Been there seen that.

Careful with the Fed comparisons. It isn't Roger's ease of play that has defined him but rather his sportsmanship. Nole's legacy just might be the news that broke today in New York --- most walk overs ever.

@btforrres

it's hardly Djokovic;s fault concerning the walkovers. His level right now is Federer 2005 or 2007, Nadal 2010 and now....Djokovic 2011. All these years will be famous for the domination of a certain player.

Nice analysis, Steve. People are already talking about the highest level of tennis ever, and Djokovic has won only 3 Gland Slams. He should concentrate more on winning the majors and less on winning every match. When I think of the past boring personalities in men's top tennis, I like this new development.

Djokovic is pretty neat hehe

What match did you watch? He clearly has some nagging physical problems and is annoyed by that.

His music & dancing instead of talking tennis afterwards is just him going la-la-la-la with fingers in his ears.

save nole for roger so he will defeat him again.

I just think the picture above is SEXY, in a dorky way....hehe

lol I agree with Marshall1!

Could Fed fans be any more pathetic I wonder...it comes to the point when even commenting here becomes obsolete since 99% of the comments are so way off and without any touch with the truth...interesting character that Djokovic...

Federer is the most dominant tennis player to have ever graced the tennis courts of the ATP tour, period. Djokovic is a good player, but let him have 3 seasons with 3 major titles, let him get above 10 majors, let him be number 1 for 4,5 years without interruption, let him win 5 season ending world championships.

Then, let's talk again and maybe there can actually be a discussion.

(He can be the best right now - Ill agree to that, of course.)

Hmm felt that "bored energy" in a match yesterday, like i was above the level and didnt care

Great article Steve. Novak really played like he was bored … or not in a mood to play at all tonight. What remain to be seen is the remarkable semifinal “rematch” and Nole’s revenge for the Roland Garros loss. Roger seems to be all charged up too, complaining how the NY courts are not fast enough for him, so in short I cannot wait to see Swiss being put in his place, by the extraordinary No1.

think that would be Novak's biggest opponent - the weird, bored energy.

I thought that was a bit sad last night seeing a player like Davydenko just be a shadow of what he was at start of 2010 with some great momentum behind him. Two years ago Davydenko would have punished Djoko in that match but instead he just choked. Everytime he'd played well and save break points or level the match then he would just fold too easily again.

I think it all goes back to his match against Fed in last years AO where he had such a good chance to win that match then blew it. He's never been to a major final but I think that and FO 2005 were his best chances.

The story last night though was the second set. Djokovic had a 41% first serve percentage, and yet Davydenko couldn't make him pay and missed a large number of second serve returns. Djokovic just moved him around a little and let Davydenko do his work.

I hope Nole will met with Fed, then revange for RG would be in place, Nole would crush him.

"THE UNTOUCHABLE King FED"

Novak must win more GS to be considered as one of the greatest. Fed fans, for sake of honesty please see who were RF opponents in his glory days. Dont't forget that Novak de-throned two of the greatest, Rafa and your King Fed what maybe, just maybe give him some extra credit.

@PetarM
Let us bet. Novak will not reach semis.Hes going to lose to dolgopoov.take my word

No one can stop this guy!

I will go for Novak against Federer this time. http://myballsmyballs.blogspot.com/2011/09/us-open-update-day-6-serbians-djokovic.html

The Dog will be an interesting match because Novak will be forced to concentrate if not outpower the talented opponent, who at a certain pace can be very unpredictable and dominant. It will be fun as long as it lasts, Dolgo's gonna go for a lot of winners and Novak will be on them so expect some wild rallies and some superb shots, certainly a more colorful battle than the one Davydenko could present.

At this moment Novak has so much feel for his former opponents it takes a youngster like Tomic or Dolgo to bring him out of his comfort zone, and giving him a live preparation match to the later parts of the tournament.

Anyways, too bad Niko's form dropped as of late, he's always bothered by injuries and sadly overlooked by most experts and fans despite pulling things like W.T.F. 2009, crushing everyone (but Djokovic). As Nole put, he's hugely underrated and deserves more respect, too bad it's unlikely he'll earn it now.

i admit that federer is one of the most talented players ever. i'd like to see how he would have done against 2010 nadal, 2011 djokovic, 2009 del potro for a couple of years if he was still 24 and playing in that high level competition.

federer only seemed GREAT because he didn't face a lot of competition.

9 of federer's slams were won against these players: Philippoussis, Roddick, Hewitt, Baghdatis, González, Murray, Soderling.
Hewiit was a very good player and won a few GS but he isn't exactly one of the best.
Murray is good but he's not GS material.

so even basically anyone who could beat all these aforementioned players could also have won 9 slams.

again i'm not hating on federer at all, i think he deserves all his slams and his fame, he's one of my favorite players.

