand Slam winner:

Come on now, that’s ridiculous.

The writer and the publisher should be ashamed of themselves for heaping this uncalled for media attention on a teenager who is just trying to build himself a career.

It’s ridiculous how for some the truth, integrity matters little in the face of a quick, rotten buck.

January 7th, 2015 at 6:25 pm

Brando: you got hold of the wrong end of the stick. When I asked “Where are they?” I wasn’t referring to Roger or Rafa, but to all the other players who knew their place and were very happy and evenhonoured to lose to Fedal, and entered the court waving a white flag. :)
Novak was criticised widely then for even daring to dream about becoming #1…
I’m talking about 10 years ago, I know Novak is conmpletely transformed now, he is a statesman now, he has matured in front of our eyes. So

January 7th, 2015 at 8:20 pm

Sorry, my post got posted half way there…

All I have to say is that these children are very young. Borna was 17 when he said that about Djokovic and Murray. 17!!
Can we cut them some slack and just watch their tennis?
I don’t see the same animosity towards Kyrgios, for instance, and it’s not only him, but his brother andm other who behaved behaved in a less than exemplary way, imo. Yet, my point still stans: shall we just watch their tennis instead of police every single comment they make?

January 7th, 2015 at 8:28 pm

LOL
Forgive all he typos. I’m in the middle of something. I think I better leave and come back when I have more time, this is embarrasing! :))

January 7th, 2015 at 8:29 pm

i see popsicle served foggy a bagel.

(perhaps only to tennis fans that sentence makes sense?)

January 7th, 2015 at 11:35 pm

and Dodig manhandled the Rafa beater…Boom!
It will be interesting to see how Nole handles Dr. Ivo….don’t think it will be a problem…but the Dr. seems to give everyone trouble at times.
Raonic through @ Brisbane..

January 7th, 2015 at 11:47 pm

LOL @jane :)

January 8th, 2015 at 12:01 am

actually dr ivo is 2-1 over nole, so yeah skeezer, who knows? he’s a tough cookie to break.

and autofilter, there are more of course: “the key and the dog win at doubles”, “baggy plays challenger at happy valley”, etc… ;)

January 8th, 2015 at 1:06 am

i guess it’s 1-1. i thought they’d played more than twice!

January 8th, 2015 at 1:09 am

jane, they play in 2005, Madrid Masters qualification and Dr Ivo won 6:4 6:4, I don’t know why that one is not listed on ATP site, but you can find it on stevegtennis.com so it should be 2:1 for Dr Ivo.

January 8th, 2015 at 1:20 am

WB:

It was a horrible, shocking thing.

But I don’t want to write about such things on a tennis blog. I write often on other, political blogs, and my views are very clear, and I guess there are the views of any normal, sane person.

It is a terrible thing when ordinary persons have to pay the price for the unreasonable decisions of the ruling elites. It is a terrible thing when “democracy” becomes a system without people and against the people.

January 8th, 2015 at 4:46 am

@mat4
I’m not going to dwell either but just wanted to say how horrified I am at these shocking murders. My heart goes out to the people of France, especially Paris.
As Jon Stewart said, brilliantly, “comedy shouldn’t be an act of courage.”

January 8th, 2015 at 8:35 am

thanks wog boy; these matches with big servers are always so tense!

mat4, margot, wog boy: i agree – just devastating. :/

January 8th, 2015 at 10:35 am

Nole & Dr. Ivo in a third. TB battles so far.
—
@mat4
Take care over there.

January 8th, 2015 at 11:09 am

ivo is playing well: serving and volleying, also mixing it up with slices and low chip returns. nole’s coming forward a lot too. interesting battle. nole not able to break. it’s anyone’s match right now.

January 8th, 2015 at 11:11 am

Damn, Karlovic is playing incredible well, he made an amazing passing shot to break. Leading 4-3 third set and if he keeps serving the way he has, he will get the win.

January 8th, 2015 at 11:20 am

ivo remains unbroken. 5-3 in the third. it’s okay methinks. nole’s gotten in a few good matches, including in doubles. he can head to australia and practice.

January 8th, 2015 at 11:25 am

So, let’s summarize 2015 so far:

– Ivo is beating Nole
– Fed almost lost to the #153
– Rafa lost to a qualifier

The AO gets more interesting by the day.

January 8th, 2015 at 11:27 am

Golden era no more…

January 8th, 2015 at 11:29 am

Ivo just needs to add Andy & Rafa as notches to his belt. He hasn’t been able to beat those two yet.

January 8th, 2015 at 11:32 am

Djokovic is pissed of to lose this match. He threw his cruet on the floor, hit a ball to a lines judge, a lot of frustration to lose a match he shouldn’t.

