How does that SARS and Bird flu feel now Roddick? And of course more draw discrimination for Novak by the olympic draw committee

I will say it I am generally not a big fan of the ROD, his game or his bullying mentality towards officials and umpires. Not a fan of his big comedy routine at Novak's expense at the USO. What is comedy for me is how attrocious Roddick's returning is and remains and his movement at this age is worse than it has ever been. Oddly Roddick had won 2 out of the last 3 tournaments against weak fields with one grass court title before this match. Glad to see one of my least favorite players and frat boy impersonator Andy Roddick get breadsticked on Grass and have his vaunted serve crushed.

Now on to the subject of the now laughable anti-Novak draws that the brits are now getting in on the act as well. Not only does Novak draw the goat 15 of 17 slams. This will now be the 3rd time this year in a row that when Novak and 2 other top 4 players enter the tournament (ie Nadal is out) that Novak's half magically gets the other top 4 guy in the semi. In Dubai only Murray, Novak, and Fed in the draw Novak gets Murray in his half and fed gets a big 4 free half. In Monte Carlo only 3 of the top 4 showed up. And guess who got Murray in their half Nadal or Djokovic? Bingo Djoko again. And now the olympics only 3 of the big 4 show up again, guess which of the top players draws murray in their
half? Bingo Djokovic. Not to mention getting 3 times finalist Rodddick as a second round match Tsonga and milos in your half at the outset as well. Now we have the 15 out of 17 thing with fed add this to the odd list of coin toss streaks that Novak has been drawing up the short straw over and over and over again. When 3 big 4 show up Novak will always be the top 2 guy that will be forced to play a big 4 opponent in the semi? How much more protection does fedal need, frankly it is getting laughable at how the draw committees are protecting and pumping these guys up with the draw. (this is my personal opinion and not the opinion of the website founders or owners and is just meant as speculation)

Hey look who it is! Long time no see socal!

Took a post wimby break reckoner not much going on after wimby nice to hear from you

Likewise. Wasn't it simply awesome, this year's Wimbledon? Such drama.

Yes, i have to say impressed greatly as usual by Roger. A gentleman and genius through and through. Felt so brutally for Andy. He was always going to be least likely playing Roger serving well on grass. So emotional afterwards quite sad actually.

lol I was just watching the Roddick youtube clip. Snap!

Oh, and btw good to have you back Socal

Totally agree - I think Murray won himself a lot of new fans. Now then, to your OP - not particularly with you regarding the draw, do you really think it's fixed?!

Must admit Djokovic does have quite a hard draw this time.
It's just bad luck for Djokovic I suppose.

Hey Socal - missed you!

Stinker of a draw for Novak. I think the killer for me is not so much that he got Andy but that he got Tsonga too!

Ferrer being seeded 4 is what messes it up. I think Tsonga BO3 on grass is a far more dangerous opponent.

It Must Be Love wrote:Must admit Djokovic does have quite a hard draw this time.
It's just bad luck for Djokovic I suppose.

Yes just bad luck that whenever this year 3 out of the top 4 have showed up Novak as a top two player all three times got the top 4 guy in his semi, I guess that is just another in the long line of unfavorable pro fedal coincidences that keep popping up. Novak is the worst coin naughty naughty boy in history I suppose. 15 out of 17 drawing the goat, and this now new developing trend.

Reckoner believe what you like there are way too many coincidences with these draws cutting in favor of fedal and against Novak over and over again for me to just chalk it up to Novak's bad luck in coin tosses. Especially when the money on the line wants fedal finals and there is no oversight, (alleged my opinion not that of the sites).

socal1976 wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:Must admit Djokovic does have quite a hard draw this time.
It's just bad luck for Djokovic I suppose.

Yes just bad luck that whenever this year 3 out of the top 4 have showed up Novak as a top two player all three times got the top 4 guy in his semi, I guess that is just another in the long line of unfavorable pro fedal coincidences that keep popping up. Novak is the worst coin naughty naughty boy in history I suppose. 15 out of 17 drawing the goat, and this now new developing trend.

Reckoner believe what you like there are way too many coincidences with these draws cutting in favor of fedal and against Novak over and over again for me to just chalk it up to Novak's bad luck in coin tosses. Especially when the money on the line wants fedal finals and there is no oversight, (alleged my opinion not that of the sites).

