Novak Djokovic Says He Couldn’t Ask For A Better Start To The Hardcourt Season, Hints He Might Not Play Cincinnati

This time, he’ll be playing olympics without trying the ball bashing a la nadal style. Novak’s the best and very versatile.

If fed fanatics hate him, then they can cry about old age somewhere else. We all know their idol conveniently avoided playing Novak then excused himself with the old age injury excuse to save Swiss Davis Cup & reduce the pain in Wawrinka’s relationship with him & Mirka. Mockery is so nice when it goes the opposite direction.

August 1st, 2016 at 2:16 pm

Dead Tom…what are you smoking? The score is 63 75…lol

August 1st, 2016 at 2:53 pm

Looks like CF was right, and Cincinnati is not necessarily a priority.

August 1st, 2016 at 3:12 pm

Good, really hope he skips Cincinnati if he reaches the SF’s at Olympics.

August 1st, 2016 at 4:17 pm

BBB & Anki,

That’s why I didn’t understand why people though that Cincinnati, this year, is more important than Toronto preparation wise, apart of being only missinig masters. Forget about name of the tournaments, but if you are gearing up for Olympic games it is far more important to play tournament prior the games with one week break before the games, and then play by ear, dependig how deep you go at Olyimpics wheter you will participate in later one since which starts immediately after Rio final and USO is just around the corner again.
I am glad he played Toronto and won it, which ties hip up with Roger in number of major (big) titles and pulls away from Rafa who sits on 28. If it happens that Nole wins Rio his plan for 2016 will be fulfilled, the rest is gravy..

August 1st, 2016 at 5:12 pm

IT depends on how his Rio matches will play out. He won Canada without dropping a set and only with 1 tiebreak I think.

Olympics are 6 rounds with finals best of 5. Unless he doesn’t lay Murray in finals which could be a potential draining match as it will be fast HC, any other scenario he will be super favorite to win.

Depends on how mac energy or mental energy he’ll spent. Canada he didn’t have to come from behind, nor any particular tense sets, Olympics could be more trickier, or not.

Hope he plays Cincy. It would be insane for him to complete the Career Slam and Masters Sweep in the same year. And of course Olympics Gold.

August 1st, 2016 at 5:19 pm

Nole is already in Rio, he will be based in Olympic village sharing room with Viktor, that’ll be fun, you can see video in the next link, but if you want to read you have to use google translate, sorry:

http://www.rts.rs/page/sport/sr/Рио+2016/story/2610/orlovi/2405306/novak-i-viktor-stigli-u-rio.html

August 1st, 2016 at 6:33 pm

Daniel – The sustained excellence Djokovic has shown since 2011 now means almost everything he does gets him, if he wins, passing some legend, getting some all-time record, getting closer to some other fabulous mark.
All the guy can do is try his best, and also try not wrecking himself in an effort to win more stuff.
He is smart, he knows both what marks he can make and the dangers of overextending in trying to get all those tasty targets.
His biggest personal goal was the French Open, he said, after that, it was Olympics, finishing #1, getting more Slams other than Roland Garros…But a Masters Sweep would be amazing, and he would enter 2017 with prospects of both a double Career Slam and Double Masters Sweep. He has 4 Masters, still has chances of equalling, even exceeding his Open Era mark of 6 titles in a year. He seems to have the formula for winning a slew of Masters 1000s down. He stays #1 the rest of 2016, he has under a year to catch Sampras, Connors, Lendl and move into 2nd in 2 weeks at #1. A year finish at #1 ties with Federer and Connors, one more year end finish to equal Pete. He wins the YEC, he matches Fed at 6 as the co-record holder.

The USO, of course would put him at 13, an AO win would put him at 14 before he turns 30. And create it’s own dynamic – Novak would play in an atmosphere of just 3 to go, with confidence and focus.

But the guy is human. He has his limits and the insight to know that he needs more than trophies to be happy and fulfilled. So he won’t get all the things his fans believe he could get if he puts 100% of his time into his job (tennis).