I think its funny this whole talk of Djoko getting revenge on Fed. On one hand Djoko fans say that Fed and Nadal are finished, and then they say that Djokovic deserves more credit because he has had to battle throught those two. So you can't believe both.

There was only ever one person who consistently beat Fed at slams when he was at his best, and that is Nadal. Djoko got one win at AO 08 and that was it until US 10.

As for nadal, djoko has only ever beaten him in one slam ever! He will need to do a lot better than that if he wants to say that he took them both on.

This stupid talk of Djokovic has been going on all year. There are two things we must remember.

Djokovic did not take on Fed and Nadal when they were both at their strongest. If he had this year in 2008 and 2009 then yes, but in 2011 everyone has acknowledged that Fed has dropped of the pace.

Also, there is a very good chance Djoko will go down as one of the games greatest, but he is not there yet.

Novak is the best that tennis have ever seen, and u know why? Because he needs to be the best ever to beat Nadal 5 times this year, and Nadal was beating former best ever (Federer) like this, so Novak has the best year and hes playing the best tennis ever seen... and about GS titles, he certainly needs to win them more...

Posted by Milan 09/04/2011 at 05:04 AM
Novak is the best that tennis have ever seen, and u know why? Because he needs to be the best ever to beat Nadal 5 times this year, and Nadal was beating former best ever (Federer) like this, so Novak has the best year and hes playing the best tennis ever seen... and about GS titles, he certainly needs to win them more...

haha, what an indiotic comment, it never works out that if you beat someone then by proxy you are better than whoever they beat. Nadal is not the best ever because of his h2h against fed in his best years. This year Fed beat Djoko, then Nadal beat Fed at the french, surely then Nadal is better than Djoko by your logic?

Also if we are going by h2h the Djoko has a negative one against both of them overall, and on slam h2h alone.

Like I said if djoko did this year a few years afo like 2008 or 2009 even (assuming nadal didn't need to withdraw from slams) there could be a case, but instead in 2008 he lost to Nadal in the semis of both RG and W, and fed at the us open. In 2009 Nadal finished of beating him 5 times in a row. In 2010 djoko lost to nadal at the us open on Ndal's worst surface and Djoko's best.

Djoko's had a great year and deserves a lot of credit, but it is not the best tennis we have ever seen, and he has in no way toppled Fedal, because he's only started beating them consistently once fed dropped off the pace, and even then he still lost that RG sf.

@Sirius

completly untrue, Djoko won vs Nadal in 5 finals this year, so nadal would have 2GS and 5-6 masters this year so far and everybody would be talking about one of the best seasons ever for him

Hey Toriton. Could anti-Fed fans be any more pathetic I wonder...it comes to the point when even commenting here becomes obsolete since 99% of the comments are so way off and without any touch with the truth...interesting character that Djokovic...

Let's see if old man Federer can beat
djoker man in the Semi's and el Spanish Bull in the Finals before we talk...this could be Fed's last dance!

Tennis is very entertaining and distracts us a lot especially if we
play it , in another way is fun to have more than 100 players giving
their best to the world in return we should also care for them in the painful moments they lose or retire....and don,t expect them to be gods let them be part of this world to see what they give us when they retire

You are right Steve, he was bored.

Despite the match with Berlocq when he was chasing triple potatos, this time having Davydenko at the other side he chose to work hard for one break in set and than not to bother anymore until his turn to serve.

It turned up that the most important was to stay at the court the shortest possible saving energy for matches yet have to come. This gave wanted result, both matches lasted almost the same, but with one huge difference: this time he was mainly waiting to serve and he was bored.

Good job looking at result, not so nice tennis to watch.

@rayy

You right if Nadal had won all those finals we would be talking about one of the best seasons HE HAS EVER HAD

Similarly that Djokovic is having one of HIS BEST SEASONS and ONE OF THE BEST tennis seasons ever.

I was objecting to the claim that 'HE'S PLAYING THE BEST TENNIS EVER SEEN'

That is the claim that is simply untrue.

I think Novak played a little too passively and a little too cautiously and let Davydenko dictate too many points which was why he looked frustrated and annoyed with himself at times. Having said that, he never looked in danger of losing the match and I think a huge factor is that his return is so good that you almost get the feeling he can break his opponent's serve at will. The break of Davydenko's serve seemed inevitable in every set. It was telling that Davydenko played lights out at one point and still never looked like he would pull off a set let alone the whole match.

