2014 Aussie Open QF: Djokovic vs. Wawrinka

[nehmeth]

...and yeah, that last volley will be one he'll want to forget... but one point does not maketh a match.

But it sure loseth one.

That one deserves better than just a "like".

 

[coban]

Can we have a discussion regarding the Poll - i was one of two who voted Stan in 5 - who was the other?

 

[nehmeth]

Can we have a discussion regarding the Poll - i was one of two who voted Stan in 5 - who was the other?

moxie.

You can click the "show results" in the lower right hand corner of the poll - just outside the box - and it will show you who voted for what.

 

[calitennis127]

I haven't seen what happened in this match yet. I really need to see what the hell happened.

This is ridiculous.

 

[rafanoy1992]

I just watched a highlight reel and I feel I can actually comment on the match now without being affected by the drama and the tension.

Novak's main issue in the slams during the last couple of years is that he expects too much of himself. Everytime he loses an important point (or especially a set), he gets angry and very down on himself, and that carries over to the next point(s) as well. In the first game of the third set, he held but after holding he seemed to berate himself quite a bit.

When he wins, he celebrates but he has this righteous anger as if that is the bare minimum he expects and its nothing special. Putting that sort of mental pressure on yourself has to be draining. Winning cannot be a chore or a duty.

To be fair, all the great champions get annoyed and show frustration after losing points, but Rafa and Roger don't shout at themselves everytime the opponent hits a winner (at least not in every match they play).

This in my opinion is something Djokovic did not do in 2011, when he would accept opponent winners and his own bad points and mistakes and just carry on playing. He seems to be a little too intense on court nowadays. I still remember the 4th set of the USO 2013 final when he literally looked crushed after each point he lost.

No one is going to regularly win slams without dropping sets or having tough matches along the way. And getting angry with yourself for dropping one set increases the pressure, which then leads to further nerves and poor play. I felt Stan's best patch of the match was the second set, which he was able to take with his aggressive play. After that, he played well, but he needed Novak to be off the boil in the 3rd.

Just my opinion though.

Great analysis, Goldenboy

I agree with your statement about Djokovic's mentality during Grand Slams. I think ever since the 2012 French Open he playing with a lot of "negative" energy around him. In fairness, he still winning a lot of matches but against the big moments the "negative" energy affects his play. That's why he's losing these type of matches more often than not. He needs to realize that sometimes it IS okay to lose once in a while. It will be interesting to see how he will react from these type of matches in Grand Slams in the future.

 

[Tennis Miller]

I haven't seen what happened in this match yet. I really need to see what the hell happened.

This is ridiculous.

In a nutshell, here's what you missed:

Nole missed a volley on match point, which is the sole reason he lost.

So now it's smooth sailing for Roger who only has to beat Andy, Rafa, and then someone else in the final, so basically, we may as well give him the trophy.

In fact, there's going to be a press conference shortly to announce that have taken my advice and they ARE cutting the tournament short and awarding the trophy to Roger.

Everyone is happy with this, especially Rafa, who has a blister on his hand, because if there's one thing we know about Rafa, it's that he gives up in the face of adversity.

Apparently Sampras is also happy because he remains one slam ahead of Rafa.

That's about it, you didn't miss much!

Cheers

TM

 

[Front242]

I just watched a highlight reel and I feel I can actually comment on the match now without being affected by the drama and the tension.

Novak's main issue in the slams during the last couple of years is that he expects too much of himself. Everytime he loses an important point (or especially a set), he gets angry and very down on himself, and that carries over to the next point(s) as well. In the first game of the third set, he held but after holding he seemed to berate himself quite a bit.

When he wins, he celebrates but he has this righteous anger as if that is the bare minimum he expects and its nothing special. Putting that sort of mental pressure on yourself has to be draining. Winning cannot be a chore or a duty.

To be fair, all the great champions get annoyed and show frustration after losing points, but Rafa and Roger don't shout at themselves everytime the opponent hits a winner (at least not in every match they play).

This in my opinion is something Djokovic did not do in 2011, when he would accept opponent winners and his own bad points and mistakes and just carry on playing. He seems to be a little too intense on court nowadays. I still remember the 4th set of the USO 2013 final when he literally looked crushed after each point he lost.