But he should get some of those significant records remaining this year. To me, gold or Cincinnati are as big as the USO, since I’m not much of a Slam Counter. Getting both would mean he becomes the 1st player who has won everything big tennis offers.
Fed will still have the record for career money made. Rafa will still have his clay court records and rep as the toughest player to face. Novak may end up with a significant h2h over Fed if Roger does not decide to retire in 2017 – but he will not have the domination and ownership of Fed that Nadal has.

Andy still has a great shot at being the Spoiler of Djokovics quests, but Novak has this mental ability to figure out those that stand in his way, who have given him serious trouble – and end the challenge..Isner gave Nole fits, Roddick initially gave Novak fits, Kei had a winning h2h on him briefly. Andy had become dangerous and matches with him a tossup for Nole 2012-13. Then he thinks and finds a way to end the “problem”. Isner is his boy now, Roddick jokes he retired to save his h2h over Novak, he has gotten 6-8 straight over Kei since after the USO. Novak 2.0 evolved with the idea that he could beat Rafa, beat him repeatedly, if he elevated his game into being a nightmare for Rafa to face.
Andy has only managed to beat Novak twice since 2013, but has improved enough that Djokovic is now seting about to try and make Andy a non-factor yet again.

August 1st, 2016 at 8:21 pm

chrisford1 True, but I disagree as to his attitude towards the slams. I think he definitely wants to at least equal Sampras, Nadal tally, maybe even surpass it and get the Olympics gold in Rio. Grand slams are what drives him and especially after Wimbledon, I think he would like to prove that he has not suffered a lull. I would find difficult to believe that he doesn’t care about grand slams anymore. I wouldn’t be surprised if he kept winning slams.

August 1st, 2016 at 8:42 pm

chrisford1- Novak is still in his prime, he definitely wants to win more trophies. He wants to make most out of his career. I highly doubt that your statement ‘He doesn’t care about trophies as much’ is true. That would just be unprofessional.

August 1st, 2016 at 9:43 pm

Nole still has atleast 2 more years to win Cincinnati. This is realistically his last shot at Olympics. Good decision on his part if he skips Cincy. Also, USO is much more important in the grand scheme of things. And to think his 2016 is almost as good as his 2015 until now, unbelievable stuff.

August 1st, 2016 at 10:11 pm

Agree CF1.

He has already 7 titles this season, another 10+ seems a look at this point, specially how he dominates Asia swing.

A lot of records he can tie or break this year still, he just have to keep healthy and don’t spend too much.

August 1st, 2016 at 10:21 pm

John – ” highly doubt that your statement ‘He doesn’t care about trophies as much’ is true. That would just be unprofessional.”

I’d highly doubt my own statement as well, if I actually said it, John.

==================

But I did state what his statement was at the beginning of the Year. French Open, then Olympics, finishing #1, and “obviously” doing well at the other Slams, right after those other goals.. And asked, he said he was aware of what finishing up #1 and winning the YEC would mean as well as Cincinnati.

August 2nd, 2016 at 12:01 am

chrisford1- Did you not say that he needs more than trophies to be fulfilled? I think both winning trophies and what happens off the court for him are equal parts to his life, not one being greater than the other. I think he would like to win the US Open and the Olympics. He might even skip Cincinnati this year, after the Rogers Cup he certainly hinted about it. His main focus would be on the Olympics and US Open to show that he won’t suffer a lull as he did at Wimbledon after winning the French Open.

August 2nd, 2016 at 12:22 am

I didn’t think Novak played his best against Nishi. I guess he didn’t need to.

Of course, wonderful that he won the tournament, but even as a second fan of Novak, I have to put an asterisk next to this tournament for him. He did not really have massive competition. It was an expected win, which is why I think he downplayed it.

Always gracious.

August 2nd, 2016 at 4:37 am

What a sneaky, cunning, backhanded compliment from fedfanatic.

“The Goat” is playing nobody at Wimbledon and his fanatics are glorifying him like a second coming, first top 10 player and he is out of Wimbledon, on the other hand, Nole had to beat three top 10 players in race to London in order to win Toronto and fedfanatics are putting asterisk on his 30th masters title. What a lousy bunch of losers, and they even have a guts to claim Nole is their second favorite.

Nole never downplayed his win, he was happy as one can be for setting up new record and winning 30th masters!

