Djokovic Makes Grass Debut In Mallorca, But In Doubles; Medvedev, Thiem Headline Singles

Who would have thought that this 4 years old boy, 30 years after getting his first tennis racquet as a birthday present will be considered one the greatest ever tennis players, if not the greatest, English subtitles, for Nole fans and others:

https://youtu.be/6DepETeMGqY

June 21st, 2021 at 8:19 pm

Kyrgios has come to Wimbledon to spoil the party. He’s one of the few guys I would give a legitimate chance of beating Djokovic at Wimbledon. He would love to beat Djokovic for Federer. If it’s a first or second round match where the grass isn’t worn out yet, I give Kyrgios a 45-50% chance of beating Novak on grass. He has no fear of losing. He will go for his shots and go for second serves and give Djokovic no rhythm. He has the best serve and it’s very well disguised. Plus he’s never lost a set to Djokovic.

June 23rd, 2021 at 8:13 am

Someone’s already written something about it.

https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Novak_Djokovic/99284/-novak-djokovic-doesn-t-want-to-face-nick-kyrgios-in-wimbledon-r1-says-newcombe/

June 23rd, 2021 at 8:17 am

Dave,

Let’s see if that will happen. Draw ceremony today.

June 25th, 2021 at 12:36 am

Nick kygrios played Djokovic during his struggle period at two 500 events some three years ago. So he holds a 2-0 advantage over Novak. That’s nothing. If they play again this year and he beats Novak, then I will agree he’s boss over Novak like stan Wawrinka was for a brief period.

June 25th, 2021 at 9:54 am

Sad given his serve, but Kyrgios has only made 1 QF at Wimbledon. He usually is gone in the 1st week after typically making some sort of stir from his usual “controversial” statements or court antics.
Lot of talent, but 27 now, never made the Top 10, never won a Masters or above. Sort of infuriating the guy may end up being known as never winning any significant title, never invited to the year end championships, but had match wins over the Big 3.
Gets very ticked when people compare him to Tomic.
From the link, it’s old John Newcombe simply trying to rev fellow Aussie Kyrgios up as one of NIck’s “old hand” Aussie mentors.
Ol’ John is not bothering to say how Kyrgios plans on shaking the giant pile of rust off him – not just no grass warmup events, he hasn’t played competitively since getting spanked out of the 3rd round of the Australian Open.
50-50 Kyrgios is gone in the 1st round to Umbert, who just won the grass Halle 500 title.

June 25th, 2021 at 5:01 pm

Dick Kyrgios is a troll, he was trolling Nole again after his FO win. I just hope Frenchie will kick Dick’s troll a$$, particularly since I like Humbert’s game.

June 25th, 2021 at 9:37 pm

@ Yappy

You are pretty much right except that one tournament was masters (IW), that was 2017 Nole in lala land and yet that Nole played two very close matches, In Acapulco Dick had probably one of his best serving days if not the best, he fired 25 aces in two sets plus numerous unreturned serves which itself was enough to bring anyone, mot just him, a win but yet they played first set TB and second was 7:5.
After those matches whenever Dick was on Nole’s side of the draw, he managed to lose before they were supposed to meet or got “injured”.

June 25th, 2021 at 9:54 pm

I like Ugo’s game as well…..and great name!!!

June 25th, 2021 at 11:06 pm

CF1,
Humbert has something in common with Sinner and Seppi..

June 26th, 2021 at 4:39 am

WB, I’ll bite. What?
The only think I can think of is the 3 come from German speaking parts of France and Italy up in the mountains.
BTW, Novak and Jannik Sinner practiced yesterday. Each sharing tips and tuning it up.
Djokovic did an interview today, relaxed. In the Bubble, him, Goran, two others same hotel room, two weeks. Has a reverence for Wimbledon, the feeling to open Center Court as the last titlist, how beautiful it is how wonderful it avoided being commercialized with signs slapped up everywhere, but soon the crowds will come and he won’t be able to enjoy the sights of the All England Club as much. GOAT deflection – paraphrasing – “people will always talk about it and who it is”. next question…

June 26th, 2021 at 9:54 pm

CF1, yes, it’s their ethnicity, being of Austrian/German one, not nationality, which is undoubtedly Italian/French one.

June 27th, 2021 at 12:34 am

CF1, thanks for mentioning Nole’s interview, I just checked it, very nice one and there is something that Dave would like, Nole talking of being in present being in the moment, forgetting about yesterday, Dave was talking about that while back.
I don’t know if you have seen Vajda’s interview after FO, very insightful about clay, Nole etc, here is a link if you haven’t seen it:

https://youtu.be/NW2Z2rsGaEs

June 27th, 2021 at 1:02 am

^^^
Just to add, absolutely agree with Vajda when he was talking about 2016 FO win, something was missing with that title, with this one you can say job complete.

June 27th, 2021 at 1:07 am

WB,

Agree with Vajda too. Nole deserved a 2nd FO given his results on clay. who knows, he might also win a 3rd 😉

June 27th, 2021 at 5:27 am

WogBoy,

I’m surprised you remember that. I definitely do things too fast. So lately I’ve been trying to slow down. Not eat so rushed. My whole pace of life can be too fast. It’s impossible to really enjoy the moment and be present when this happens. So I’ve needed to learn this and continue to learn it out of necessity really.

June 27th, 2021 at 4:40 pm

Same interview Novak was saying he really wants to savor the French, but no time for that. 3 Huge events in the next two months. For now, be in the moment and enjoy family, the times, his sport and there will be time soon enough.
In American baseball, pitchers keep notebooks on all the stats and reports on how they hit, what pitches they go after. Teams scout teams, boxer’s camps scout rival boxers. Some are intense and methodical about this. I would put Djokovic in the category of the intense scouts. His team does assist considerably, but the stuff they all come up with goes into Novaks head, not his uncle or coach to figure out. At times, he has gone into a fairly scary analysis of the abilities and things to look for in his next opponent no one thought would have an upset and face Novak. Reporters asked if he had played his next young opponent and they get a dissertation on the kid.
That hard work, coupled with experience and ability to see and think about things – fast – helps allow Djokovic to anticipate better than just about any player in the sport. His natural gift to see even the very little details in a person very fast not only drives his mimicry – he has a better ability to read body language than most. (though in somethings, Novak has ‘social challenges’ comes with warts like all great men)
And the advantage is compounded as Tomas Berdych said – “It is unnatural at times how well he reads me, but then Novak knows that I know he can read me, and then the ____(said friendly) anticipates that I will change my game and be making many more mistakes by changing my serve, my usual shots and locations. He’s got me either way too many times!”

Were he not so successful and just a journeyman solid but not a star player, he could be a superb scout and a regular matchup analyst if not a great play-by-play guy that connects with the audience – when he hangs up his racket.
From childhood on, a most notable life. 2/3rds of it, we can hope, left to go.

June 27th, 2021 at 6:59 pm