No one is going to regularly win slams without dropping sets or having tough matches along the way. And getting angry with yourself for dropping one set increases the pressure, which then leads to further nerves and poor play. I felt Stan's best patch of the match was the second set, which he was able to take with his aggressive play. After that, he played well, but he needed Novak to be off the boil in the 3rd.

Just my opinion though.

Great analysis, Goldenboy

I agree with your statement about Djokovic's mentality during Grand Slams. I think ever since the 2012 French Open he playing with a lot of "negative" energy around him. In fairness, he still winning a lot of matches but against the big moments the "negative" energy affects his play. That's why he's losing these type of matches more often than not. He needs to realize that sometimes it IS okay to lose once in a while. It will be interesting to see how he will react from these type of matches in Grand Slams in the future.

Thing is, he won no other slam last 2 years except the AO and he was the favourite again this year. With the French Open still swaying more in Nadal's direction (although Novak showed last year he's more than capable of winning it), Wimbledon a no go imo (just don't find his game convincing enough on grass personally), that leaves a shot at winning both the French Open and the US Open. He's done himself no favours already to start the year losing early at his best slam. I can't see him troubling Murray at Wimbledon should they meet there and Murray is surely gonna contend better at this year's US Open along with Nadal and hopefully Fed and Del Potro. I hope Djokovic wins a slam this year, but it's gonna be tough. Today wasn't a great start to the year for his momentum and confidence, not to mention losing a $h1tload of ranking points, a large deficit to Nadal should he go on to win the AO.

He's had more than enough time to react to these sort of losses the last 2 years but so far they keep happening. It's a really bad trend unfortunately, playing your worst matches at the biggest events.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I watched till the end of first set 6-2 last night and went to bed. I saw Wawrinka
miss a routine smash at the end of first set. I thought it is safe to assume it will
be over in straight sets. Little did I know............

 

[Moxie]

I watched till the end of first set 6-2 last night and went to bed. I saw Wawrinka
miss a routine smash at the end of first set. I thought it is safe to assume it will
be over in straight sets. Little did I know............

I almost did that, too. Novak looked like he wasn't having any part of a repeat of last year's epic. Decided to hang in for a second. I'm still a bit confused as to what happened to Nole, since he started so well. Stan started playing better, for sure, but usually when Djokovic goes off, it's for about a set and a half.

 

[Front242]

I watched till the end of first set 6-2 last night and went to bed. I saw Wawrinka
miss a routine smash at the end of first set. I thought it is safe to assume it will
be over in straight sets. Little did I know............

I almost did that, too. Novak looked like he wasn't having any part of a repeat of last year's epic. Decided to hang in for a second. I'm still a bit confused as to what happened to Nole, since he started so well. Stan started playing better, for sure, but usually when Djokovic goes off, it's for about a set and a half.

Or 2 years at the slams (besides this one) :s But today including this one.

 

[Moxie]

I watched till the end of first set 6-2 last night and went to bed. I saw Wawrinka
miss a routine smash at the end of first set. I thought it is safe to assume it will
be over in straight sets. Little did I know............

I almost did that, too. Novak looked like he wasn't having any part of a repeat of last year's epic. Decided to hang in for a second. I'm still a bit confused as to what happened to Nole, since he started so well. Stan started playing better, for sure, but usually when Djokovic goes off, it's for about a set and a half.

Or 2 years at the slams (besides this one) :s But today including this one.

Well, when he's gone down in other Slams in the last 2 years, it's been in finals or SFs to the other Big 3, and with more highs and troughs. This one was a lot more 'trough.' That said, I'll give Wawrinka his due. He didn't settle for just getting another close epic on the Big Gun. He had to keep the focus and belief, even when he was getting help.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

With this loss, Novak's SF streak ended at 14. It almost appeared as though he might
give a run to overthrow Roger's record (of 23).

His Qf streak is still active and is at 19 now.

 

[Front242]

For sure, impressive that Stan continued to hold serve till the end but Novak was poor again in the important moments as has been the case in his biggest slam matches the last 2 years. A highly disappointing trend for both him and his fans.

 

[DarthFed]

With this loss, Novak's SF streak ended at 14. It almost appeared as though he might
give a run to overthrow Roger's record (of 23).

His Qf streak is still active and is at 19 now.

I figured he'd have a good chance at it too as he would be 28 or maybe 29 when he would have equaled that record and it ain't hard to make semis.

 

[Moxie]

For sure, impressive that Stan continued to hold serve till the end but Novak was poor again in the important moments as has been the case in his biggest slam matches the last 2 years. A highly disappointing trend for both him and his fans.