August 2nd, 2016 at 5:22 am

I would put asterisks on ALL joker’s wins in the last TWO years. There ain’t no competition and that’s a fact!!

August 2nd, 2016 at 6:06 am

Yolita says joker is rocking the Olympic Village. She knows. She’s there! ROFL

August 2nd, 2016 at 6:48 am

https://twitter.com/quentinmoynet/status/759906582599704576
Lol. I think faker is losing the plot.
Sooooo desperate to be loved? Appeal to Jelena, not strangers. Geez

August 2nd, 2016 at 7:08 am

Chris – I might debate you on the following, which is that his life outside tennis may be just what enables him to continue winning at this pace. Borg, as I understand it, had no outside interests while he was playing, and that perhaps contributed to his decision to retire at 26.

In the same way, we might attribute the longevity of Venus and Serena at least in part to the fact that tennis is important to them, but not everything. And so they’re still playing, whereas Capriati, for example, lost it years ago.

I suppose my larger thesis is that atheltes raised to be robotic winners tend to have some kind of breakdown, whereas athletes raised to be more well-rounded last longer.

I think Tiger Woods might be the most spectacular example of the former. Who’d have thought that Phil Mickelson, who used to loathe working out, would still be in contention at majors in 2016.

August 2nd, 2016 at 9:37 am

In my opinion, Novak shouldn’t skip Cincinnati as it is the only Master’s event which he has not won, but still made five finals. Winning Cincinnati will also make him the first player to complete the Super Masters thus accomplishing a feat unravelled so far.

August 2nd, 2016 at 11:44 am

Fed’s robotic and totally dependent on mental midgets & one dimensional “jokes” to win anything. That was how he tricked the public & media.
He didn’t play much tennis other than the necessary tour matches because he feared losing to washed up Roddick, Hewitt, etc.
Of course, he accepted $1 million payouts for exhibitions.
People thought he was the incredibly clever ballet dancer & GOAT because countless, stumbling, sluggish, hapless stooges tripped around the courts and bowed down at his feet. Some even told him at trophy presentations that they wished for him to win a lot.
It was pathetic.

No wonder fed cried when Nadal nearly beat him at 2007 wimbledon & blasted him at 2009 Aussie Open & then Novak bounced back from career-collapsing losses, physical meltdowns, illness & injuries (never happened like this before in tennis history) to humiliate the multiSlam champs.

August 2nd, 2016 at 11:54 am

For Noel fans and for others.

http://lastwordonsports.com/2016/08/02/novak-djokovic-everyone-foolish-toronto/

August 2nd, 2016 at 1:49 pm

Putting Cincinnati and the US Open in the same sentence is absolutely ridiculous. Masters Tournaments change names, points, locations etc. This is why Lendl’s “Masters” are thought to be inferior, even though he collected then all, because they were called something else, held somewhere else etc. In 20 years’ time, Masters may have evolved or devolved into something completely different, or removed altogether – but the Slam, the No1 weeks, the Year End tournaments and the longevity records will still be there.

So, Novak Djokovic skip Cincinnati, if needed and go for the US Open. History owes you one from that windy Andy night and it will be nice to pay you back under a closed roof.

August 2nd, 2016 at 3:05 pm

Temple:

“So, Novak Djokovic skip Cincinnati, if needed and go for the US Open. History owes you one from that windy Andy night and it will be nice to pay you back under a closed roof.”

Can you be a bit more explicit Temple, e.g. what night? what year? And I why should history owe Nole? Isn’t he doing better than alright without history?

August 2nd, 2016 at 3:56 pm

Something to comment on in a slow tennis week…

Comparing tennis players overall greatness!

What is the best criterion?

Should it be a simple (singular) criterion such as # of slams won as advocated by Federer fanboys (e.g. MMT), or should it be more complex and encompassing criteria considering all tennis played in one’s career and not just slam tournaments?

I, as well as the most objective tennis observers, advocate the latter, simply because one has to be dumb (or blinded by fandom to a particular player) to reduce one’s career into only the 4 tournaments per year and disregard everything else!