You're mad.

Yes Murdoch, always great to hear from you as well fellow Djokovic fans are a rare breed but have fine taste. Yeah it is like they gave Djokovic not only murray the other big 4 guy in his semi also threw in every other big power server on tour for the most part on his half. Roddick is as bad a second round matchup despite his diminished capacity as you want to get on grass. All of these coincidences in the draw coming up rosey for fedal and against Novak, lets just say I am keeping my eye on the situation.

Murray fans feel the same way about getting Nadal all the time.

Socal, good to see you back but you must find a way to stop having these recurring nightmares about Novak drawing Federer and other 'big names'. I'm pretty certain you worry about it FAR more than Novak himself does ! He's good enough to take on all-comers, nobody frightens him and he'll soon be back to Number One. Federer's just one of the old guys, having a bit of fun in the twilight of his years, soon to spend more time with the family, I feel sure

And as for Roddick - why on earth would HE be a concern, with returning & movement "worse than it has ever been" ...??

By way of an aside, I think "frat boy impersonator Andy Roddick" no longer has exclusivity when it comes to those pesky caricatures. Just check out youtube for a few fun performances by Novak ('privately' filmed in the locker room !)

The Special Juan wrote:Murray fans feel the same way about getting Nadal all the time.

Except Murray deserves it because he is ranked number 4 Novak has been number 1 or 2 for the last 18 months and it still hasn't changed the fact that Nadal and Federer are treated as the real #1 and #2 seeds in every tournament.

socal1976 wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:Must admit Djokovic does have quite a hard draw this time.
It's just bad luck for Djokovic I suppose.

Yes just bad luck that whenever this year 3 out of the top 4 have showed up Novak as a top two player all three times got the top 4 guy in his semi, I guess that is just another in the long line of unfavorable pro fedal coincidences that keep popping up. Novak is the worst coin naughty naughty boy in history I suppose. 15 out of 17 drawing the goat, and this now new developing trend.

I knew you would say that.

I'm taking a positive view - if he can get through Tsonga, Murray and Fed on grass, then that adds some real meaning to the win.

I also think that he needs to beat guys like this to re-ignite his confidence. I don't think a cakewalk would do him any favours in the long run.

Seems a hard way to win 750 points though!

Lags, I would still rather play niemenenn or bennetteau on grass than Roddick. Those two are pretty much as old as Roddick and at least Roddick has a big serve on grass.

Novak can and does take on all comers and beat them. He has 25 or more wins against fedal in his career. But it would be nice if he just had to beat federer and Nadal and not the draw committees as well.

OK I'm on SoCal's side here.
Djokovic does keep on getting really bad draws, and funnily enough he always seems to get the harder semi. I don't know whether this is all rigged like Socal says or it's just really bad luck but certainly it's not good for Djokovic.
Out of Federer and Murray he has always struggled with Federer; and then he keeps on getting Federer.
When it's either Ferrer or Murray he gets Murray.
It's getting a bit ridiculous now, and because Djokovic doesn't have many fans we don't hear about it, if Federer or Nadal kept on getting such hard draws we would hear much more about it.

To be fair earlier on out of Djokovic and Murray in Slams, Nadal always used to get Murray who he seemed to struggle with more in slams. Now he's number 3 it will be interesting who he will get.

HM Murdoch wrote:I'm taking a positive view - if he can get through Tsonga, Murray and Fed on grass, then that adds some real meaning to the win.

I also think that he needs to beat guys like this to re-ignite his confidence. I don't think a cakewalk would do him any favours in the long run.

Seems a hard way to win 750 points though!

Its not about a tough draw in one single tournament be it the olympics or whatever. You know that this gripe has been ongoing for years and it is a reoccurring trend. We have no choice but to be positive about it, next big tournament they will screw him again you watch. He will get Nadal in his half at the open.

I love the smell of paranoia in the morning.

socal1976 wrote:

HM Murdoch wrote:I'm taking a positive view - if he can get through Tsonga, Murray and Fed on grass, then that adds some real meaning to the win.

I also think that he needs to beat guys like this to re-ignite his confidence. I don't think a cakewalk would do him any favours in the long run.