But that is the problem with this giant servers, when they are on a good day, a lot of aces and un returnable serves. But Djoko had game point in the game he was broken, at least he should have made it to another TB. Well, this doesn’t matter much on a quick court like this and losing to Karlovic on a good day. No match rhythm, but of course a title prior to AO wouldn’t harm him at all. Opening for Ferrer and Berdych.

January 8th, 2015 at 11:32 am

totally daniel; he did play really well. even from the back of the court, although he really shone up front. i think his serve is better than raonic’s no? he does more with placement. raonic’s might kick up higher though. also, ivo’s returning today was strong even. i would be happy for him to win the event, he seems like such a nice guy. although ferrer and berdych still remain.

January 8th, 2015 at 11:32 am

Its funny Dr Ivo has arguably the worse BH on tour. But other parts of his game is so big that when he is playing well…… he can beat anybody.

January 8th, 2015 at 11:36 am

Something like 21 aces. Djokovic had a lot too until the third set. How many match points did he blow?

January 8th, 2015 at 11:40 am

Isn’t the AO surface going to be a lot slower than Doha?

January 8th, 2015 at 11:45 am

I don’t think Djoko had MP. He saved a set point on Ivo serve when 5-6 second set tiebreak, level to 6-6 but lost two pints. Than at 3-3 he had game point and lost 3 straight points to be broken. Credit to Ivo because Djoko made a decent volley in the back of the curt and Ivo made a DTL FH passing shot winner that I thought he didn’t have it in him. Djoko also mused this match to serve and volley a lot since there were hardly any baseline exchanges. Aparto from the moments Djoko lost his temper he should be fine by AO specially with his draw. Best of 5 on that courts where he is most successful only a few could beat him there (Wawa once in the last 4 years). Can’t see Nadal beating him there and Fed maybe if he reaches final depending on form and if his matches are long. Maybe Murray will surprise. Will see…

January 8th, 2015 at 11:51 am

Djokovic lost? No information: can someone fills us as outside? Shocked way more than Rafael loss or Rogers near loss!

January 8th, 2015 at 12:00 pm

Joker’s on court behaviour, when he is losing, is absolutely disgraceful. Is he really the #1 player? Well, you could have fooled me.
Grow up joker!!!

January 8th, 2015 at 12:04 pm

ben nole didn’t have a mp that i recall either.

not sure what to make of form/results at these early events; does it predict what will happen at the slam? i am sure sometimes the winner of doha, brisbane, chennai, etc, has gone on to win at the australian but perhaps more often not?

tomic/kei play later, that could be a good one.

berdych and gasquet are on now. didn’t realize reeshard has the winning h2h there. berd’s up and early break though.

January 8th, 2015 at 12:04 pm

there was literally no time between nole’s singles match and the doubles. after a 3 setter with ivo, he’s already playing dubs. quick turnaround. at least he didn’t need a warmup. :)

January 8th, 2015 at 12:14 pm

tough day at the office for nole. :/ oh well, onward and upward.

January 8th, 2015 at 1:26 pm

@brando – I haven’t seen much either, probably due to it being on the last matches of the day down under.

I wouldn’t read much into Djoker’s loss today though. Dr. Ivo is good for a big upset every now and then, and Djoker was likely to come back down to earth for a match or two. I don’t think this effects how he will do at the Aussie Open.

January 8th, 2015 at 1:56 pm

^ affects, not effects (sorry grammar police!)

January 8th, 2015 at 1:57 pm

Giles, you mean he bumps other player on the way to his chair??? That kind of disgraceful behaviour? ( by the way, I noticed you love using over the top words, don’t you? You are such a drama queen…)
Grow up Giles!!!!

January 8th, 2015 at 2:05 pm

@RZ: thanks for info. He faced ivo karlovic: best serve of all time contender. These losses can happen. Ultimately it’s a 250 event: top players don’t care for those. Novak ain’t going to blow a fuse losing here. He’ll be fine. His won AO with 0 matches played prior to it so his doha result is close to meaningless. He’s the closest thing to Rafael at French open on tour at the Australian Open: meaning he’s so above you need to be at your absolute best and still need him to below par at least a little in order to win. He’s the clear best there and for me I see no real contenders on his level.

January 8th, 2015 at 2:12 pm

This is the problem when top players run up against giant ace robots on a hard or grass court particularly on faster courts.

Makes for dull tennis and can ruin draws and choice latter round matchups IMO.

January 8th, 2015 at 2:25 pm

courbon. You should write another love letter to joker. I think maybe he didn’t receive the first one! Lol

January 8th, 2015 at 4:23 pm