As they say “them numbers don’t lie”, so below I list career stats in multiple criteria from two players who everyone agrees are solid hall of famers, Nole and Rafa:

Criterion #1: Career match record in all tournaments played
Nole: 83.09% (737/150)
Rafa: 82.57% (796/168)
ADVANTAGE Nole

Criterion #2: Career match record against Top 10 opponents
Nole: 68.50% (176/81)
Rafa: 65.11% (140/75)
ADVANTAGE Nole

Criterion #3: Weeks spent as the world #1 player
Nole: 210 (and counting)
Rafa: 141
ADVANTAGE Nole

Criterion #4: Slams won
Nole: 12
Rafa: 14
ADVANTAGE Rafa

Criterion #5: Grand Slams won (4 in a row)
Nole: Yes
Rafa: No
ADVANTAGE Nole

Criterion #6: Masters titles won
Nole: 30
Rafa: 28
ADVANTAGE Nole

Criterion #7: ATP Finals won (where only top 8 player participate)
Nole: 5
Rafa: 0
ADVANTAGE Nole

Criterion #8: Olympic single medals won
Nole: 1 (bronze)
Rafa: 1 (gold)
ADVANTAGE Rafa

So, these are criteria that I consider most important in order to assess someone tennis career in terms of overall greatness. I might have missed something, but these 8 look fairly complete to me.

Based on 8 criteria listed above, statistically speaking, Djoker is better than Rafa in 6 out of 8. In my eyes that easily makes him better player overall in terms of historical greatness.
However, if you look only Criterion #4 above (slams won) then Rafa is the greatest player of the two.

Of course the choice of criteria and selections, etc. will always be matter of subjective opinion. And in my SUBJECTIVE opinion (backed by listed stats) I am putting Djoker before Rafa in terms of greatness.
On the other hand, if one choose to hand-pick one of the criteria above in which Rafa is better and, based on that, selects Rafa, that is fine by me. However, if that person claimed to be OBJECTIVE while doing so, that would instantly make him/her either extremely despicable/conniving (typical of most Fed fanboys) or just plain stupid…

Say you’re subjective, like I admitted for myself, pick Rafa and we are fine – everyone is free to have different opinion. But to claim to be objective and without any bias, while at the same time insisting that your opinion is the only correct one is really bad.
That is why I think that MMT, his blog and his tennis writing is garbage, and would always rather read posts by FedExpess or Giles who are honest in their fandom…

August 2nd, 2016 at 4:05 pm

Travis:

Suggestion: Add Fed. to Nole and Rafa.

August 2nd, 2016 at 4:09 pm

J-Kath,

Note that I didn’t use the H2H criterion, in which Novak has advantage over both Rafa and Federer (as well as over pretty much everyone ;-)

August 2nd, 2016 at 4:21 pm

Djokovic in my book, its already secocond most succesfull player ever, behind Federer.
He already surpassed Nadal, if you look closely to the big records:
Nadal /Djokovic==> Slams: 14/12; Titles: 69/66 Career Slam: Both Master Cup (WTF): 0/5; Year End N°1: 3/4; Weeks as N°1: 146/210; Master 1000: 27/30; Davis Cup: Both; Olympics; G/B; Head to Head:23/26, discounting that Djokovic joined Laver as the only male player in the open era to win 4 slams in a row (Wimbledon 2015 to French 2016).
He is determided to put himself in possition to make people doubt if him or Federer is/was the greatest. He is not there yet, but is closing the gap

August 2nd, 2016 at 4:41 pm

Fine Travis:

No problem with your method, simply that you ought to include Fed. as well.

