Congratulations to the new world #1

Wow, as a Novak fan I am ecstatic. What a great match against a game competitor in Tsonga. For the first time since 2003 someone other than Fed or Nadal will top the ATP rankings. Maybe it won't be a long run at number one, maybe it will be, only time will tell. But, now we have proof positive again that there is a new great joining the ranks of the elite of tennis history. Personally, as a Novak fan I want a Nadal final. All due respect to the murray fans, but Rafa the defending champ, #1 and #2 playing each other for the biggest trophy of the year. Can't get much better than that. Novak you have done your fans proud with another gritty performance.

Amazing by Djokovic who fully deserves the No.1, he has been the best player this year and he has reached the top. Tennis is at it's strongest it has ever been.

CHAMPERS AND STRAWBERRIES FOR EVERYONE!

http://www.paritor.com/distribution/NewsLetters/2011May/champagne.jpg

Got to love it Nitb, we are on top of the world!

Agree with that analysis SA, tennis is really in a strong position with the great quality of youthful champions we have. Nadal, Djoko, Murray, and hopefully del Po will get over this nightmare run of injuries.

Merged the two congratulations threads together

Good moderation there Davie. Nitb, how does it feel to have our guy reach the pinnacle after the dark days of 09 and 10 it has certainly been a long time coming.

socal1976 wrote:Got to love it Nitb, we are on top of the world!

Ooooh, YESSSSSS!!!!!!!!

What amazed me about this match was Novak's returning quality and how well he moved on the grass. Truely inspiring stuff hitting a lot more winners than errors. Playing defense but not just letting Jo willy dictate from the back. If Novak can win on Sunday he will all but guarantee himself the year end #1.

As a fan now for years, I join you in congratulating Novak. So happy, big smile on my face. Socal and Nitb may I join your club?

Pomar wrote:As a fan now for years, I join you in congratulating Novak. So happy, big smile on my face. Socal and Nitb may I join your club?

Com in, the more the merrier

Nice one Novak

Pomar, we are happy to have more and more Novak fans. He deserves this victory and this moment in the sunshine and so do all of his fans who stuck with him when we had to hear jeers of one slam wonder for 3 years. How are all those experts feeling who predicted that Novak could not replicate his great form on grass?

You are definetly in my friend. Lets go Novak bring home the big trophy on sunday.

Congrats to Nole (and NoleIsTheBest).

Thanks laverfan, it certainly is something new in tennis. The world #1 isn't Rafa, it isn't Roger; its Nole.

Thank you Nitb andn Socal! Since I first saw Novak play I have become an irrevocable fan of his. As you say through jeers and mockery. And , of course he can't play on grass :-))))) May he lift the trophy. Happy to join you. No champagne or strawberries but a healthy caipirinha. Now you know where I come from.

Yes pomar, this year has been like a long vindication tour for Djokovic. He has really shut up a lot of critics who always wanted to diminish Novak as the third wheel in the Fed and Nadal rivalry. This year he has wrote his own story and is shaking up everyone's preconceptions in the tennis world.

socal1976 wrote:Thanks laverfan, it certainly is something new in tennis. The world #1 isn't Rafa, it isn't Roger; its Nole.

It is a fantastic achievement. Nole has worked very hard to get where he is, especially with Fedal around, that much sweeter for him.

The cherry on the cake for Nole would be winning Wimbledon here and now.

Laverfan, that would really be the validation of his career up to this point. With a wimbeldon title, the most prestigious the sport has to offer, you don't get that many chances to lift that big trophy. So Novak, better not be complacent and use the opportunity he has earned. It is a tough final to call, but I think Novak takes it in 3 or 4 sets. Both guys are going to get into the other guys service games, but I think Novak will apply more pressure and take care of his serve just well enough to get it done.

it was not the defeat of andy, it was rafa's camp having another one on andy's camp. Andy could not keep his first serve percentage higher which costed him the match.

In the post match rafa said that it will difficult for him to beat novak as novak has already beaten him 4 times. This is going to be big mental advantage for djoko and another one that he is the current no. 1.

congratulations to new no. 1, wish you many more slams

graf_the_greatest wrote:No.1 but for how long? In a year's time, possibly not. Getting there is hard but maintaining that position is much harder!

It will be harder for anyone who reaches there but if he can win like he won this year then why not? He only has rafa to beat however come hardcourt season and rafa has several players to cope with delpo, murray, fed, soderling, davy and djoko whereas djoko is a much more stronger hard court player.

laverfan wrote:Congrats to Nole (and NoleIsTheBest).

