US OPEN August 31 - September 13 2015 (SEE MOD NOTE POST #8)

RobertKK

Can't wait to hear what Djokovic has to say when this is over.

John.Icy

4/23.

RobertKK

Novak Djokovic fought Federer, the crowd and his wounds after the fall. and beats them all.

True champion, congrats Novak Djokovic.

Rjd2

RobertKK wrote: »

Can't wait to hear what Djokovic has to say when this is over.

He is shrewd, it will be a vanilla interview.

In private yeah I say he will call this crowd all sorts and rightfully so.:P

DarraghF197

Federer was the better player. But Djokovic scored the points that counted.

MisterAnarchy

John.Icy wrote: »

4/23.

Must be a record that .

Rjd2

RobertKK wrote: »

Novak Djokovic fought Federer, the crowd and his wounds after the fall. and beats them all.

True champion, congrats Novak Djokovic.

Think the wound wasn't to bad, but yeah that was a hostile atmosphere, I know some will compare it to playing Murray at Wimbledon, but that is misjudged. Yeah the crowd get behind Murray, but never will they show such contempt for an opponent as we seen tonight.

John.Icy

Fair play to Novak.

As a Federer fan this hurts a little more than Wimby.

Federer lost that every bit as much as Novak won it, if not more so.

Roll on the indoor season now though.

ALSO; does no one think 2011 was just as bad for the crowd? I would have said how they cheered for Nadal to make a comeback in that final was as loud if not louder than tonight. However Novak shut them up much quick in the 4th.

RobertKK

All the people who left already before the trophy ceremony. Hopefully the true tennis fans are left.

Arytonblue

US Open crowd are insufferable, almost as bad as RG. Don't think anyone could ever begrudge Novak's success, 10 GS's is one hell of an achievement, particularly in this era. But this and Wimbledon this year just leave me deflated, Federer really should have taken both matches the distance. When he's in the mood and his serve is on par he and Novak are almost 50:50, which is why I usually love their match ups. I know everybody says he can't physically last the 5 sets but on both occasions it seems he just completely checks out mentally in the 3rd after battling so hard to get himself back in it. I would kinda worry about the short term future of the men's game though. Federer can only compete at this level for so long, Rafa looks done, Stan and Andy are about as inconsistent as each other and only show up when they feel like it, and in terms of the next generation, well none of the bigged up names have really done anything of note. Novak's dominance, particularly now against Fed, could well be here to stay for a while. Still, two great athletes, two nice guys as well, the match still had some fantastic quality, could be worse......


......could have been another Rafa-Novak grindfest:eek::pac:

MythicalMadMan

John.Icy wrote: »

Stadium is probably not even 3/4's full, hasn't been since the 3rd set.

Madness.

RobertKK wrote: »

All the people who left already before the trophy ceremony. Hopefully the true tennis fans are left.

Must have been the hecklers that were thrown out.

Well done Novak. Immense under pressure

cowboyBuilder

Is Bradley Cooper there ?

or has he f*cked off to make another sh*t movie....

Rjd2

Arytonblue wrote: »

......could have been another Rafa-Novak grindfest:eek::pac:

If this was a Murray v Djokovic final we still wouldn't have the second set completed.

cowboyBuilder

Looked like he was really sheilding what he wanted to really say there ...

RobertKK

You get the feeling Novak is very happy obviously having won, but also disappointed due to how the crowd treated him.

RobertKK

Goodnight/morning...enjoyed your company.

yerwanthere123

Ben Rothenberg ‏@BenRothenberg 5m5 minutes ago Queens, NY
Perhaps an even more brutal stat for Roger Federer tonight: he was 1/11 on break points against Djokovic's SECOND serve.

Ouch. Anyway, well done to Novak for making it through with that awful crowd against him. Starting to breathe down Nadal's neck now.

Arytonblue

RobertKK wrote: »

You get the feeling Novak is very happy obviously having won, but also disappointed due to how the crowd treated him.

Reminds me a lot of Vettel in F1 getting booed on the podium after his drab dominating wins, seems baffling enough but with success for some comes a lot of hate. Maybe it's just that they were overwhelmingly supporting Roger and I'd say Djoko wished he held the love and passion from the crowd that Federer has, but alas, he's a multi-millionaire, the best in his sport, who's just won his 3rd GS of the year, I'm sure he'll sleep soundly tonight.:p

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Ouch. Anyway, well done to Novak for making it through with that awful crowd against him. Starting to breathe down Nadal's neck now.

I can see Novak winning 4 more no problem. I'm not sure Rafa has it in him anymore, even on clay.

Rjd2

Arytonblue wrote: »

Reminds me a lot of Vettel in F1 getting booed on the podium after his drab dominating wins, seems baffling enough but with success for some comes a lot of hate. Maybe it's just that they were overwhelmingly supporting Roger and I'd say Djoko wished he held the love and passion from the crowd that Federer has, but alas, he's a multi-millionaire, the best in his sport, who's just won his 3rd GS of the year, I'm sure he'll sleep soundly tonight.:p

And lets not forget he goes home to every night.

DarraghF197

Arytonblue wrote: »

Reminds me a lot of Vettel in F1 getting booed on the podium after his drab dominating wins, seems baffling enough but with success for some comes a lot of hate. Maybe it's just that they were overwhelmingly supporting Roger and I'd say Djoko wished he held the love and passion from the crowd that Federer has, but alas, he's a multi-millionaire, the best in his sport, who's just won his 3rd GS of the year, I'm sure he'll sleep soundly tonight.:p

Both tennis and F1 are gentleman's sport, any booing is really unacceptable. It's also personal when in an individual's sport.