August 2nd, 2016 at 5:09 pm

Criterion #9: Weak Era

Nole: Yes
Rafa: No

Criterion #10: Animal Status>>>>GOAT

Nole: No (12 slams)
Rafa: Yes (14 slams) 🐐🐐🐐

Let r go, boys!! 😁😁😁😁

August 2nd, 2016 at 5:18 pm

Travis, you and I know this conversation can only truly be held when the careers of all of the Big 4 are done. And I hope both of us are in no rush for that day to come.
I as everyone knows to the point of some Fed fans wincing, reject the simplistic Slamcount as the sole measure of worthiness. I throw it out regularly because Fed Fans regularly claim if Rafa ends with 15 and Nole with 17 and Fed gets his elusive to the point of vanishing as a possibility 18th – Fed is the best of the 3, case over..Nope. There is more to the sport than 4 events.
But each guy will have records that will not be broken. So will Sampras, Lendl, Borg, Laver, Connors. And that will mean some subjectivity and debate even many years after retirement. Most titles. Toughest player on clay. Number of Edberg awards. Winning percent. Best fast court player. Best h2h over all rivals. Masters, Davis Cup, Olympic wins will matter. So will how they fared at 250 and 500 events. Number of YECs. The subjective argument of who at their very peak was best. And I personally think a shift away from GOAT to GOTE (Greatest of their Era). Because it is unfair to match Rod Laver up against a player a half century later in a sport that has been transformed into a very different Tour. Unfair to Rod, unfair to say Novak or Fed being compared to him.

There is so much more left in Novak and Andy’s career! And I hope one last Nadal comeback will happen.

August 2nd, 2016 at 5:24 pm

CF – I also found it interesting that one reporter considers Laver to have 20 majors. As few of us were sentient when Laver was winning, it’s just hard to compare tournaments in those days to tournaments today. I think we tend to undervalue past players, even when we try to control for it.

August 2nd, 2016 at 5:29 pm

@chrisford1……I said the same thing the other day…..GOTE! Greatest Of All Time, just doesn’t cut it for me. All time means 4ever…..and we just don’t know that. Isner/Mahut Wimbledon match will probably be the longest match in tennis history 4ever, but we don’t know that for sure, do we???

August 2nd, 2016 at 5:35 pm

Maybe even in those future GOTE talks we will take into account doubles. It seems grossly unfair that John McEnroe, a truly great #1 doubles player, gets no credit for that factored into how good a player he was, just stuff he did as a singles player.

Then the debate on how the best men the last 15-20 years ducked doubles because singles play had gotten so physical there was no time or energy for a sustained doubles career. And like singles, you will have special cases like in singles – Borg retiring at 26. Karlovic, Tipsarevic, Djokovic, among others, also had the challenge of trying to establish a singles tennis career after missing training time others had and much of the juniors play – due to the war years and privation.

And if that was not enough, perhaps impact on the sport via leadership, promotion, national contribution, Tour contribution, helping establish new markets and youth programs may weigh in on GOTE. Call it the Arthur Ashe adder. He is thought of as a great player, but his stats are not anywhere near the 15-25 best players. Even several players of his time.

August 2nd, 2016 at 5:39 pm

@Felipe,

But how you could say Djokovic has already surpassed Nadal when you listed that Nadal had the edge in slams (14>12)???

Some “knowledgeable” and “objective” posters who even promote their blogs on this site will tell you that you are wrong (or know nothing about tennis) since you are not using slam count as the sole criterion to determine who is greater player…

Let me guess Felipe – you are not Federer fanatic?

August 2nd, 2016 at 5:39 pm

Just to add to discussion, people often refer to Roger as the best grass court player ever, often they are the same one who are saying that only GS matters, but if they are true to themselves and follow their own logic then ROD LAVER is the best grass court player ever, he has 9 compare to 7 Roger’s grass GS titles.

August 2nd, 2016 at 5:46 pm

Dear Okiegal, I was on the no GOAT can be objectively defined – only best of their era – back when I was disputing Sampras as GOAT vs. Borg or Laver. But YOU were the one with GOTE, and I noticed it and realized it is a perfect acronym to frame the GOAT/no GOAT is quantifiable argument.
So full credit to you for being the 1st to use GOTE that I noticed. And it does make it a lot shorter and easier for discussions if it is distilled down to an easy to remember GOAT vs. GOTE conversation..

August 2nd, 2016 at 5:46 pm

If I temember well Felipe is very levelheaded poster from Chile, pretty objective and not really Rafa fan?

August 2nd, 2016 at 5:48 pm

@CF1

Disagree on the impact via leadership, contributions, youth programs, promoting gay/lesbians/minorities in tennis, etc… While important and commendable in itself, that kind of BS should never enter the GOAT debate. Similar applies to Edberg award – what a BS that thing is! Let them give it every month if they want, but tennis greatness should be defined purely by results that are non-judged, voted, etc…

If judging/voting is allowed in tennis, who do you think would have won USO final in 2015?

