Novak - "My 60% is better than Victor's 100%"

Wow, what a statement!

Imagine if Federer had said "My 60% is better than Stan's 100%". The board would have been in uproar. No doubt, Socal would have written a lengthy article about How Roger lets himself down once again. Faust surely would have contributed numerous posts about Roger's arrogance and conceit. Yet is this not a tad distasteful from Novak?

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Q: "Why did you play?"
A: Viktor and I decided it together, we thought that we'd have better chance with me against Delpo, that my 60% is better than Viktor's 100% at this moment.

Q:"Do you feel sad or angry?"
A:I'm not angry, I'm very sad and disappointed. I believed that I can hold on and win today, but against player with 80% first serve in it was impossible. He was very impressive, I'm not going to say that I'd win if I was healthy, I have no idea what would happen then because Delpo was amazing today.

Q:"Well done Novak on winning US Open, what did you feel there?" - First signs came in New York on start of US Open. My pain was getting bigger through US Open. In the final it was terrible, up to the limits. I was lucky to win that match in 4 sets. I didn't have enough time to recover even though I believed that I can recover on time. I came into this match believing in myself, I knew how important this match is, just like the whole team is, and we believed that I'm better than Viktor at the moment.

Q:"Did you speak with Viktor and Janko after first day, are you angry at them, you can't win all 3 matches all alone?"
A:Of course I was not angry. Both Argies were great. Both Janko and Viktor are playing their best tennis at Davis Cup. I never had so much trouble returning somenone's serve as today against Delpo, even though I have one of the best returns in the world. I'm not mad at all, I believed we can get back, we were great in doubles, but I couldn't recover completely.

Q: "Macedonia loves you and Serbian tennis as well! What refreshes your energy after everything?" It's hard to speak about it after I wasn't playing my best today(smile). Playing so long on this level made me so strong, I do care very much about recovering and I have a big team of people. Q: Asked to say cheers to Macedonians - Hi Macedonians, well done to SF in Basketball!(laugh)

Q:"Did you have to play today?" - I can't say if it was needed for me to play today, can't get back to past, what would happen if it happened. I took responsibility, I wanted to play for national team, everyone supported me that I can win with my 50-60% of power. I couldn't finish the match and that's it.

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emancipator

"Imagine if Federer had said "My 60% is better than Stan's 100%"

If I recall correctly, Federer did say he "carried" Stan to the Olympic doubles gold...
I never have a problem with straight talking people. Better that than the worn out cliches....
On current form Troicki had 1% of beating Delpo, and they all knew it. No need to tread on eggshells, Serbia is PC-free....

What I find extraordinary about this extract is the suggestion that Djoko talks about "Delpo" and the "Argies" - he's in a press conference, not bickering on 606v2.

noleisthebest wrote:"Imagine if Federer had said "My 60% is better than Stan's 100%"

If I recall correctly, Federer did say he "carried" Stan to the Olympic doubles gold...
I never have a problem with straight talking people. Better that than the worn out cliches....
On current form Troicki had 1% of beating Delpo, and they all knew it. No need to tread on eggshells, Serbia is PC-free....

Hello Nit,



Do you have a link for this statement by Fed..

I've often heard it banded around but have never actually seen a quote for it..

In any case it just goes to prove my point. For years people have been using that statement to bash Fed and yet, when Novak makes an ever stronger statement, there is no fuss whatsoever.

barrystar wrote:What I find extraordinary about this extract is the suggestion that Djoko talks about "Delpo" and the "Argies" - he's in a press conference, not bickering on 606v2.

Well spotted. It's so much second nature to us I did not notice when I first read it.

emancipator wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:"Imagine if Federer had said "My 60% is better than Stan's 100%"

If I recall correctly, Federer did say he "carried" Stan to the Olympic doubles gold...
I never have a problem with straight talking people. Better that than the worn out cliches....
On current form Troicki had 1% of beating Delpo, and they all knew it. No need to tread on eggshells, Serbia is PC-free....

Hello Nit,



Do you have a link for this statement by Fed..

I've often heard it banded around but have never actually seen a quote for it..

In any case it just goes to prove my point. For years people have been using that statement to bash Fed and yet, when Novak makes an ever stronger statement, there is no fuss whatsoever.

Yes Fed said it but he also said that it was Stan who carried him first...or after....I can't remember.

I don't mind people talking their minds. What I find a bit too much in that quote is actually the percentages given. They are a bit over the top. Had he said my 98% is better than Troicky's 99%, then we woudl still have understood what he meant and it woudl have shown a bit more respect.

I can only imagine there was a lot of emotion left in him in this interview.