Laverfan,


you know how much this means to me I've been walking on air all afternoon/evening....

Novak will do the biznizz on Sunday

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Novak will do the biznizz on Sunday

Yep you could be right but Rafa just seems to be able to bring something a little extra to the very big games. Incidentally I like both players so I am in a win win situation

Behave its a final there is no "win win" your fav wins or he loses.

Good achievement for Nole, he deserves it after his amazing run this year. However, lets see what happens on Sunday. We all know Nadal is going to have a point to prove and this is a 5-set final, not 3 set as the other 4 wins have been this year. Remember Nole had a 3-0 record against him before going into USO last year. 5-setters are completely different beasts to Masters.

Remember Rafa is 5-0 in slams to Nole, Nadal seems to be able to raise his level almost at will in slams. Just look at what he did against Murray today. It will be a close match for sure but I think Nadal will wear him down. You feel Nole needs to win it in 3 or 4 really.

You are going to be disappointed Lydian

Novak will certainly up his game from previous, count on it :P

noleisthebest wrote:

laverfan wrote:Congrats to Nole (and NoleIsTheBest).

Laverfan,
you know how much this means to me I've been walking on air all afternoon/evening....

I know and your patience over the years has been admirable.

BTW, ToG says hello. I am absolutely thrilled for both you and ToG.

Looking forward to a good contest, not a one-sided one on Sunday.

Re. Murray, he has himself to blame for not capitalising on the head start of the first set.

No, because Wozniacki holds NO grand slams and has never won any. Djokovic has made 4 grand slam finals and won 2.

Don't forget, Djokovic had to defeat the top player, Nadal, who holds those 3 grand slams at the moment 4 times this year to get to No.1. Without those four victories against Nadal, Djokovic would not have 1, 600 extra points which go to the victor and has given him the No.1 even though Nadal has those 3 slams.

Just out of interest, if Nadal loses to Djokovic, what does this suggest for the future, it would the 5th straight loss to Djokovic and if it happens, how is Nadal supposed to win the USO when his record @ Wimbledon is better? There's a lot on the line for Nadal, it'll be interesting to see how he responds. Also, losing means it will be quite a bit harder to catch Federer's 16 grand slam haul unless he intends to win 6 more French Open titles, which is possible but is rather unlikely. After Nadal's comprehensive victory over Murray, I think there's little than can be doubted about Nadal's form.

graf_the_greatest wrote:In that case let Djokovic have the No. 1 spot. It's a small price to pay for Nadal who can have the Grand Slams as his consolation prize.

The consecutive 237-week #1 record is no longer a realistic possibility then, correct?

Graf is the greatest, when Novak is number #1 he did it by winning the AO and doing really well in every slam for the last 52 weeks. 2 finals, 1 semi, and 1 win. How this is anything like Wozniacki is beyond me. The guy has won 4 master's and Nadal lost to him 4 times in a row. This is not a Wozniacki story, this one guy going something like 50-1 and being the clearly deserved #1. Whether he holds on to it or not does not diminish the fact that with two goat candidates still out there he has managed to pull this off. In fact I think with a high probability Novak will be year end #1 based on current form and results.

You will always get the doubters and without them life would be so boring!!

Novak is the No.1 on merit.

If he wins tomorrow that would most definitely confirm it even to them.

Can he do it???

Sportslover, I think he can. Frankly, I think that as Lucius has pointed out there maybe more on the line for Nadal than there is for Djokovic. Its Nadal who is defending all those points from last year, Nadal who is on a 4 match losing streak to Djokovic. Novak has a lot to play for as well, but in my mind this match probably means a tiny bit more to Nadal. It certainly means a lot more in terms of the points he is defending and in terms of breaking his losing streak against Djokovic. I feel like Novak can go out there and be nice and loose.

socal1976 wrote: I feel like Novak can go out there and be nice and loose.

That is a defeatist mentality. Djokovic needs to play to win, in fact both Rafa and Novak should play to win.

laverfan, I am not saying he should go out and capitulate. In fact, he should be in the best state mentally to play this match. Of course both players are dealing with pressure, this is the wimbeldon final. The point I was making is that really, while both guys are under pressure Nadal has more on the line and Novak can be a little looser and play freer. That is in my mind precisely the mindset you want to have going into a grandslam final so that you don't get overwhelmed by the event. You go out there and you can play with freedom and a little abandon, in fact this should help Novak be more aggressive. I am not telling him to go out and play passively, just making a point that if one guy has more pressure on him, than that guy is Nadal. And this should help Novak loosen up and really go for his shots. He isn't the guy defending 2000 points at this tournament.