August 2nd, 2016 at 5:49 pm

Roof at USO is finished, they tested it, it was closed in seven minutes with no problem, but it took them three goes to open it up.

August 2nd, 2016 at 6:09 pm

“Similar applies to Edberg award – what a BS that thing is! Let them give it every month if they want, but tennis greatness should be defined purely by results that are non-judged, voted, etc…”

whoa whoa whoa…this is voted but the players of the ATP tour. Just because Novak doesn’t have one and your jealous about it doesn’t mean its BS. I guess your beefs with all the ATP players, including the one you worship.

August 2nd, 2016 at 6:46 pm

@cf1 5:46…..Thanks for giving me full credit to be the “first” at something……I am rarely noticed on here, so that was nice! After all, everyone likes to be noticed….💎💎💎💎

August 2nd, 2016 at 7:44 pm

Travis, of course I was being sarcastic on the rigged Edberg Award.
Not so how factors other than tennis stats may make a player great in the eyes of many fans. That is why you have Arthur Ashe Stadium and not Jimmy Connors Stadium. Or Pete Sampras Arena. Or why Agassi has his name in juniors development clinics and they are not named the Bill Tilden USTA Boy’s Camp. Why Rod Laver is liked so much by fans..and pros ..it goes past Rods stats to who he is.

August 2nd, 2016 at 8:45 pm

JK,

Thanks very much for the link, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

August 2nd, 2016 at 11:23 pm

WB
:)

August 3rd, 2016 at 2:58 am

Not too many people bother to look into Stefan Edberg Award. ATP puts out a short (four names), closed list of nominees. The nominees in recent years:
2011 – Djokovic, Nadal, Qureshi, Federer
2012 – Cilic, del Potro, Ferrer, Federer
2013 – del Potro, Ferrer, Nadal, Federer
2014 – Nishikori, Cilic, Dimitrov, Federer
2015 – Anderson, Ferrer, Nadal, Federer

August 3rd, 2016 at 12:13 pm

c.f.
The player many want to forget , Bill Tilden yuck

August 3rd, 2016 at 12:22 pm

Aberg
That list is rigged lol

August 3rd, 2016 at 12:23 pm

ABerg:

Dimitrov in 2014! Nole only once. No Andy at all.
Wonder what the criteria is? How well they shave?

August 3rd, 2016 at 12:25 pm

Kath
Delpotro and dimitrov are in Fed and godsicks management group :-)

August 3rd, 2016 at 12:28 pm

I do believe in an overall career more than specific records. Looking at the stats…Federer is above all. Achievement wise you cannot comapre Federer and Nadal…besides Head to Head and Master 1000…Federer leads in every significant category (Slams, Year end number 1, weeks as number 1, WTF, Titles). However, Nadal and Djokovic are more or less close, with Nadal leading (slightly) in some categories (Slams/Titles), Djokovic leading (slightly) in anothers (Head to Head, Master 1000, Year end number 1) and in others a big gap (WTF / Weeks as number 1). But the tiebreaker for me, is that comparing Federer and Djokovic, eventough Federer leads…they are closer in more categories (Year end number 1 / Weeks as number 1, WTF) while Djokovic leads in the same categories that Nadal is ahead of Federere (head to head and Master 1000).
For all the above explained, for me, Djokovic has already surpased Nadal.

August 3rd, 2016 at 12:57 pm

@ABerg,

Don’t tell that to our local moron on this site. He thinks player vote for the Edberg award.
In reality, players vote from the (rigged) list of four candidates chosen by ATP (and influenced by the ATP’s main sponsors). Like I said above the award is a pure BS and has nothing to do with true sportsmanship.

I wasn’t going to link this before since I thought everyone already knew what a sham this award is, but here is a write-up on Federer being nominated by ATP and eventually getting the award for the year 2009, i.e. the year in which Federer dropped f-bomb to the umpire in a slam final he was losing to Delpo (and being officially fined for unsportsman-like conduct), and also violently smashed raquet aginst Djoker in Miami (and also being fined for it). I also recommend reading the comments for two reasons:
1. The author is responding to commentators and defends her positions
2. There are some “great” comments form federinas defending the award…

http://www.tennistalk.com/en/blog/Cheryl_Murray/20100217/Federer_is_the_Sportsman_of_the_Year_again_%E2%80%93_and_I_must_be_missing_something

Few excerpts for those who don’t like to read the whole thing:

“If tennis were a monarchy, Roger Federer would surely be the reigning king – or princess, depending on how you view his penchant for patent leather and handbags.”