Re the Olympics, I think Fed's exact words were, "I really carried Stan through a few matches, you know, and then after that he really started to play well."

barrystar wrote:Re the Olympics, I think Fed's exact words were, "I really carried Stan through a few matches, you know, and then after that he really started to play well."

Thanks barry,

Sounds to me like Fed was calling it as he saw it.

emancipator wrote:

barrystar wrote:Re the Olympics, I think Fed's exact words were, "I really carried Stan through a few matches, you know, and then after that he really started to play well."

Thanks barry,

Sounds to me like Fed was calling it as he saw it.

It was at the US Open and he was being asked how he viewed his year generally with the mono and all that and more specificially whether Beijing had given him a lift - he was clearly asked to talk about his personal view of his own play and he was saying that the fact he personally played so well in the doubles gave him a lift.

Maybe Novak could have phrased it better, I don't think he meant it as disrespect to victor. He obviously felt like he had to play and that gave them the best chance to win. Hey you answer thousands of these questions and maybe you could rephrase one or two of them. The thing with Fed is that he says a lot the same things over and over again in terms of disrespecting opponents so it is a trend with him. I don't have a problem with players speaking their mind, but we have a rightt to comment on their viewpoints free speech is free speech for everyone.

So when Federer says things like he wasn't that impressed with Murrays play (which proved right), or that he carried Stan (at the same time as saying Stan played greater later on) it's arrogance but when Djokovic declares his 60% is better than Viktors best it's just a slip of the tongue? I mean, no disrespect or anything Viktor but "me on one good leg is as good as it gets for you, mate. With respect, of course."?

The funny thing is that Federers comments are probably correct whereas Djokovic's comment is utter bull. His 60% is nowhere near Viktors 75%, never mind his best.

It sounds like just a few months at the top have had a damaging effect on his humility.

socal, I'm sure if we dig around the comments Djokovic has said over the years we could find a 'trend' for him saying disrespectful things but it's a matter for individuals if they wish to infer a sinister side to a player'a comments. You chosen to infer a sinister side to Fed's comments whereas nearly all Fed supporters haven't. As has been said before, Fed gives hundreds of press conferences, it's easy to nit pick and say wow, look, there's a trend. Given he gives hundreds of these conferences, nit picking a few comments from an entire interview from a couple of hundred press conferences doesn't constitute a trend as you're suggesting.

Its probably somewhat meant convivially but Novak can have a large degree of arrogance which isnt that attractive at times (like his chest beating, and posturing to the crowd, etc, during matches) - this is one of those comments thats best left internalised. It surely isnt going to endear him to Troicki even if Troicki agrees with it.

Yes I remember Fed making that comment and he got stick for it at the time on 606.

When you think about it, both comments are related to team activities,,,,these guys are masters at playing on their own, their sport is one of the loneliest out there...so when they come to comment on team situations perhaps some of them still talk as ATP singles players and the mindset needed to succeed at the very highest level - because these guys are not like the rest of us, that's why they succeed month in, month out. I think they're all prone to narcissism and arrogance from time to time, but some much more than others.

I don't think you can criticize Djoko at all - the only thing he might change would be the precision of the percentage comparison, but I suspect that it came out like that because that's what the players said between themselves.

Well as it turns out he was talking rubbish.

Anyway, to suggest Troicki can't beat JMDP is absurd. Del boy has yet to reacquire the consistency before his injury and VT is a good player.

BB, if you read my comments I stated that Novak shouldn't have made that comment. A great deal of people in the media also commented on how ungracious Roger was after his defeat at the USO this year. I don't doubt that Novak has a highly tuned sense of ego just like Roger. It is obvious that Novak's coaches also felt that an injured Novak was still a better option than a healthy Troicki, it is after all the captain's decision who he plays. Maybe he was voicing the conversations of the captain. Either way I wish Novak hadn't made that statement, that is more of an admission than anything you have ever made about any of Roger's odd commentary in some of his post match interviews. In retrospect it wasn't a good comment to make.

socal1976 wrote:BB, if you read my comments I stated that Novak shouldn't have made that comment. A great deal of people in the media also commented on how ungracious Roger was after his defeat at the USO this year. I don't doubt that Novak has a highly tuned sense of ego just like Roger. It is obvious that Novak's coaches also felt that an injured Novak was still a better option than a healthy Troicki, it is after all the captain's decision who he plays. Maybe he was voicing the conversations of the captain. Either way I wish Novak hadn't made that statement, that is more of an admission than anything you have ever made about any of Roger's odd commentary in some of his post match interviews. In retrospect it wasn't a good comment to make.