Seems a hard way to win 750 points though!

Its not about a tough draw in one single tournament be it the olympics or whatever. You know that this gripe has been ongoing for years and it is a reoccurring trend. We have no choice but to be positive about it, next big tournament they will screw him again you watch. He will get Nadal in his half at the open.

The way Murray's been playing recently I think Djoko would probably prefer Rafa at the USO.

Fed would of course prefer Murray.

It Must Be Love wrote:OK I'm on SoCal's side here.
Djokovic does keep on getting really bad draws, and funnily enough he always seems to get the harder semi. I don't know whether this is all rigged like Socal says or it's just really bad luck but certainly it's not good for Djokovic.
Out of Federer and Murray he has always struggled with Federer; and then he keeps on getting Federer.
When it's either Ferrer or Murray he gets Murray.
It's getting a bit ridiculous now, and because Djokovic doesn't have many fans we don't hear about it, if Federer or Nadal kept on getting such hard draws we would hear much more about it.

To be fair earlier on out of Djokovic and Murray in Slams, Nadal always used to get Murray who he seemed to struggle with more in slams. Now he's number 3 it will be interesting who he will get.

Oh my god alert the presses somebody on 606v2 has used an open mind and analyzed logic and facts presented to them. Congratulations IMBL, you join a rare club of poster. This is getting comic, whenever Novak has a 50/50 shot of getting a tougher draw than fedal it comes in 100 percent of the time. Great courage as a Nadal fan to come out against the grain and look at the numbers and the odditties that keep occurring.

By the way, quite agree with the OP bout the neutered Roddick; he's quite useless.

All the more amazing how he's passed only by one young player in the rankings of this Golden Era.

Hey socal, seven wins on the trot against Rafa, five Slam titles with many years still ahead of him, back to Number One after Olympics and ..... Jelena Ristic as a girlfriend

That's pretty 'nice' to be going on with.

I can't imagine he loses a minute's sleep over "the draw committees".

It Must Be Love wrote:OK I'm on SoCal's side here.
Djokovic does keep on getting really bad draws, and funnily enough he always seems to get the harder semi. I don't know whether this is all rigged like Socal says or it's just really bad luck but certainly it's not good for Djokovic.
Out of Federer and Murray he has always struggled with Federer; and then he keeps on getting Federer.
When it's either Ferrer or Murray he gets Murray.
It's getting a bit ridiculous now, and because Djokovic doesn't have many fans we don't hear about it, if Federer or Nadal kept on getting such hard draws we would hear much more about it.

To be fair earlier on out of Djokovic and Murray in Slams, Nadal always used to get Murray who he seemed to struggle with more in slams. Now he's number 3 it will be interesting who he will get.

Yeah, I mean we have to go all the way back, oohhh, the Australian Open to find an exception to this.

bogbrush wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:OK I'm on SoCal's side here.
Djokovic does keep on getting really bad draws, and funnily enough he always seems to get the harder semi. I don't know whether this is all rigged like Socal says or it's just really bad luck but certainly it's not good for Djokovic.
Out of Federer and Murray he has always struggled with Federer; and then he keeps on getting Federer.
When it's either Ferrer or Murray he gets Murray.
It's getting a bit ridiculous now, and because Djokovic doesn't have many fans we don't hear about it, if Federer or Nadal kept on getting such hard draws we would hear much more about it.

To be fair earlier on out of Djokovic and Murray in Slams, Nadal always used to get Murray who he seemed to struggle with more in slams. Now he's number 3 it will be interesting who he will get.

Yeah, I mean we have to go all the way back, oohhh, the Australian Open to find an exception to this.

And before the AO

lags72 wrote:Hey socal, seven wins on the trot against Rafa, five Slam titles with many years still ahead of him, back to Number One after Olympics and ..... Jelena Ristic as a girlfriend

That's pretty 'nice' to be going on with.

I can't imagine he loses a minute's sleep over "the draw committees".

Lags, we are discussing the finer points of the tour and the tennis world at the top levels as a Djokovic fan don't you think this trend over the years would be maddening? Imagine your favorite player getting the same treatement. Frankly, in my 30 years of watching tennis i have never seen a long streak like this of 3 players dominating at the top and 2 of those 3 always getting the edge in draws over the third less popular guy pretty much over and over and over again.