“Now somebody please PLEASE explain to me how a guy who dropped the F-bomb at a chair umpire in a Slam final won a SPORTSMANSHIP award. I’m sorry, but that’s just so much rubbish.”

“Why was he nominated in the first place? He was FINED for unsportsman-like conduct – you would think such a thing would preclude you from being in the running in the first place. Apparently not. Sorry Sam Querrey and Ivo Karlovic, you don’t count. Maybe Andy Roddick will be nominated next year – he is an expert at profanity”

And from comments section:
Here is a Federer fanboy defending the award. Note that, same as on this site, Fed fanboys are so very dumb and devoid of facts:
“Firstly, get your facts right, he did not use the F-bomb but said s**t – big difference and oh, lets now crucify him for saying that for being human”

The author response put the Fed fanboy in his place by explaining the facts and showing him how dumb he was (reminiscent of my arguments here with Fed fanboys;-):
“He said the f-bomb. It’s just that US coverage went to commercial and didn’t show it. I was watching on a stream. He said it – it’s why he was fined.”

I would finish with here with saying that if US/Nike media did not show something (e.g. Fed dropping f-bomb to umpire) that never happened for Fed worshipers, who are made to be what they are by that very media coverage… Poor souls, it’s going to be hard for them now when their “The Man” (or “Princess” as implied above) is semi-retired…

August 3rd, 2016 at 12:58 pm

amazing stat for novak’s fans: he has set the open era record for most matches won against top-3 ranked opponents! :)

https://twitter.com/NoleSwedenFans/status/760427678721859586

looking forward to rio actually; lots of good pics floating around of all the athletes in olympic village.

August 3rd, 2016 at 1:00 pm

Oops, I used a medical term starting with “m” and ending with “on” which appears to put my post in moderation. I’ll repost by replacing the term in question with the word “genius”. That should be allowed:
@ABerg,

Don’t tell that to our local GENIUS on this site. He thinks player vote for the Edberg award.
In reality, players vote from the (rigged) list of four candidates chosen by ATP (and influenced by the ATP’s main sponsors). Like I said above the award is a pure BS and has nothing to do with true sportsmanship.

I wasn’t going to link this before since I thought everyone already knew what a sham this award is, but here is a write-up on Federer being nominated by ATP and eventually getting the award for the year 2009, i.e. the year in which Federer dropped f-bomb to the umpire in a slam final he was losing to Delpo (and being officially fined for unsportsman-like conduct), and also violently smashed raquet aginst Djoker in Miami (and also being fined for it). I also recommend reading the comments for two reasons:
1. The author is responding to commentators and defends her positions
2. There are some “great” comments form federinas defending the award…

http://www.tennistalk.com/en/blog/Cheryl_Murray/20100217/Federer_is_the_Sportsman_of_the_Year_again_%E2%80%93_and_I_must_be_missing_something

Few excerpts for those who don’t like to read the whole thing:

“If tennis were a monarchy, Roger Federer would surely be the reigning king – or princess, depending on how you view his penchant for patent leather and handbags.”

“Now somebody please PLEASE explain to me how a guy who dropped the F-bomb at a chair umpire in a Slam final won a SPORTSMANSHIP award. I’m sorry, but that’s just so much rubbish.”

“Why was he nominated in the first place? He was FINED for unsportsman-like conduct – you would think such a thing would preclude you from being in the running in the first place. Apparently not. Sorry Sam Querrey and Ivo Karlovic, you don’t count. Maybe Andy Roddick will be nominated next year – he is an expert at profanity”

And from comments section:
Here is a Federer fanboy defending the award. Note that, same as on this site, Fed fanboys are so very dumb and devoid of facts:
“Firstly, get your facts right, he did not use the F-bomb but said s**t – big difference and oh, lets now crucify him for saying that for being human”

The author response put the Fed fanboy in his place by explaining the facts and showing him how dumb he was (reminiscent of my arguments here with Fed fanboys;-):
“He said the f-bomb. It’s just that US coverage went to commercial and didn’t show it. I was watching on a stream. He said it – it’s why he was fined.”