Roger made an ungracious comment, which was foolish, and Novak's comment can look a little complacent too. However, I think we sometimes don't quite make allowances for how it feels to have a microphone shoved in your face after a searing disappointment or when you are reeling with tiredness and injury and having to justify why you are playing for your country.

To be quite honest, I don't care - as long as these guys behave with courtesy to each other and the crowd while they are on court, and play the wonderful tennis they are capable of, within the rules - that's their job imho. The modern game demands that they be diplomats as well as well as top class sportsmen - and then their every unwise utterance is examined by us lot on forums across the globe What a good job that Connors was never subjected to the quite same scrutiny, or Nastase or the fabulous Jonny Mac

With respect, I think we make so much unnecessary overanalysis. Why not "judge players" on their performance on the field, ie court/stadium, rather than the press conferences. They are not diplomats after all.

And that my friends is the point I was trying to make..

Frankly couldn't care less about this statement from Djoko or the statement by Fed after the USO.

However, the same standards should be applied to ALL players

Novak has a snobbery about himself which is similarly what is said to deride Federer the last 3 or so years, well i'm sorry socal but Novak has always been this way when he's found a good run of form. It is true that Novak is usually always a good man in defeat, but when he's winning you always get his excessive spartacus-type reactions. But of course Novak is not as old are as accomplished as Federer, so you'll likely put it down to experience

[quote="Josiah Maiestas"]Novak has a snobbery about himself which is similarly what is said to deride Federer the last 3 or so years, well i'm sorry socal but Novak has always been this way when he's found a good run of form. It is true that Novak is usually always a good man in defeat, but when he's winning you always get his excessive spartacus-type reactions. But of course Novak is not as old are as accomplished as Federer, so you'll likely put it down to experience :)

Yeah, imagine Nole wearing a jacket with number 5 embroidered by Sergio Tachini in Melbourne next year, now THAT would be tacky, wouldn't it? (pun intended)

noleisthebest wrote:
Yeah, imagine Nole wearing a jacket with number 5 embroidered by Sergio Tachini in Melbourne next year, now THAT would be tacky, wouldn't it? (pun intended)

Still it would be better. At worst Federer was advertising about his own achievements which he earned every bit of. He didn't showed any insult or disrespect towards any player. Did he put something like Federer -15 , Wawrinka -0??? Nope he didn't? But Djo said something different. He wasn't bragging about his own achievements. Had he said something like " even at 60% of my top level, I have great confidence and we both decided I can play well enough to to put up a great fight". This year he has earned this bragging right. But what he showed was utter disrespect to a fellow teammate. Wasn't it Troicki who won the deciding rubber last year a giving the first Davis cup win to Serbija? He dealth with a great pressure and expectations and sure it wasn't easy for him considering his weak record in moments of pressure and nerves. He is known to lose matches from winning positions, but on that occasion he showed great character. But the way Djo has ignored this contribution its hard to believe anything other that he is too blinded with his own success and treats anyone else no better than trash.

How many people can treat the triumph and disaster just the same? Not Novak Djokovic? He is humble in defeat, but in win he is.... you know.. this.

I don't find Novak's celebrations to be over the top, it is about average for the ATP tour. I do find fed's dogging of his opponents when he loses to be a bit ungracious, I don't mind that he does it, it makes for more interesting debate on forums like our own. I don't think either guy is a bad person, everyone has their positives and their flaws. Because Roger does something one day and I crticize him doesn't mean that I can't complement him on something positive the next day.

"How many people can treat the triumph and disaster just the same? Not Novak Djokovic? He is humble in defeat, but in win he is.... you know.. this. "

try to broaden your reading a bit....
As for Nole, he's number one, great in losing as well as in winning. the fact that it's not to you liking, too bad.

All the critics are coming out of the woodwork Nitb, everything Novak now does is under such a microscope, well that is the price of success and I am sure Novak can handle it.

True, indeed I understand he can handle it at 60%.

noleisthebest wrote:"How many people can treat the triumph and disaster just the same? Not Novak Djokovic? He is humble in defeat, but in win he is.... you know.. this. "

try to broaden your reading a bit....
As for Nole, he's number one, great in losing as well as in winning. the fact that it's not to you liking, too bad.

Why don't you broaden your own tennis viewing and try to look at players as a tennis fan rather than being a fangirl with such a biased opinion. Why did you have to bring his being #1 in this argument? How does a #1 or #100 matter in this case where a player has shown disrespect to a fellow player? Does being #1 means he can disrespect and insult a fellow player? But for you, he can. Why else would you have to bring his #1 ranking in support to him being great in winning and losing.

Fangirls will be fangirls.