No. 1 Novak Djokovic wins and wins

Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic can win  so many tournaments next year. He is older, for sure, as he is 36-years-old, but in 2023, he beat everyone, especially in the fall. The young players have improved a good amount, and yes, they can upset the Serbian, but they have to jump on him, early. Or Djokovic can be patient, and really chance it up.

In the ATP Finals last week, he beat Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, in the semis and in the final, and he didn’t lose a set. He was essentially perfect.

As his coach, Goran Ivanisevic said:  “I think Carlos didn’t play his best tennis. Still you need to beat him,” he said. “Nole lift his game. He came ready. He knew how to play unbelievable matches this year.  Carlos already won two Grand Slams and he’s future of tennis. Jannik really step up this year. He showed the world and himself that he’s ready next year to win Grand Slams, and he’s not afraid of anybody.

I think they going to both of them practice hard. The season is over. I think next year’s going to be very, very competitive and interesting year.”

Yes, during the year, he lost some so-so matches, and he lost. But Djokovic kept  moving forward, striding, and still learning. He has now won 98 singels titles, which is phenomenal, not only when he has won 23 Grand Slams, but he has won many various events, in Asia, Australia, the United States, Canada, Europe, ext.  The huge hitter has also won in the hardcourts, on the clay, in the grass, outside and inside. But he is smarter on court, and perhaps, off the court.  

“I knew as soon as [Novak] got into the semifinal, he’s going to win the tournament. The mentality changed,” the Croatian Ivanisevic said.  “The new Novak Djokovic arrived on the court from Saturday. When real Novak Djokovic arrives on the court, then the moment is nobody that can play with him.”

When he won the Australian Open for the first time in 2008, Djokovic ran so fast, and he was super steady, but while his backhand was absurd, his forehand, his return and at the net needed to enrich. However, even though he had some difficult seasons, he still drove himself, and he added with different strokes.

 “It’s very tough to improve with him (smiling). But he wants to improve,” the one-time 2001 Wimbledon champion. Ivanisevic said. “ That’s the good thing and bad thing for me as a coach and the rest of the team. He improved a lot his volleys, his game at the net, and his position at the net. Now when he comes to the net – okay, today  he missed some easy volleys [against [Sinner]  – but generally this week and this year he plays some amazing volleys.  His position at the net is a lot better. Is very tough to pass him. Before he was very easy to pass. Now he knows what he’s doing at the net. He’s comfortable at the net. Final of U.S. Open he played two, three most important volleys in the final against [beating Daniil Medvedev]. He’s not afraid to come to the net. He’s hitting the forehands much, much harder. He’s going for the shots. Serving, second serve, sometimes he’s hitting over 200. He’s just going for it.”

Yes he did, and he still wants to be perfect, at the net. In January, Djokovic can win another Australian Open. Clearly he will be the favorite. But eventually,  the older you get, it is hard to sprint very fast. However, in 2024, he could do it again. He will make a huge effort.

Will anyone win a Slam next year? Maybe. Clearly, Alcaraz is very young and he is improving, so he could win one Slam, or two. You can throw in with Sinner, who had a terrific fall, but he has yet to win Slam, so in December, he must be thinking about how to return, deeper, and also, at the tough, nets.
 The American men had a solid year, overall, but no one reached into the final at the Slams. OK, maybe next year. Five of them are in the top 25 with Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul,  Frances Tiafoe , Ben Shelton  and Sebastian Korda. They are still pretty young, so they could rise, higher, but to beat Djokovic, or the rest of the top eight players, they will have to be much  deeper, about exactly what to do. Please.

ATP: On the grass, a new beginning

Carlos Alcaraz
Mal Taam/MALTphoto

“[Djokovic] takes your soul, then he dig your grave and you have a funeral and you’re dead. Bye-bye.” – Goran Ivanisevic

Now it is on the grass, which is totally different on  rather than the clay. It is much faster, and it skids, so there it won’t be really long points. Forty years ago, it was super fast, and you had to bend down, constantly. There were very few points, with a million aces, or quick winners. However, they decided to gradually change, not immediately, but eventually, they did, so now there will be longer points. 

Some of the excellent players know how to play the right way, in the grass, clay, and the hardcourts. 
The No. 1 Novak Djokovic knows almost all of it, and while just like two other fantastic players, with Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer, there were also times when they were not playing well at all. That is why they lost. They all have, too, eventually.