Hey Socal great to see you back

But say me Roddick's game is too one dimensional according to you and his game is even more diminished so why on earth Nole should even fear for this?

To add to your controversy even more come USO, this will be the draw

Fed-Murray
Djoko -Nadal

irrespective of whatever the rankings are.

It Must Be Love wrote:

bogbrush wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:OK I'm on SoCal's side here.
Djokovic does keep on getting really bad draws, and funnily enough he always seems to get the harder semi. I don't know whether this is all rigged like Socal says or it's just really bad luck but certainly it's not good for Djokovic.
Out of Federer and Murray he has always struggled with Federer; and then he keeps on getting Federer.
When it's either Ferrer or Murray he gets Murray.
It's getting a bit ridiculous now, and because Djokovic doesn't have many fans we don't hear about it, if Federer or Nadal kept on getting such hard draws we would hear much more about it.

To be fair earlier on out of Djokovic and Murray in Slams, Nadal always used to get Murray who he seemed to struggle with more in slams. Now he's number 3 it will be interesting who he will get.

Yeah, I mean we have to go all the way back, oohhh, the Australian Open to find an exception to this.

And before the AO

You mean they threw that one in to shake us off the trail?

socal1976 wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:OK I'm on SoCal's side here.
Djokovic does keep on getting really bad draws, and funnily enough he always seems to get the harder semi. I don't know whether this is all rigged like Socal says or it's just really bad luck but certainly it's not good for Djokovic.
Out of Federer and Murray he has always struggled with Federer; and then he keeps on getting Federer.
When it's either Ferrer or Murray he gets Murray.
It's getting a bit ridiculous now, and because Djokovic doesn't have many fans we don't hear about it, if Federer or Nadal kept on getting such hard draws we would hear much more about it.

To be fair earlier on out of Djokovic and Murray in Slams, Nadal always used to get Murray who he seemed to struggle with more in slams. Now he's number 3 it will be interesting who he will get.

Oh my god alert the presses somebody on 606v2 has used an open mind and analyzed logic and facts presented to them. Congratulations IMBL, you join a rare club of poster. This is getting comic, whenever Novak has a 50/50 shot of getting a tougher draw than fedal it comes in 100 percent of the time. Great courage as a Nadal fan to come out against the grain and look at the numbers and the odditties that keep occurring.

Either some suspicious activity going on, or bad luck, I try and keep an open mind. As an Indian cricket fan I know MS Dhoni once lost 10 coin tosses in a row

invisiblecoolers wrote:Hey Socal great to see you back

But say me Roddick's game is too one dimensional according to you and his game is even more diminished so why on earth Nole should even fear for this?

To add to your controversy even more come USO, this will be the draw

Fed-Murray
Djoko -Nadal

irrespective of whatever the rankings are.

Isn't that the easier draw for Djokovic?

I'm confused now, how can we tell what draw is rigged?

invisiblecoolers wrote:Hey Socal great to see you back

But say me Roddick's game is too one dimensional according to you and his game is even more diminished so why on earth Nole should even fear for this?

To add to your controversy even more come USO, this will be the draw

Fed-Murray
Djoko -Nadal

irrespective of whatever the rankings are.

Yes of course Nadal is going to be in Djoko's half at the USO IC, you know that, I know that, everyone on this website if they are honest know that will happen beforehand going into the USO. When it does happen the same people will just shake their heads and say oh well longshots do happen.

Ask yourself how months in advance we all get this sneaking suspicion of a Nadal/Novak semi at the USO? I would be stunned if anything else came to pass.

yea BB, djoko's draw are rigged to give him easy passage again, completely unfair

bogbrush wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:

bogbrush wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:OK I'm on SoCal's side here.
Djokovic does keep on getting really bad draws, and funnily enough he always seems to get the harder semi. I don't know whether this is all rigged like Socal says or it's just really bad luck but certainly it's not good for Djokovic.
Out of Federer and Murray he has always struggled with Federer; and then he keeps on getting Federer.
When it's either Ferrer or Murray he gets Murray.
It's getting a bit ridiculous now, and because Djokovic doesn't have many fans we don't hear about it, if Federer or Nadal kept on getting such hard draws we would hear much more about it.

