Djokovic mauling Federer to start the season

First topic message reminder :

As i write, World No.1 Novak Djokovic is busily mauling Federer in the desert of Abu Dhabi. The season has started unofficially. Although this is an exhibition match, with a $250000 winner take all prize, there is motivation to play but Federer seems to have no answers to Djokovic. Exhibition or not, Federer should be attempting to stamp his authority on Djokovic after the New York trauma but not looking likely, he is about to get a bagel here. Has to be worrying as the challenger many people have to beat Djokovic in 2012 is Federer. Count this match and he would now have lost 5 of their last 6 matches in 2011 as well. Heading into the Australian Open, Djokovic has his one hand on the trophy already.

luciusmann wrote:This has progressed from being how these exhibitions matches are rather insignificant to a Fedal bashing session....jeee....just typical!

'by Josiah Maiestas on Fri Dec 30, 2011 4:45 pm
Exhib's are the only chance for Nadal to beat Fed on HC these days.'

Well if someone posts idiotic comments like that its my right to remind him of a few stats.

Where exactly is the bashing of any player here?

Easy on Josiah, Amritia. Facts have never been his strongest point.

Besides, Miami is blue clay anyways.

amritia3ee wrote:

luciusmann wrote:This has progressed from being how these exhibitions matches are rather insignificant to a Fedal bashing session....jeee....just typical!

'by Josiah Maiestas on Fri Dec 30, 2011 4:45 pm
Exhib's are the only chance for Nadal to beat Fed on HC these days.'

Well if someone posts idiotic comments like that its my right to remind him of a few stats.

Name calling is rather in the same vein, is it not?

Simple_Analyst wrote:
Besides, Miami is blue clay anyways.

Very soon, Madrid will go the Tiriac way as well.

bogbrush wrote:

viv.theraiden wrote:ATP gives a shiit to these matches and doesnt even bother to discuss the results in their official pages, so no idea why fans take it seriously.

No idea whats gonna happen in Fedal match if both are not interested to play.

They matter hugely to people who know all about the mental side of top level professional play and who spend their lives on fan sites.

I'll take that as a dig at me as I was trying to discuss with Luciusmann (sensibly)why I thought there may be some significance in Djokovic's win in the up coming AO even though todays match was an exhibition. I don't claim to know all about the mental side of professional sport but have watched enough of it to see that it plays a good part. I do think that a player will use any positive thought that he has from past events to try and give themselves that extra bit of belief.

However here are some links to people who know :

http://www.peaksportsnetwork.com/public/181.cfm

http://www.tennispsychology.com/tennis_psychology_tips/tennis_tip_16.php3

Btw look at our respective number of posts and join dates. I'm worried about you

Arguments such as 'my player is better than yours' is just as much as player bashing as saying 'your player is crap' (especially if no facts or evidence is used to back up your assertions).

If you're referring to me in terms of facts SA, I only need remind everyone on this thread of your idiotic thread about mental toughness and 5th set tie breakers where you didn't even understand the information you were using. How anyone can have a meaningful debate with someone who can't understand the nature of his information is beyond me (and I'm sure many others on here).

Is playing Tennis a crime? coz Federer and Nadal who excel in it get bashed badly here.

Have I got you a bit mad there amritia?

Lol who was even referring to Luciusmann before he has decided to type a lot again? Reference about facts was made to Josiah's rather peculiar habit of saying what ever comes to his mind first.

That's fine SA, I thought your post on conditions was interesting btw and involved far more typing than my post above. It was a reasonable thread too btw.

That's just the way Josiah is, he doesn't mean any harm by them.

luciusmann wrote:Arguments such as 'my player is better than yours' is just as much as player bashing as saying 'your player is crap' (especially if no facts or evidence is used to back up your assertions).

I never mentioned Nadal being better than Federer
I just reminded Josiah of the facts with some simple statistics.

What other purpose does your citation of those stats aim to prove? It does exactly what you didn't mention, you don't need to be a genius to see that...

luciusmann wrote:What other purpose does your citation of those stats aim to prove? It does exactly what you didn't mention, you don't need to be a genius to see that...

It aims to prove that Josiah's very insightful comment wrong. I wouldn't have written it if not for Josiah's disgraceful statement.

Ok let us leave the stats thing and move on. Josiash does get excited over Federer's victories over Nadal so it's understandable. Luciusmann, thanks for the gesture and lol that post was long.

Simple_Analyst wrote:Ok let us leave the stats thing and move on. Josiash does get excited over Federer's victories over Nadal so it's understandable. Luciusmann, thanks for the gesture and lol that post was long.

And you get excited over anyone's victories over Federer. Let's call it a draw.

Can't help it.

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Have I got you a bit mad there amritia?

Yh I think you quite possibly have.

sirfredperry wrote:Well I'm sure that when 2012 is finished everyone will be talking about an exhibition match in Abu Dhabi in December 2011. As for the O2, "exhibition" or not, you still get 1,500 more points for it than you do in some Middle East friendly.

If you think that Federer takes any match against his three rivals, particualry Nole, anything other than very seriously, you are remarkably naive

banbrotam wrote:

sirfredperry wrote:Well I'm sure that when 2012 is finished everyone will be talking about an exhibition match in Abu Dhabi in December 2011. As for the O2, "exhibition" or not, you still get 1,500 more points for it than you do in some Middle East friendly.

If you think that Federer takes any match against his three rivals, particualry Nole, anything other than very seriously, you are remarkably naive

Does that include the 2 Fedal matches before Xmas 2010, where, miraculously, Fed won the one in Switzerland and Rafa won the one in Spain? I wonder how that happened!

