Djokovic Still Has A Lot To Learn

First topic message reminder :

As always Djokovic was classy when the last ball was hit... but

Those disputed line calls... Castle said something like "you don't get to number one by being an angel" but you won't win any fans either.

ironically clapping the crowd when they cheer for your opponent will get whistles. It's seriously un classy. Just think would Federer or Nadal do it.

Taking an MTO at break point is never a good idea unless it is really necessary and can't wait until the games finished.

Don't bring religion into a tennis match. Hitting a ball over a net is not important enough to call for religious intervention. The Madrid crowd certainly didn't approve.

Also if you happen to beat the home favorite at a tournament it is never a good idea to rip your shirt off afterwoods and jump about on cars afterwords. (no matter how pleased you are). People remember and might decide to support your opponent.

The crowd will nearly always support a younger player playing great tennis against the number one player. They will want them to win and not you. Learn to deal with it.

None of this matters if a player doesn't mind being a bad guy. Djokovic doesn't want to be the bad guy as the evidence at the end of the match shows. He may have a lot to learn and some of it won't be easy but IMO he can do it.

I think this is just a hiccup for Djokovic, although I do think he should stop playing matches until the French Open. Also, Djokovic has always appeared to me to be a little too eager to be loved, and as a result, is over-sensitive to the crowd's reactions. I don't know why he takes it so personally. He should just get on with it and ignore the crowd. I don't think he intentionally tried to cheat on marks he circled that the umpire called good - generally he's quite sporting. I just think he made a few mistakes, and this happens to everyone. Federer did the same with Nadal a couple of years ago, and the crowd also got on him, and he is revered in Spain almost as much as Nadal. The crowd were absurd to get on Djokovic's case, but they're always like that - just see how they treat Ion Tiriac, who has single handedly made this tournament what it is and "given" it to the Spanish people, and he was mercilessly booed last year at the trophy ceremony. They are so fickle and self-important that they can't be taken seriously.

Dimitrov, on the other hand, should be proud of his performance. Okay, he has problems with cramping, but I think that's down mostly to nerves, not fitness. At that age, it's common to be perfectly fit, and still have problems with cramp because the body is over stimulated by the occasion. He just needs more miles in the saddle, and this victory will help. Furthermore, I think his footwork is ragged, and as a result, he's constantly slipping and sliding all over the place, putting extra strain on his physique - he's 21, so he can take it now, but it won't be long before that doesn't fly. I think if he improved his footwork, he wouldn't exert himself so much and be less likely to cramp - but ironically, his talent is probably the biggest impediment to improving his footwork. His hand/eye coordination is so good that his shot-making becomes a first resort, rather than a last resort. Now, the real test for his development is if he beat Wawrinka - that would be HUGE, because Wawrinka is playing some of his best tennis right now, but is not nearly the player Djokovic is, so there is also the added pressure of winning a match he should, rather than a match he shouldn't - that's usually when players succumb to pressure. Frankly, I would be shocked if Dimitrov won it - the last time he had really good results, he followed it up with a real dog at the Australian Open.

On a side note, I saw the match of Federer and Stepanek, and I think it's amazing how beautifully he plays on clay. I know it's not as effective as Nadal, but to this day, I honestly believe that the most beautiful tennis I've ever seen Federer play was Roland Garros 2009. There's something special about how the full package comes together - the sliding, the movement, the defense, the attack, the variation in the serve, the combination of slice and top, moving his opponent side to side/up and back/high and low - it's really fantastic.

Even my wife, who hates tennis, and refuses to watch it, could appreciate his movement.

MMT1. Great articulate post! I don't agree with everything but you should post more often.

Yes, MMT1 a very good post, I am more concerned that Djokovic would let the crowd get to him after all his match experience. Not every audience, every night is going to love you, so what and move on. He should have ignored them.