To be fair earlier on out of Djokovic and Murray in Slams, Nadal always used to get Murray who he seemed to struggle with more in slams. Now he's number 3 it will be interesting who he will get.

Yeah, I mean we have to go all the way back, oohhh, the Australian Open to find an exception to this.

And before the AO

You mean they threw that one in to shake us off the trail?

This is what troubles me about Socal's draw rigging theory.
I try to keep an open mind etc.. but if they were draw rigging then surely they would try and mix it up a bit more. There has been quite a lot of controversy surrounding this recently with the study about Djoko-Fed etc. but surely if they were rigging they would have made sure this wouldn't arise- i.e. if they had complete control over the SF draw.

That's what I'm thinking; Murray is a tougher match for Djokovic right now so drawing Nadal is evidence of bias to him?

By the way .... how come "the brits" get accused (again) of "discrimination" as per the title of the article ...

I could be very wrong, but my understanding is that the host country is no more than that - ie. just a host. Any draws, rulings, judges and officials come under the control of IOC and with support - in the case of the tennis section - of the ITF. No control by Britain, methinks

This harks back to a plethora of allegations of discrimination by "the brits" when Nalbandian was defaulted/disqualified at Queen's.

I'm sure you weren't party to any such allegations were you, socal ... ?

IMBL, they can't completey go over board and have their sport lose credibility. The bottom line is whether it is bad luck or whatever Novak almost always gets the harder draw way beyond what the numbers should be. I mean come on Fed's toughest match is what ferrer at the semi and Novak plays this draw and gets Murray. This being the 3rd time in a row that when 3 top players show up Novak gets the other top guy in his semi. 15 out of 17 drawing the goat, all of these unfortunate profedal coincidences are fishy to me. The numbers are now getting laughable when you consider all of the ways he keeps getting shafted.

bogbrush wrote:That's what I'm thinking; Murray is a tougher match for Djokovic right now so drawing Nadal is evidence of bias to him?

Well Nadal's injured right now.
Let's not get too ahead of ourselves, we've seen Murray struggle against Fed/Djoko in slams; while Nadal has beaten Djoko on his last 3 occasions (albeit on clay). Remember last here Djokovic got his most comprehensive wins against Nadal on clay.

Anyway Nadal is injured now, let's see if he enters USO, or whether he's even in a condition to play at 100%

It Must Be Love wrote:

bogbrush wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:

bogbrush wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:OK I'm on SoCal's side here.
Djokovic does keep on getting really bad draws, and funnily enough he always seems to get the harder semi. I don't know whether this is all rigged like Socal says or it's just really bad luck but certainly it's not good for Djokovic.
Out of Federer and Murray he has always struggled with Federer; and then he keeps on getting Federer.
When it's either Ferrer or Murray he gets Murray.
It's getting a bit ridiculous now, and because Djokovic doesn't have many fans we don't hear about it, if Federer or Nadal kept on getting such hard draws we would hear much more about it.

To be fair earlier on out of Djokovic and Murray in Slams, Nadal always used to get Murray who he seemed to struggle with more in slams. Now he's number 3 it will be interesting who he will get.

Yeah, I mean we have to go all the way back, oohhh, the Australian Open to find an exception to this.

And before the AO

You mean they threw that one in to shake us off the trail?

This is what troubles me about Socal's draw rigging theory.
I try to keep an open mind etc.. but if they were draw rigging then surely they would try and mix it up a bit more. There has been quite a lot of controversy surrounding this recently with the study about Djoko-Fed etc. but surely if they were rigging they would have made sure this wouldn't arise- i.e. if they had complete control over the SF draw.

It's just fanboy crap, take no notice.

There's no authoritative 'study', just some garbage from the English department of Belgrade Poly or it's equivalent.

Like the whole World is against plucky Novak? Yeah, right.

" And of course more draw discrimination for Novak by the brits "

Good points Lags ,

Exactly how on earth Brits responsible for all SOCALled draw rigging for Djoko? are they responsible for him drawing Fed in the FO semi's as well [let alone Olympics and Wimbledon]?