Djokovic played amazing at Roland Garros, and he has won Wimbledon seven  times. Yes, he is the favorite, and one of the reasons why his coach Goran Ivanisevic, won it just once, in 2001, but the huge hitter said that outside of Djokovic and Rafa Nadal that there are some fine young players. There were some broadcasters who thought that Carlos Alcaraz would take down Djokovic in the semis in Paris, but the Serbian stood tall, and he beat him in four sets. In the last two sets, Alcaraz made so many errors, and he was gone. Plus, it is not just two out of three, but three out of five. That is totally different. 

“All this for me was little strange. Even I read a lot of paper, a lot of people saying that Alcaraz is a favorite against Novak,” Ivanisevic said. “You cannot say that. The guy played 33 Grand Slam finals. He won 23 Grand Slams.  Alcaraz is the next unbelievable, he’s amazing, I love Carlos, and he’s going to win I don’t know how many Grand Slams, but you cannot say that he’s a favorite. He played better coming here. But this is Grand Slam. This is nerves. You see what happened in the third set to him. And Novak knows. Novak knows. Novak waits. 
Like [Andy] Roddick said, I read, he takes the legs, then he takes your soul, then he dig your grave and you have a funeral and you’re dead. Bye-bye. Thank you for coming (smiling).” 

Alcaraz  won the 2022 U.S. Open, and outside in the 2023 Roland Garros, he recently won Barcelona and Madrid. Last year, before he took off in September, he lost in the fourth round at Wimbledon. He wasn’t ready yet. However, Ivanisevic said that he has improved a lot, so maybe on the grass in three weeks, he can explode, again.

“I love Carlos. First of all, he’s a great kid,” Ivanisevic said. “ He’s still kid. And he’s such a well-educated, nice, always laughing, great tennis player, already won a Grand Slam.  He’s gonna be extremely dangerous. There are few more guys, always [Daniil] Medvedev, but Carlos, I love that guy. He’s a fresh air for tennis, how he plays, how he smiles, how he’s happy, how he plays tennis on the court, the ideas, is just amazing. For sure he’s gonna be threat. He’s going to be threat on grass, he’s gonna be threat on hard court, he’s gonna be threat everywhere.  But, it’s always this “but,” he’s still young. You know, you have Novak and you can’t ever bet against Novak.”

NOTES
It is pretty tough to predict who will reach into the quarters at Wimbledon as someone could get hurt, or to catch on fire. But here are 10 more such as Djokovic, Alcaraz, Medvedev [although he just lost], Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev, Holger Rune, Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov, Taylor Fritz [who also just lost, too], and Frances Tiafoe , [who just one]. Next week, it could be totally different .

Brisbane Day 4: A new beginning for Marin Cilic

cilic goran 14

Ivanisevic is helping Cilic reconstruct his serve, as well as his volley

 

BRISBANE:   Marin Cilic played just his third match in the past five months on Wednesday when took down 2013 Brisbane International finalist Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 7-5 at Pat Rafter Arena on Wednesday.  The Croat was a very happy man, saying that while it’s his same career, it’s new start after what he called the worst period of his life in 2013 when he was banned for allegedly doping.

The former top 10er Cilic was banned for nine months by an independent tribunal in September after testing positive for the stimulant nikethamide at the Munich Open in May, but his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was successful and his suspension was cut to four months. He chose not to play post Wimbledon in order to give is lawyers time to prepare and to rack up time served. One his appeal was okayed, he managed to get in two matches at the Paris Bercy Masters. But that was it for the rest of 2013 as his ranking was too low to get into the ATP World Finals.

The 25 year old enters the 2014 ranked No. 37 with an outside shot of being seeded at the Australian Open. Some folks feel bad for him as they believe his explanation that he did not purposely ingest the nikethamide is the truth. Others may still think he cheated. But whatever the case, he does have a new lease on life and that now includes the full time coaching help of former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, whom he has known since he’s been a kid.

“Feels still the same career, but feels like a new beginning for me,” he said. “Just with the new team and everything, I’m thinking about everything around myself in a different perspective. I had a lot time to think about everything and time to work. I improved my serve.  That was something special from Goran.  We worked a lot on the serve during the off‑season.  I feel it’s in really good place and it could help me to play much better, especially against top players.  So overall, of course I’m excited to be in the season and to play, to be back on the tour after all that misery last year.”

Despite being 6-feet-6, a pretty good mover for his size and a man who  can crack it from the back court, Cilic he has never become a major threat to the elite, while a guy of the identical  height with weapons that are not much bigger, Juan Martin Del Potro, has.

