Has Djokovic Lost His Desire?

[El Dude]

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

Not only is he going through a "bad patch," he's going through what ever great player has to go through: going from being on top to adjusting to a lower level. There seems to be a kind of denial at play: "Why aren't I the best anymore? What do I need to tweak to get back to my best?" Maybe what is required is a kind of acceptance of not being the best anymore, but also the drive (desire) to be as good as one can possibly be. As I've said before, Novak can look to his two elder peers for ways to make this adjustment with grace and determination. But what won't work, as you say, is thrashing around and looking for excuses, or some quick and easy way to fix things so he goes back to 2015. He can't go back to 2015, and as soon as he realizes this he can work on making 2018 much better than 2017.

 

[Carol]

Every single player goes through bad patches but some of them can handle it and overcome but not everyone. Look Borg, why did he retired so young? maybe because he started to lose more and more matches and he was very disappointed because he couldn't keep his 'mojo'?. Each player mentally is different and also depending of his pride, no one likes to lose but some players even going through a bad times they want to keep fighting because they know they can come back , others are feeling worse and worse and they don't have the ability to understand why it's happening to them and they don't find the right way to leave the patch, maybe one day or never

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Rumors are that Novak might take some time off from tennis to recapture his mojo.

Me thinks he will close the shop after USO and then come back next year.

 

[Moxie]

Rumors are that Novak might take some time off from tennis to recapture his mojo.

Me thinks he will close the shop after USO and then come back next year.

If he doesn't take some time off, I think he's foolish. And I wonder if waiting until after the USO is too long, but who knows. If he has a poor Wimbledon, he should close up shop then.

 

[Moxie]

Everyone keeps talking about how Novak lost his motivation after finally winning the French Open last year. I was wondering if losing early at the Olympics didn't also dent him more than a bit. Granted, it was a rough first round, but he's called the Olympic Gold a goal of his. Surely he left the court after losing to del Potro knowing that he may have missed his last best chance. I don't know if I'm making too much of that, but it's been a long time since the RG win to keep explaining lack of motivation on just that.

 

[scoop]

Moxie; yes that OLY loss by Djokovic 76 76 to Del Potro was devastating indeed. Remember Djokovic cried on the court after. He really gave it his all and played incredible tennis but he just could not get the job done. Could have been a devastating irreparable blow to his confidence to lose that. The Querrey lost at Wimbledon was the real shocker though. Because there are a lot of guys who have beaten and can beat Querrey and all those players got a huge confidence boost after seeing Querrey beat Djokovic. The Del Potro loss just added to Djokovic's frustration.

 

[Moxie]

The Querrey loss was odd. And a shocker, indeed. But I was wondering if he'd have a sink after RG, and he did, in that match. He even had the chance to regroup after the overnight rain delay, and couldn't take advantage. OK, surprising, but understandable, too. Then he won the Roger's Cup. All good. Then he got dumped out of OG first round. I do remember how devastated he was, crying on court. The sense of a dream that he might not realize. Took some additional wind out of his sails. Perhaps an overlooked detail in terms of how it has gone so awry.