JuliusHMarx wrote:

banbrotam wrote:

sirfredperry wrote:Well I'm sure that when 2012 is finished everyone will be talking about an exhibition match in Abu Dhabi in December 2011. As for the O2, "exhibition" or not, you still get 1,500 more points for it than you do in some Middle East friendly.

If you think that Federer takes any match against his three rivals, particualry Nole, anything other than very seriously, you are remarkably naive

Does that include the 2 Fedal matches before Xmas 2010, where, miraculously, Fed won the one in Switzerland and Rafa won the one in Spain? I wonder how that happened!

What's your point? With regards to the No.1 and No.4 - in the last 3 years, ever since both the two 24 year olds became Top 4 fixtures - I can't think of a match where Fed hasn't shown his delight at winning or annoyance at losing. Nothing wrong with that, if I was the GOAT I'd want to teach the world's two most talented youngsters a lesson. My point is that whenever Fed loses, his fans come up with excuses rather than accepting it

For me, when the Top 4 are in peak form, he's now No.4 and all this nonsense about him being as good as he was in 2006, will be proved incorrect

Or maybe I'm wrong!!

My point is that some matches players take less seriously than others. This applies to all players. Exhibitions are a prime example. This has always been the case with exhibitions.
The idea is mainly to give the crowd their money's worth and most players take it easy, both mentally and physically, usually providing 3 sets or at least 2 close ones, on purpose.
I can't, of course, prove that Fed didn't give absolutely everything he had today in an all-out attempt to beat Djoko, but I'm not naive enough to believe he did.

I do not buy into the stuff that some people are saying he is as good as he was in 2006 - as his slam record this year clearly shows. As Murray is so often judged purely on his slam record then surely it is only fair to do the same with Federer. One thing that does count in Fed's favour for winning another slam is the injuries and lethargy displayed by Nadal and Djokovic of late. If that continues into the Australian Open the door is definitely ajar for Roger Federer.

Roger ended the season(WTF) well, but I would reserve judgement on his 2012 prospects until he plays the top players, when they're not dead on their feet.*

He won 3 tournaments in a row, but who did he actually beat? In Basel he won by beating Starace, Nieminen, Roddick, Wawrinka & Nishikori. In Paris he beat Mannarino, Gasquet, Monaco, Berdych & Tsonga. In London he beat Tsonga twice, Nadal, Fish & Ferrer.

Out of all of those matches, even when he was playing his poorest, you'd still expect him to beat those players (with the exception of Rafa).

2012 could be an interesting year, but I wouldn't hail the return of the king until he does it against a fully fit Djoko, Nadal, Murray along with the likes of Del Potro.

*If today's performance by Novak is anything to go by not only him but the rest will have their work cut out!

Federer, in his interviews post-WTF, has shown a desire for the Olympics and the Sampras 286-week record.

Djokovic has mentioned wanting to try the Grand Slam.

It will probably come down to who is better on the day-of-the-match.

The 2006-vs-2011 debate can be had by others, who are so inclined.

CaledonianCraig wrote:I do not buy into the stuff that some people are saying he is as good as he was in 2006 - as his slam record this year clearly shows. As Murray is so often judged purely on his slam record then surely it is only fair to do the same with Federer. One thing that does count in Fed's favour for winning another slam is the injuries and lethargy displayed by Nadal and Djokovic of late. If that continues into the Australian Open the door is definitely ajar for Roger Federer.

When is a door not a door? When it's ajar - for Fed and Murray. With a bit of luck Fed might get injured too. At this point I'll take a slam for Murray whatever the opponents' condition!

CaledonianCraig wrote:I do not buy into the stuff that some people are saying he is as good as he was in 2006 - as his slam record this year clearly shows. As Murray is so often judged purely on his slam record then surely it is only fair to do the same with Federer. One thing that does count in Fed's favour for winning another slam is the injuries and lethargy displayed by Nadal and Djokovic of late. If that continues into the Australian Open the door is definitely ajar for Roger Federer.

Agreed. Which makes the Australian Open, yet another eargerly anticipated Slam. We all know that Rafa, is not good carrying any kind of injury and therefore it would be good to see who comes out on top assuming Andy is as fit as Novak. I just think that whislt it would be no shock if Roger won, he's too prone to not being perfect for enough of the crucial matches, these days

viv.theraiden wrote:ATP gives a shiit to these matches and doesnt even bother to discuss the results in their official pages, so no idea why fans take it seriously.

No idea whats gonna happen in Fedal match if both are not interested to play.

ATP Report One
ATP Report Two

ps Welcome Viv. I look forward to your contributions enhancing the quality of 606 v2 tennis

Lucius

Craig, Roger does not hit the ball with the same might and precision as 2006, however he was able to dictate a lot of points over Djokovic and Nadal at RG something which he wasn't doing in previous years.

All fair and well JM but like I say we often have Murray purely judged on his slam performances so to judge Federer we can only do the same and despite your feeling he has improved in some ways but deteriorated in others then surely it tells you he has gone backwards on the whole if you take into account when his last slam win was.

I just think Federe is hard to judge because he plays so poorly so often, yet sometimes plays incredibly well.

Overall I say he's barely half the player, but on the day he can play as well as ever.

Yes but consistency is key to winning slams and it is that which has been lacking in his game now for some time now. Andy Murray has a similar problem in bringing his best game to slam finals hence no slam wins.

Scary.

WTF is an end of the season show piece event where players are looking to rest and not playing tennis. Certainly shouldn't read much into results and we have seen that from the past. Abu Dhabi is a start to the season and players are likely to show their intent for the season;
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Hahahahahaha!

Just laugh at the silly WUM comment! No need to debate him on it.!