2014 U.S. Open Men's Semifinal: Djokovic v. Nishikori

[kskate2]

Good lord! I go away for an hour and this thing is over in 4! Unreal. The little Samurai must have performed a doozie on Novak.

Well congrats Kei on your first slam Final. I for one think you have a great chance of picking up 3 million.

 

[Federberg]

I see from the top of this play by play commentary from BBC that Navratilova is getting married. http://www.bbc.com/sport/live/tennis/29010919

not that it matters... but dude or gal?

One assumes gal as she is a lesbian.

She should get Margaret Court to read the vows out to her!

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Novak played too passive for my liking,Kei was playing good solid offensive tennis
I still cant understand why Novak hasnt got more titles in NYC? it is a mystery to me.

I think he's more effective on slow hards. It's exactly the same reason he hasn't won in Cincy

Agree,he is more effective on slow hards.

 

[Federberg]

Novak actually won three more points than Kei. The Nole fans claiming Novak did not show
up is completely ridiculous. Novak was just outplayed and outsmarted by tenacious Kei.

In particular, in the third set, Novak brought on all kinds of heat and tried to make
Kei wittle. But Kei did not budge.

Congrat Kei, You showed what a Samurai is capable of. clap:clap

That's not really an argument but fair enough, and enjoy the ad hoc. Of course Novak was outplayed, and I said even if Novak had played his best it was not a guarantee, but he never quite hit his stride, first serve percent was low, lots of errors in the last two sets without even taking risk.

It is a rare match where the winner has less points won than the loser. In fact there is
"........... Paradox" name attached to such matches. Saying, you are giving credit to Kei and
at the same time claiming Novak did not show up is basically not giving credit.

As for enjoying the "ad hoc", I am just talking about this match. I don't think it is a
fair assessment to say Novak did not show up. When Kei served for the third set, Novak
stopped him; that is not showing up in your books or is there any match in your book
where Novak showed up and yet lost.

Sure Novak has shown up and lost (Matches that immediately come to mind, AO 2014 QF, FO 2012, USO 2010). I also said Novak did not quite show up. "quite" meant to be a qualification that he was only slightly off his best. To be fair Novak did show up, but he was never quite in rhythm, Kei certainly contributed to that, but Novak also can play better against a shotmaker. I also said kei played great, and that I am not convinced Novak would have won even if he had played his best. You focused in on only half of what I said. I think it's fair to say a player is capable of and has played better, if that is what you think. It's not an excuse, you play how you play on the day. That's sports.

I think he's been off throughout out the US open series. What was surprising was how good he looked in earlier rounds. This is actually more worrying for Murray. If Kei could take him out, why couldn't he?

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Federberg, Murray himself did not look convincing either, starting from the first match...

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Well the match against Murray came down to attrition.

 

[Riotbeard]

Darn it started raining...

 

[Front242]

I see from the top of this play by play commentary from BBC that Navratilova is getting married. http://www.bbc.com/sport/live/tennis/29010919

not that it matters... but dude or gal?

I think you know the answer to that Quite hot too but I won't spoil it for you. See for yourself and google some images

 

[Riotbeard]

Federberg, Murray himself did not look convincing either, starting from the first match...

Murray has not looked convincing in over a year.

 

[Federberg]

Federberg, Murray himself did not look convincing either, starting from the first match...

Yes agreed. Worrying... When does he get back to his level? Or was the quest for a slam making him outperform? He should set himself the target of getting to No 1 now

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Another glaring factor in Novak's game today was his inability to convert BPs,especially in that long service game that of Kei's that went nearly 10 mins,Novak had 2 BPs.

 

[Riotbeard]

Federberg, Murray himself did not look convincing either, starting from the first match...

Yes agreed. Worrying... When does he get back to his level? Or was the quest for a slam making him outperform? He should set himself the target of getting to No 1 now

No. 1?! He should set the target of winning a tournament.

 

[Front242]

Federberg, Murray himself did not look convincing either, starting from the first match...

Yes agreed. Worrying... When does he get back to his level? Or was the quest for a slam making him outperform? He should set himself the target of getting to No 1 now

At number 10 he has a long way to go now. Of course he can gain a lot of points next few months in theory but whether or not he will remains to be seen. If all the others above do well they'll stay above him regardless.

 

[Front242]

Another glaring factor in Novak's game today was his inability to convert BPs,especially in that long service game that of Kei's that went nearly 10 mins,Novak had 2 BPs.

Welcome to club Federer. Novak's break point conversion is leagues ahead of Roger's even if he missed those two.

 

[herios]

Novak played too passive for my liking,Kei was playing good solid offensive tennis
I still cant understand why Novak hasnt got more titles in NYC? it is a mystery to me.