He got no booing today thankfully, but the reactions when he missed his first serve were brutal. And I thought the French Open was bad enough.

yerwanthere123

Great storyline brewing for next year, if Djokovic can win another Melbourne title, he'll simultaneously be going for four-in-a-row and a career grand slam in Paris. Getting ahead of myself obviously, but next year will be interesting!

walshb

I didn't say he only dominated due to a weak era.

Simple: The best version of Fed does not beat the best of Nole an Nadal.

Both Nadal and Nole hold wins over Fed from his supposed peak, when both they were not at their peak. 2011 Nole and 2008 or 2010 Nadal beat Fed 8/10 times across the surfaces. Fed only has grass as his chance to be a favourite.

walshb

Nadal has a clear hard court lead.

walshb

Tim Smith54 wrote: »

2009 Federer was well below his peak, he was lucky to win the French Open and Wimbledon that year. Roddick even should have beaten him in the Wimbledon final that year. Tennis players typically peak at around 24, to suggest Federer at 34 .

Sort of backs me up. Federer won RG that year because he was an excellent player, and because Nadal was out. Exactly my point. To make out that Fed was well below his best in 2009 is ridiculous. 2007 he was very successful, but in 2009 he had a tougher field.

Anyway, objectively speaking it's hard to make any matter of fact claim. Match for match all at their peak years he ranks below Nole and Nadal. In head to head they beat him more often than not.

walshb

It kind of suits your argument to claim that post 2008 Fed's form dropped significantly. Just not true. The others were simply maturing.

walshb

In 2009 he made 4 slam finals. Any great player can have a couple of off matches. I would back 2009 Fed to beat 2005-2007. I really do think that he's a better all round player. Getting to 4 slam finals in 2009 is greater than doing it in his supposed peak years. Your picking a couple losses against some players as an example of him being not at peak is erroneous. He also lost to similar category players in his 2005-2007 reign. I was being specific to 2009.

MisterAnarchy

walshb wrote: »

I didn't say he only dominated due to a weak era.

Simple: The best version of Fed does not beat the best of Nole an Nadal.

It depends on the era of the court speeds.

Peak Fed comfortably beats peak Nole and Nadal on the older faster courts bar clay .
On an indoor court it wouldnt even be close.

On the modern slow courts,I still think peak Federer would be too good for them .

Apart from the first set and alot of break points I thought Federer actually played pretty well and was the better player.
He made a mess of his break point opportunities especially on the second serve.
1/11 break points won on a second serve is diabolical,should be at least winning half of them.

Arytonblue

walshb wrote: »

It kind of suits your argument to claim that post 2008 Fed's form dropped significantly. Just not true. The others were simply maturing.

walshb wrote: »

In 2009 he made 4 slam finals. Any great player can have a couple of off matches. I would back 2009 Fed to beat 2005-2007. I really do think that he's a better all round player. Getting to 4 slam finals in 2009 is greater than doing it in his supposed peak years. Your picking a couple losses against some players as an example of him being not at peak is erroneous. He also lost to similar category players in his 2005-2007 reign. I was being specific to 2009.

As has been pointed out Federer has scored some great wins against Novak and Rafa when they were both in their prime. His victory in RG to end Novak's winning streak is one example. Novak also said himself he should have lost to Fed at the US in both 2010 and 2011. Federer also beat him in Wimbledon in 2012, and continues to have a remarkably even record against him. The closest we ever really saw Roger and Rafa play in head to heads at their peak was probably Wimbledon in 08, even though it was just after Rogers peak in 06, and before Rafa's in 10/11. It's difficult enough to speculate how a match would play out between players at different career stages, Roger's game in 06 was different to what it is now for example. His H2H with Rafa is obviously a slight against him, but again, most of these meetings have been on clay, by far Rafa's best surface, and even then Roger has 5 years on Nadal, skewing the record in Rafa's favour IMO.

Also in fairness I think most observers can categorically agree that Federer in 2008 had a huge drop off from his previous two seasons. He was obviously suffering from illness and indeed Rafa, Djoko and Andy all progressed that year hugely, but his peak was quite clearly 05-07. He lost to Novak in straight sets in Aus, even though he beat him in straight sets himself both in 07 and in 09 at the US. In 08 he was also poor on the tour, didn't win a single masters title, yes he was still in the top 2, a testament to his talent more than anything else, and he played one hell of a Wimbledon final, but it was still a first indication of his decline. He recovered towards the end to win the US and he carried that form into 09.

09 was an odd season because yes he reached all GS finals, but he managed to somewhat under perform in almost all of them compared to 06/07. He lost to Rafa in Aus in 5, very nearly screwed up RG in his semi against Delpo, got a huge break with Soderling beating Rafa. Then he should have lost to Roddick at Wimbledon, then lost in 5 to Delpo at US. Federer at his peak simply wouldn't have let matches go like that. He was also aided by Rafa and Novak having poorer seasons compared to 08. I know this seems pretty harsh because most players would kill for a season like that, but we're comparing it to Roger's incredible 06/07 seasons, in other words, his peak. He was still a fantastic player, and how he has rejuvenated his form since that awful 2013 season is truly remarkable. It's a shame he probably wont win another slam, but he is still the greatest for me personally. His 2006 season is probably the greatest in the modern game.

Tim Smith55

Peak Fed. Decide yourself if he is better than ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaawe4NbQHs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwJjNpoHJgg