Miami Open, FL, USA, ATP Masters 1000

[Billie]

Yay Nole!!!!:heart:

 

[EdbergsGhost]

Congratulations to Djokovic.
28 Masters crowns
6 in Miami
Well done.

 

[Denis]

Utter dominance.

Can't wait for the clay season to start!

 

[Billie]

Nice summary of the match by Kei. While he recognises that he didn't play as well as he would have liked, he gave Nole credit:

Kei Nishikori knows better than most about the challenges presented by Novak Djokovic.

Nishikori, a player known for his versatility, adjusted his game plan in an attempt to overcome the World No. 1 in the Miami Open presented by Itau final on Sunday.

“I don't know for other players, but it's tough to find his weakness,” he said. “I had a couple of strategies before this match, but I don't think I did well enough to beat him today. I was missing a lot with my forehand and made too many unforced errors.

“He has great defense, so it's tough to break his game,” the Japanese, who fell to 2-7 in the FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against Djokovic, added. “He was very patient and he didn't miss. It's always tough to play Novak.”

The No. 6 player in the Emirates ATP Rankings recognised that Djokovic’s main strength is an uncanny ability to prevent his opponents from playing their best.

“Maybe five or six [out of 10],” replied Nishikori when asked how he rated his performance in the final. “I thought I wasn't playing too badly. But at the same time, he played great tennis.

“My serve wasn't going today. He has a great return, so I felt a little pressure on my service games. He's definitely the No. 1 player right now. It was about him, even if I didn’t play the way I wanted to.”

Nishikori, a resident of Bradenton, Florida, will now head to Europe after a successful March hard court swing and attempt to re-enter the Top 5 Emirates ATP Rankings.

“Indian Wells and Miami have been important,” Nishikori noted. “I live in the States so I feel more comfortable playing these two tournaments. I’ve never done well at Indian Wells but this year I did make the quarter-finals. That’s progress.

“I'm excited to be back on clay. I been playing well on clay, so starting in Barcelona I hope to get my ranking up.”

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/nishikori-reaction-miami-2016-final

 

[Billie]

nice backhand winner:



Stats from the match:

 

[britbox]

 

[britbox]

 

[britbox]

28 Masters Titles.

Wow.

 

[Billie]

And his 4th IW-Miami double, third in a row.

 

[Billie]

A nice article from Bodo, with some post match remarks from Nole:

http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/15126311/tennis-novak-djokovic-best-matters-most

 

[Carol]

A nice article from Bodo, with some post match remarks from Nole:

http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/15126311/tennis-novak-djokovic-best-matters-most

Congrats Billie, I'm sure that you are enjoying the day!

 

[Vince Evert]

nice backhand winner:



Stats from the match:

YAWN !!!!

 

[Carol]

I have to say that it's a honor to see that Rafa after to go though so many bad times between injuries and later that lack of confidence dropping his game so badly losing against anyone he still is in the second position in MS and GS, amazing!

 

[Vince Evert]

I don't want this to seem like I'm knocking ND but what does it say about the standard and the future of men's tennis when a mainly defensive baseliner with limited skill, but is great athlete and mentally strong competitor, can actually reach number 1 and wins just about every tournament he competes at. In nearly 40 years I been watching tennis, I don't think I ever seen the tennis standard as low as this , seriously folks.

 

[Vince Evert]

And while i'm at it, Men's tennis is in strife if players who have been (in some cases were for a longtime) hyped up by commentators and critics as having potential but do not actually fulfill it as you would not expect the likes of Murray (basically a mental midget), Nadal (who's fading BIG TIME), an ageing Federer or Wawrinka , all ND's rivals, to put up a challenge throughout this year. When's the next generation of tennis going to step up ?

 

[Mastoor]

And his 4th IW-Miami double, third in a row.

Also the third AP-IW-KB triple, so triple triple.

Record points difference double Murray (#2) and record prize money over $98M.

 

[Mastoor]

I don't want this to seem like I'm knocking ND but what does it say about the standard and the future of men's tennis when a mainly defensive baseliner with limited skill, but is great athlete and mentally strong competitor, can actually reach number 1 and wins just about every tournament he competes at. In nearly 40 years I been watching tennis, I don't think I ever seen the tennis standard as low as this , seriously folks.

They are changing English dictionaries - from now on perfection will be spelled perfectioND.

 

[Mastoor]

Also dominant becomes dominaND

 

[Moxie]

I don't want this to seem like I'm knocking ND but what does it say about the standard and the future of men's tennis when a mainly defensive baseliner with limited skill, but is great athlete and mentally strong competitor, can actually reach number 1 and wins just about every tournament he competes at. In nearly 40 years I been watching tennis, I don't think I ever seen the tennis standard as low as this , seriously folks.

"Limited skill?" Seriously, RZ? At the outside, there's a bit of a competition vacuum, but that's not Novak's fault. And I think you fall into the old school trap that baseliners are mainly defenders. They are great at defense, but the best turn it to offense at will.

 

[Mastoor]

Does anyone understand, why the crowd was rude to Novak in the match against Thiem, while they cheered for him in all the other matches in Miami?

The only thing that crosses my mind is that in ihe match against Thiem there was possibly a large group of Austrians and then some of the rest started cheering against No1e with them.