Because you just said it, he plays PASSIVE, Like someone who is the underdog and has no belief. He shows nu hunger or determination. His shots many times have no umph, no velocity. Little Kei generates such an incredible speedy shots, which come back at you almost as fast as you have served with.
Novak played in so many finals here at the USO caught off guard (or pants down). He mocked around in the final he lost to Murray ( a very winnable match), same with Rafa last year.
Anyways, he has a lot of time on his hands to think about what he did wrong.
As far as Kei is concerned, he demonstrated he is the true leader of the new generation (born in 1990 and after). Good for him!

 

[rafanoy1992]

Federberg, Murray himself did not look convincing either, starting from the first match...

Yes agreed. Worrying... When does he get back to his level? Or was the quest for a slam making him outperform? He should set himself the target of getting to No 1 now

No. 1?! He should set the target of winning a tournament.

Riot, he should set a target of reaching the final of any tournament

In all seriousness, Murray needs to change his priorities this upcoming off-season. Instead of just focusing on the Slams, he needs to start to focus on doing well on the smaller tournaments. If he starts winning on the smaller tournaments, then he could start focusing on the Slams. Because right now he lacks focus and fitness (a minor one).

 

[TennisFanatic7]

Federberg, Murray himself did not look convincing either, starting from the first match...

Yes agreed. Worrying... When does he get back to his level? Or was the quest for a slam making him outperform? He should set himself the target of getting to No 1 now

No. 1?! He should set the target of winning a tournament.

Riot, he should set a target of reaching the final of any tournament

In all seriousness, Murray needs to change his priorities this upcoming off-season. Instead of just focusing on the Slams, he needs to start to focus on doing well on the smaller tournaments. If he starts winning on the smaller tournaments, then he could start focusing on the Slams. Because right now he lacks focus and fitness (a minor one).

I agree. Since Lendl came in the Masters events have been approached as tune-ups, particularly those before the majors - Madrid, Rome, Cincy, Canada. He didn't even play Monte Carlo this year. He may have been able to do that in the past when he was ranked in the top 2-3 places and was reaching slam finals but now he needs to build himself back up. I think he has a good chance of a good run in Shanghai, perhaps things can start there.

 

[Fiero425]

Federberg, Murray himself did not look convincing either, starting from the first match...

Yes agreed. Worrying... When does he get back to his level? Or was the quest for a slam making him outperform? He should set himself the target of getting to No 1 now

No. 1?! He should set the target of winning a tournament.

Riot, he should set a target of reaching the final of any tournament

In all seriousness, Murray needs to change his priorities this upcoming off-season. Instead of just focusing on the Slams, he needs to start to focus on doing well on the smaller tournaments. If he starts winning on the smaller tournaments, then he could start focusing on the Slams. Because right now he lacks focus and fitness (a minor one).

I agree. Since Lendl came in the Masters events have been approached as tune-ups, particularly those before the majors - Madrid, Rome, Cincy, Canada. He didn't even play Monte Carlo this year. He may have been able to do that in the past when he was ranked in the top 2-3 places and was reaching slam finals but now he needs to build himself back up. I think he has a good chance of a good run in Shanghai, perhaps things can start there.

I think people continue to overlook the main problem Murray has; his mindset to play passive for the most part! He allows players we don't even know jump on him, take a set or 2, then he has to grind out a hard fought win that was totally unnecessary! It's all good if it works, but he's lost matches for the simple reason as Federer; ego thinking they can slap winners from the baseline and outlast younger players! :nono uzzled :s

 

[rafanoy1992]

Federberg, Murray himself did not look convincing either, starting from the first match...

Yes agreed. Worrying... When does he get back to his level? Or was the quest for a slam making him outperform? He should set himself the target of getting to No 1 now

No. 1?! He should set the target of winning a tournament.

Riot, he should set a target of reaching the final of any tournament

In all seriousness, Murray needs to change his priorities this upcoming off-season. Instead of just focusing on the Slams, he needs to start to focus on doing well on the smaller tournaments. If he starts winning on the smaller tournaments, then he could start focusing on the Slams. Because right now he lacks focus and fitness (a minor one).

I agree. Since Lendl came in the Masters events have been approached as tune-ups, particularly those before the majors - Madrid, Rome, Cincy, Canada. He didn't even play Monte Carlo this year. He may have been able to do that in the past when he was ranked in the top 2-3 places and was reaching slam finals but now he needs to build himself back up. I think he has a good chance of a good run in Shanghai, perhaps things can start there.

Also, because he has won two majors, he could just focus on playing well on smaller tournaments without having the huge pressure on whether or not he would win a Slam at all.

 

[Front242]

Yeah but no one remembers you for winning a 250 although admittedly winning at least one of those is a confidence boost.