Has Djokovic Lost His Desire?

[scoop]

Jimmy the Gent; Not a giant fan of this new Djokovic gesture - do you have any better suggestions for him to do instead? I loved the water drink with the ballboy spontaneous during the rain delay a few years back but this new one is too contrived.

 

[kskate2]

Fatigue/burnout Could be an issue for Kiki as she is still alive in doubles with Kuznetsova. I think we can all lay to rest the silly charade of her supposed back injury. Halep is a lot fresher right now but Kiki's confidence has to be in the clouds after winning so many close tough tight matches and also playing so well in the doubles.

Not anymore. They were sent packing in straights by team Bucie.

 

[scoop]

Young and Gonzalez getting to this point could be the shock of the tournament - Nice to see Young bounce back so quickly after the heartbreaker loss to Ferrer in the first round in five sets - He was obviously playing superb tennis vs Ferrer and doubles has given Young the opportunity to rebuild his confidence.

 

[scoop]

That was a very enjoyable interview by Schett with Agassi - A lot of funny and insightful revelations by AA especially how he would not relish the challenge of playing Rafa on clay: "I would just wake up and go back to bed - I wouldn't even show up"

 

[scoop]

That was a very enjoyable interview by Schett with Agassi - A lot of funny and insightful revelations by AA especially how he would not relish the challenge of playing Rafa on clay: "I would just wake up and go back to bed - I wouldn't even show up" Thanks for sharing it Duke -

 

[scoop]

Agassi has to know Schett was as she is was very pretty. If Andrew and I both are well aware of Schett, Agassi should too but I guess it illustrates how distant and uninteresting womens tennis is to a lot of the ATP players.

 

[scoop]

Results tell if the coach is suitable for the player and Halep's getting the best results of her career right now. Even Agassi said he follows Halep because he's close with Cahill and Cahill "loves her" so that is a pretty big deal if Agassi actually has interest in a WTA player besides Steffi.

 

[scoop]

Kerber just needs to read Tennis-prose.com and copy what Halep did: Just "change her attitude" and play doubles and mixed doubles.

 

[scoop]

Some great players do not know how to interact and connect with stadiums. Ljubicic Nalbandian Martin (except that one match at US OPen vs Moya) Berdych etc. Kerber got to no 1 without having fan energy behind her.

 

[scoop]

Ostapenko had her big run in Charleston earlier this year but she got routed by Kasatkina in the F. I believe she also beat Wozniacki in Charleston also. She was really going for her shots and showing a lot of exuberance and personality on the court. Fun charismatic player to watch. As is Bacsinszky.

 

[scoop]

Venus is a long time family friend of the Harrisons and they let Venus stay at their home in Bradenton as a base - Pat Harrison said they first met Michael around a decade ago and been close friends ever since. Venus has won three or four ATP doubles titles already so he's a veteran. This would be a huge boost for Harrison's confidence.

 

[scoop]

Two hodge podge teams into the Roland Garros SF - Harrison/Venus and Young/Gonzalez - Venus has actually won six ATP titles with three coming in the last year - his previous best result in a GS was third round so this SF is by far his best result - Venus and Harrison will play Farah and Cabal in the SF - three or four years ago I saw Sock and Harrison lose to the two Colombians in a super breaker on court one in a loud rowdy atmosphere though it was an incredibly great match - So Harrison knows the two Colombians and so too does Venus - Harrison and Venus just won Estoril together so they are red hot and confident.

 

[scoop]

I think of all the players left in the doubles draw only Zimonic has won a GS so the other will just be viciously starvingly desperate to get their hands on their first. Those finals are the best when it's four players trying to win their first GS title.

 

[mightyjeditribble]

Have I missed something about why this thread has become comments on the doubles draw? Now, I don't mind a bit of discussion of the doubles, mind you! I do feel with the decline of the Bryan brothers, and no emergence I see of a similar storyline, interest in doubles has gone down a bit recently, which is a shame.

 

[scoop]

So it looks like Thiem subconsciously tanked that bad scoreline loss to Djokovic and showed him his very best today. Like what Andres Gomez did to Muster the year Gomez won Roland Garros he lost a battle to Muster before Paris but saved his very best for Paris. Djokovic may need to hire Steffi too Thiem vs Rafa...this is the one we knew was inevitable. Sticking with the Austrian destroyer.

 

[scoop]

Thenks Henk, Djokovic has had enough of peace and love, now he needs to hire a guru who specializes in ruthlessness and ferocity.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Getting back to the question on OP, no Djokovic has not lost his desire. On the contrary, it is "desire" that is the root cause of his problems.

 

[scoop]

Gamesetandmath; Perhaps Djokovic just needs to channel his "desire" more to tennis than extracurricular activities like peace and love

 

[scoop]

Sharoten; Subconscious tank also means unable to give full effort because of being physically spent. Subconscious tanks are a very vague concept theory as discussed by Jack Kramer in his boo The Game. Clearly Thiem was not all there and Djokovic was extra fired up to get the indirect win over Rafa vs Thiem. I have played matches like that after a big win and you know there's nothing in your tank but you don't quit or default but you play and you are just going through the motions - the jump and the bounce are just not there in your legs. The mind is ready for the fight but the body is not.

 

[Carol]

Novak' s problem is very simple, he is going through a bad patch like others have gone before but he is trying to find the answer saying this and that and getting crazy, changing coaches, empty mind, he needs vacations etc etc etc and not recononzing that sooner or later it had to happen, he is just human like everybody