Lags I think the brits overreacted in the nalbandian situation I don't think it was discrimination. Just typical british overreaction to a rule violation and someone needing a band aid. But this streak over the years with Djokovic is a much differenct situation I think you can see that. It isn't a british thing all the tour committees prefer fedal finals. I just said the brits were getting in on the act, if the IOC makes the draws my apologies.

socal1976 wrote:IMBL, they can't completey go over board and have their sport lose credibility. The bottom line is whether it is bad luck or whatever Novak almost always gets the harder draw way beyond what the numbers should be. I mean come on Fed's toughest match is what ferrer at the semi and Novak plays this draw and gets Murray. This being the 3rd time in a row that when 3 top players show up Novak gets the other top guy in his semi. 15 out of 17 drawing the goat, all of these unfortunate profedal coincidences are fishy to me. The numbers are now getting laughable when you consider all of the ways he keeps getting shafted.

Meh, don't say 'Fedal'; Nadal hasn't really benefited from this.
Beforehand (pre-2010) Djoko didn't have the stamina to keep up in Nadal in slams so Nadal kept on getting Murray (who could beat him). Then he got Fed or Murray which was 50-50 anyway- he has beaten both in slams in every match since 2007 bar 2 (UO 2008 and AO 2010).
Now you are saying he will get Djokovic at USO rather than Fed. Hardly benefits him. It can be argued he is number 3 so doesn't have much of a chance against either Fed or Djoko (even if he is fit which is very unlikely); but if he could choose he would probably want to avoid Djokovic just as much.

invisiblecoolers wrote:
To add to your controversy even more come USO, this will be the draw

Fed-Murray
Djoko -Nadal

irrespective of whatever the rankings are.

With Djoko-Nadal going last on Stupid Saturday!

socal1976 wrote:Lags I think the brits overreacted in the nalbandian situation I don't think it was discrimination. Just typical british overreaction to a rule violation and someone needing a band aid.

As was pointed out before - it was an Amercian official who disqualified Nalbandian, without consulting any Brits.

Absolutely murdoch you know what that is going to happen with fed licking his chops at the prospect of not having to play Nadal in the semi and watching Djoko and Nadal have the late night deathmatch the day before the final. For those people who claim that getting Nadal would be easier in a grandslam than murray for Djokovic, plz how many times has Murray beaten Nadal at a slam, why is it now easier for Djoko to play murray at a slam than 11 time slam winner Nadal? IF you really believe that I think I have a bridge I like to sell you. And obviously fed would prefer Murray over Nadal that is the other 800 pound Gorilla in the room. Wait till it happens and the same people are in here shouting unlucky coincidence again as they do after almost every slam for the last 4 years. I don't buy the coincidence thing anymore.

JuliusHMarx wrote:

socal1976 wrote:Lags I think the brits overreacted in the nalbandian situation I don't think it was discrimination. Just typical british overreaction to a rule violation and someone needing a band aid.

As was pointed out before - it was an Amercian official who disqualified Nalbandian, without consulting any Brits.

Ok Julius I stand corrected whoever disqualified Nalby overreacted and helped nalbandian ruin the tournament.

socal - the guy who "overreacted" (in your eyes) to a rule violation was ATP Supervisor Tom Barnes. He made it clear in his carefully-worded statement after the event that the rules obliged him to declare an immediate default, saying quote - "once I saw the line judge was injured, I didn't have any other option"

Tom Barnes happens to be 100% American.

I still have no idea what you mean about "brits getting in on the act" (a sense of paranoia is the only explanation I can think of) ; but apologies gladly accepted, thanks, re the IOC.

ps JHM - just crossed with your own post

I think I'd prefer to see Novak with Rafa rather than Murray at USO.

I think Novak has Rafa's number on a hard court but Murray looks to be in something like the form of his life right now.

Factoring in Rafa's injury issues too, I'd be pleased to avoid Andy!

HM Murdoch wrote:

invisiblecoolers wrote:
To add to your controversy even more come USO, this will be the draw

Fed-Murray
Djoko -Nadal

irrespective of whatever the rankings are.

With Djoko-Nadal going last on Stupid Saturday!

Oh yea perfect addon HMM , no idea how I completely forgot who gonna play last, silly me