I would finish with here with saying that if US/Nike media did not show something (e.g. Fed dropping f-bomb to umpire) that never happened for Fed worshipers, who are made to be what they are by that very media coverage… Poor souls, it’s going to be hard for them now when their “The Man” (or “Princess” as implied above) is semi-retired…

August 3rd, 2016 at 1:02 pm

Will everybody relax about Edgeberg award-
I just had a look at the jury of ATP players that decide winners, and is like this:
Stan Wawrinka
Marco Chudinelli
Henri Laksonnen
+ one ATP player from the past:Stefan Edberg
As you can see, its all fair and square, so stop complaining about it…

August 3rd, 2016 at 1:09 pm

Oh gosh Courbon. Thanks for letting us know. I’ll be able to sleep well tonight. Very sorry for being suspicious before.

August 3rd, 2016 at 1:37 pm

django

Of course! I knew Dimitri was but forgot del Potro. Right on – explains ALL….and I find it shocking.

August 3rd, 2016 at 1:42 pm

Jane,

But how is that possible? Are you sure the stats are correct?

Novak is 6 years younger than Federer and already has more Top 3 wins. If you assume that a player plays roughly 100 matches per year, that would mean that Novak collected more Top 3 wins in 600 less opportunities compared to Federer. Sounds strange…

Only explanation (going way on a limb) would be that:
1. Novak’s draws were such that he consistently faced more Top 3 players
2. Federer’s draws were such that he rarely faced Top 3 players
3. Novak played in an era when Top 3 always got to the later stages
4. Federer played in an era when Top 3 players were eliminated in early rounds, so he played SFs and finals against ‘chopped liver’ players (e.g. Philippoussis, Baghdatis, …)

August 3rd, 2016 at 1:54 pm

Novak hitting practice in Rio wearing the “Rafa style”. Not the guns Rafa has, but sinewy sticks and near-flawless technique and ball striking get the job done.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Co4t25wXYAQc7rr.jpg:large

Seeing how skinny Novak looks compared to Viktor Troicki and other Olympians in shots with him in Rio makes me want to shout, “Toss that poor bastard a cheeseburger!”

Dad son time before Wimbledon. I buy his story that he accepted the loss as happening for a reason and allowing him to recharge and do things he wanted to do before the 4 event Toronto to USO grind started. such as more bike lessons for Stephan.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BG9snYPzP7X/

Djokovic posted Andy was absolutely deserving of his selection by Great Britain to be flag bearer. Serbia selected as it’s flag bearer this time a very ‘striking’ target shooter, Ivana Andjusic Maksimovic a London Games silver medalist Dad was a Olympic gold medalist in target shooting. Got married to a Serb basketball player who plays in the Polish League which plays other Euro teams outside Poland.
http://www.eley.co.uk/news-info/shooters/ivana-andjusic-maksimovic/

Hanging with Novak and Jelena Djokovic when her husband’s team came in to play Belgrade

https://twitter.com/noleksa/status/259402051921002496

August 3rd, 2016 at 3:51 pm

I still don’t know what puts you in moderation here. A link to a copyrighted image? Have several pics, hopefully the post I did at 3:51 will emerge. And a list one day put out by Sean or other TX staff on what puts you in moderation would be enormously helpful!

August 3rd, 2016 at 3:57 pm

CF1,

I am pretty sure it is multiple links that puts post in moderation, try one or two at most, plus plus some words that TX computer deems unacceptable…Noletard is not one of them, but try Fedt…did I hear somebody said “double standards?!;)

August 3rd, 2016 at 8:09 pm

Fed was like the taylor swift of tennis.
Never lies. Always the victim of “misunderstanding” and “underappreciatikn”.
They might as well have given Roddick the sportsmanship award and
have prevented him from reaching top 10 because no one liked the clown’s fake love for Fed, tennis and its umpires/lines judges/organizers.

August 4th, 2016 at 2:58 pm