Cilic owns nine career titles, all at the ATP 250 level. He has never reached the final of Master Series, but back in 2010 when he advanced to his first Grand Slam SF at Australian Open (upending Andy Roddick before going down to Andy Murray) and cracked the  Top 10, it sure looked like he was ready to make a push.

But he did not. In 2011, he went 1-8 vs. Top 10 opponents. In 2012, he posted the same mark against the top 10. He was sliding backward

“I felt that I lost my way a bit after [2010],” he said. “ I was struggling couple seasons.  2011, 2012 I was bit better, but still not at the right place with the game.  I was all the time searching myself.  Overall looking at the seasons, the performances I wanted to have.  In couple tournaments I had great results, but overall I was not too satisfied with it, especially after that great success in Australia and also four, five months before Australian Open where I played pretty good tennis. So I think now when I went through it, I felt what I need to do.  I think I took that as a lesson.  Next time I hope that I’m going to be there I know how to deal in that kind of situation.”

In 2013, Cilic  was essentially mediocre. He lost a five setter to Andrea Seppi in the third round of the Australian Open, but he did avenge that loss in a Davis Cup win over Italy. He won the  Zagreb title , but the field was spotty. At the spring Masters Series he went down to Raonic (Indian Wells), Murray (Miami), Gasquet (Monte Carlo), Madrid (Andujar) and Anderson (Rome).  At Roland  Garros he fell to Victor Troicki. Oh and let’s not forget what occurred in Munich when he tested positive- he lost to countryman Ivan Dodig on clay.

On grass he briefly revived.  At Queens he took down  Dodig, Feliciano Lopez. Tomas Berdych and Lleyton Hewitt and before falling to Murray. At Wimbledon, he claimed that a knee injury forced him out the competition prior to his second round match, even though he knew he was going to be suspended. He still sticks by that story.

Due to the long break, he feels physically  refreshed now which is  good for any player. Against Dimitrov, he showed off a huge serve and consistent serve, a stroke that has been very sporadic since 2010. His groundstrokes were strong and had depth and he was competent around the net.

Ivanisevic had one of the best serves of all time and while he and Cilic’s motions are totally different, he managed to convince his student that his motion was too complicated. He also has given him a set of broad shoulder to lean on

“To simplify.  Throw the ball in the air and hit it<’ Cilic said of the left handers advice to him. “  For me before, I was a lot thinking about the serve. To be more relaxed, nothing unusual.  But we worked a lot on it, and it seems that it fit in the right place.

Goran showed me already a lot of things.  I feel my game is improving.  Goran say all the things that he went through many more times than I did already in my career he can show me and tell me in front, Okay, be careful of this.  He’s going to be one step ahead of me in some kind of situations.”

Injury watch

The Brisbane International may only have a 28 draw but already, in the WTA First Premier level event of 2014, it has seen four causalities. Sabine Lisicki and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova became the third and fourth players to pull out, Lisicki with gastrointestinal illness and  Pavlyuchenkova with a left thigh injury. They  Ashleigh Barty and Caroline Wozniacki, who pulled out earlier in the week.

Match of the Day

Britain’s Ross Hutchins, who battled cancer last year, returned the tour and he and his partner, Colin Fleming, played very respectably in a 0-6, 6-4 10-4 (match tiebreak) loss to Dimitrov and Jeremy Chardy.

What to Watch for, Thursday

Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova both open play during the day session, with the Russian going up against the heavy-hitting Kaia Kanepi, and then the American taking on the dangerous Dominica Cibulkova. Should both Williams and Sharapova win, they will contest their 17th match. However, it is not a great rivalry by any stretch as Williams owns a 14-2 edge and Sharapova has not beaten her since 2004, although she did play Williams tough the last time they faced off in the 2013 Roland Garros final.

 

 

 

Tennis and the Art of Losing

As great as Hingis was, she was 5-7 in Slam finals.

By Richard Osborn

Baseball is a game of failure. Always has been, always will be. Ted Williams, The Splendid Splinter, the last man to hit .400, once confessed, “Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of 10 and be considered a good performer.”

Fellow slugger Mickey Mantle concurred, asserting, “During my 18 years, I came to bat almost 10,000 times. I struck out about 1,700 times and walked maybe 1,800 times. You figure a ballplayer will average about 500 at bats a season. That means I played seven years without ever hitting the ball.”

Tennis has its failures, too. After all, there are 127 losers in every Grand Slam draw. Only one player can be crowned the champion. But I