Held serve and nerve. I'm making a point about the also-rans who go away. (Since Kieran's not here to make it. :wave ) But, yes, to your point, Djokovic has a tendency to distraction in the big stages. He lets too many things clutter his focus, imo, like crowd support, and difficult calls. I'm not sure why he was so 'off,' after he was 'on,' today, and having been on such a run of clean tennis, but it is, as you suggest, a bad trend. I guess we'll see if Becker can help clear the cobwebs.

 

[Front242]

He'll probably get married in a closet if he stays working with Becker. At least it'll be a cheap wedding as only two people will fit there. Winning masters titles between now and RG still isn't what he needs though but will at least improve the confidence. It's all about the slams. Definitely needs to really prepare his mind more than anything for the French Open.

I don't really know what happened since his great run late last year but Djokovic looks a completely different player and starting the year so poorly is not what he needs. I'd imagine he must feel ashamed that Roger is still in the tournament but that's another story. Actually, he probably should feel ashamed....of his performance today, with him the favourite to win the whole thing.

 

[rafanoy1992]

He'll probably get married in a closet if he stays working with Becker. At least it'll be a cheap wedding as only two people will fit there. Winning masters titles between now and RG still isn't what he needs though but will at least improve the confidence. It's all about the slams. Definitely needs to really prepare his mind more than anything for the French Open.

I don't really know what happened since his great run late last year but Djokovic looks a completely different player and starting the year so poorly is not what he needs. I'd imagine he must feel ashamed that Roger is still in the tournament but that's another story. Actually, he probably should feel ashamed....of his performance today, with him the favourite to win the whole thing.

That's what I have been thinking, Front. I think winning smaller tournaments would give him some confidence but I don't know how it will translate to Slams especially now he doesn't have a Slam on his belt. In the past three years, he had the Australian Open title that at least gave him some confidence that he can win the other majors (not that he needed it). Now, he doesn't have a Slam on his belt going to the Clay season for the first time since he became a great player in 2011. In addition, I wonder if it would add more pressure on his shoulders to complete the Career Slam now that he doesn't have a Slam title on his belt.

 

[Front242]

He'll probably get married in a closet if he stays working with Becker. At least it'll be a cheap wedding as only two people will fit there. Winning masters titles between now and RG still isn't what he needs though but will at least improve the confidence. It's all about the slams. Definitely needs to really prepare his mind more than anything for the French Open.

I don't really know what happened since his great run late last year but Djokovic looks a completely different player and starting the year so poorly is not what he needs. I'd imagine he must feel ashamed that Roger is still in the tournament but that's another story. Actually, he probably should feel ashamed....of his performance today, with him the favourite to win the whole thing.

That's what I have been thinking, Front. I think winning smaller tournaments would give him some confidence but I don't know how it will translate to Slams especially now he doesn't have a Slam on his belt. In the past three years, he had the Australian Open title that at least gave him some confidence that he can win the other majors (not that he needed it). Now, he doesn't have a Slam on his belt going to the Clay season for the first time since he became a great player in 2011. In addition, I wonder if it would add more pressure on his shoulders to complete the Career Slam now that he doesn't have a Slam title on his belt.

Yup, there's nothing good for him to take away from the performance today. For the past 2 years this has been the only slam he's won. Obviously winning a slam is great and that's not what I meant but the fact that this was the one he was better than everyone else at and now he lost very early, losing tons of points and confidence to start the year. Not good. I hope his clay season is good this year as Indian Wells and Miami aren't anything history will remember even if he wins either of them.

 

[DarthFed]

He won plenty of "smaller" tournaments at the end of last year and had a 28 match win streak and this is his best slam. None of that stopped him from wetting the bed when it mattered most. That's the problem that he has to iron out. I don't think you can say it is a best 3 of 5 issue, for whatever reason he is doing long mental roundabouts out of nowhere at slams. What you saw at the end of this match was Nole having no confidence in any of his shots aside from his serve. And as soon as Wawrinka got a couple returns in play it was the end of the match.

 

[calitennis127]

I watched some of the re-run earlier tonight. Djokovic got what he deserved for allowing Wawrinka to dictate so many of the rallies.

It was a classic case of Djokovic playing to track the ball down more so than to do something meaningful with his shots. I get very annoyed watching him when he falls into that mode.