On dimitrov he did play fantastic and has a lot to be proud of, if he can solidify he is return match in and match out then the sky's the limit. To me that is always the concern with single handers how well are they going to return particularly the wide kick serve.

socal1976 wrote:

emancipator wrote:

I'd advise you to refrain from hurling abuse at me. The joke I made about your appearance was just that - something firmly tongue in cheek. In response you've called me retarded, abused my mother and sister and now this comment above. If you want it to descend into such diatribe be prepared to be scorned and ridiculed. I may play the fool at times but I am far more accomplished and intelligent than you'll ever be.

Oh I get it when you call someone a drunk, create a caricature of every ugly feature a person could have and direct it at them, or question their sexuality before I ever insult you that is tongue and cheek. When I do it is abuse. You opened the door to this personal insult game with me, I never said so much as BOO in your general direction and you became nasty and personal. Don't threaten me, the only thing less impressive to me than people who can dish it and can't take it are people who then do the tough guy routine online and tell everyone how accomplished and intelligent they are. In short you started it, and again today on the CVAC thread started in with your insults and caricatures before my last post. Maybe it is time you acknowledge that you are the one who started the insults both a couple of days ago and today, you are the one who made it personal, and to apologize for your conduct and never do it again. You wanted to get a rise out of me and you wanted to insult and mock me, now if you want to fight it is up to you. If you don't like to be insulted and abused don't start it. It is a common rule of the universe, he who starts it loses his right to whine about the logical outcome of his conduct.

I made a small joke about how men who insist on asserting their sexuality so vigorously are often the one's with issues and then mentioned you in that context - as a joke. Ok, it may have been a little innapropriate for which I apologise, but it remains still a joke. Likewise the little jabs about your appearance where intended humourously. Most people would have just brushed those comments off as small jibes, nothing more. I don't know what you look like so obviously those comments were not meant with any malice. I had no intention of turning it into a battleground. I expected you would respond with a similar joke or witty remark and that would be the end of it. Instead, you've done nothing but abuse me since, even dragging my mother and sister into it. Are you so insecure that a small joke online about the appearance of a person that I've never seen ignites such a vile and disrespectful response?

Even if you found what I said offensive you could have just stated that and I would have desisted. Instead you retorted with some of the lowest and basest comments possible. Besides insulting my family, you called me retarded on a number of occasions and hurled a variety of other insults in my direction. So who is playing the role of the key board warrior?

me!

LS if you dare get involved I will summon all my Keyboard power and kamehameha you to the After life!!!

Believe me because I typed it on a website...

I accept your sort of apology, but your comments were not innocent. I don't take personal insults kindly. You teased me about my appearance and I called you retarded, sounds like boobie for tat. As for your mother and sister comment, I will apologize to you for that although the comment itself was not as grievous as you portray it, since BOO is a mythical figure. Either way I don't want to get into it, many people have teased me online and I have just joked back and moved on. I never get at you for your screech comments and even when you first made your comment here, I didn't say anything till you kept bringing it up the following day. When you make a joke, the other party makes it clear they don't like it, to follow up with it may make them angry.

Either way I don't need anymore fights online so I accept your apology and apologize to you about a reference to Boo and your family. Teasing fine but when you call someone a drunk, question their sexuality, and paint them as ugly within like a 24 hour period it moves beyond fun little teasing and opens a door that we would both prefer to remain closed.

Fine, I accept your partial apology too but will add my own caveat. Even if you felt offended by my comments (and I admit I was teasing in order to get some kind of response and perhaps shouldn't have done so) your insistence on bringing family into it was way uncalled for. That really peed me off. That you crossed the line and decided to insult my mother and sister. The rest of the other stuff, and anything you direct at me, I don't really care about.

Oh you think keyboard warrior applies to vociferously arguing your point over a forum kingraf?
Well my take on it is that i run after people yelling "qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm" in the tune of "does your mother know" brandishing a keyboard as i chase after them.
Now you don't want to make me angry and release my inner keyboard warrior, for I, the almighty smiter, shall smite thee until thine enemy is thoroughly smited out!

Damn... thats a whole lot of smiting. You must have the Excalibur Edition keyboard.. Seeing as mine is only the standard edition... I hastily subtract all my laughable claims, and humbly request your forgiveness.

damn straight

Fed's gonna be seriously undercooked for RG clay.