The Dolgopolov match should be interesting. Maybe he can frustrate Novak a bit like Tomic did at Wimbledon, but yeah, I don't see the result being any different.

I can't agree more with the comments of Cal, FI and rI17 , Rogers fans must stop over defending their champ even without base and stop also to underestimate the others efforts and level. djoko playing the best tennis ever and Fed must escape Tsonga test first (I doubt) , and Fish (doubt too much) then think of Djoko or Rafa.

FED IS DEAD F... YOU ALL FED FANS !!!!

Interesting article..the score was 6-3, 6-4 and 6-2.

I think Fed has recieved a brutal draw this time, and I do find it hard to see him winning the whole thing. However, I see no reason why he can't get to the final. I think his hope with Fish Tsonga is that they have some kind of brutal match and take a lot of energy out of eachother. In regards to Djokovic he has to serve well and take his chances, I def think that Djokovic is not as solid as he was the first half of the year. Last night he had more UE's than winners, that surely has to be the first time in 2011 he has done that.

Federer dominated the game when his biggest rivals on hardcourts and grass were Hewitt, roddick, an unpredictable satin who rarely was in form, ljubicic, a very young nadal who was just learning to play on non-clay surfaces. He's lucky nadal wasn't who he is now back in 04-06 because he might have lost some majors to nadal. Let's face it, the djoker of today would've dominated fed's competition. Fed was unbelievable during 04-06 but his competition wasn't impressive.... And nadal was too young, a teenager. Even then, a 17 year old nadal beat Federer in 04 Miami, on hard courts! When the others were just playing clown and being jokes of competition.

Fed (and nadal) are also lucky that djokovic hit a nasty slump in 09 where he list it physically and mentally. After showing the world what he could do it the first half if 08, he then showed he wasn't ready for the spotlight as the wirld's best. He really became a mess in 09 and for most of 2010. His confidence was in the floor, his serve a disaster, new racquet, physically weak... But he finally got over it and now us back on track, but I feel he lost majors and ranking points due to this nasty mental slump where he let fed, nadal, tsonga, roddick and even jokes like melzer and haas beat him in slams.. He could've reached #1 much sooner, he's ready now....

lol for those that say that "djokovic is king" or whatever... he has not beaten Federer, and Roger is playing pretty darn good lately. If federer does beat him (again), not only did he beat him, but a "30 year old beat him" (for those that hate on him about his age or whatever)... this would make him certainly... THE BEST TENNIS PLAYER IN HISTORY! Goo Roger!

i really like reading your comments. You guys like tennis. I do too. I think Novak is a nice guy....something different in tennis. Roger is and was a good tennis player but good sport? Have you listened to his press interview's after he loses, he gets so nasty and pretends he doesn't understand the question. Hardly ever praises the other guy on how he played....and when he cried at the Australian Open final in 2009...omg ?
No comment!

To those, who are saying Federer is lucky with weaker competition:

Competition is all relative and you can only play with who is across the net. Without a doubt, Federer raised the level of tennis to a new level, a new plane that - he crushed competition. This is the reason why his competition looked weak, not because those are bad players. Even many professionals like Agassi agreed he was the best talent ever at that time.

Federer's game is the bar for the next generation players (Novak, Rafa, Murray etc). Rafa reached the bar a little early and dominated Fed also and Novak reached the level now. We can hope for Novak to take it to next level.

Above all, it is Federer's consistency for years that makes him one of the all time greats. His dedication to sport to come back after crushing losses to Nadal, his fitness, hard work and love towards the sport.

To add to the comment above his number of Grandslam semifinal appearances speaks why he may be the best ever. You can have a good day or a bad day to win and lose matches, it can be GS finals also. But to be there at the deep end of the tournaments for several years - requires higher dedication and love towards the sport - therefore he still is the best.

There is still to much to achieve for Novak before start putting him in the Fed shoe, well said Anders let him win 13 more slams and then be the world number one for 4.5 year and most of all a personality like the greatest tennis player ever step on the this earth then we should start compare him the Sir Roger Federer.It was so sad to see Davydenko were beat Novak on the base line and has no serve Just a little bigger serve last night and Novak would of be gone...... Bring it on The King is waiting.

What matters is quality not quantity !!!!!! No matter how much someone has a title, it is important that if anyone ever played better!

It was not a pretty match, nor was it a fun one to watch. Nole was not playing well and from way too far behind the baseline. Davydenko, knew he was outclassed and not happy about any of it.

I guess Nole's doing pretty well for the Feddies to feel they have to jump on and laud their man's accomplishments.

Should be an interesting match with Dolgo. Looking forward to that one.

Good summary Steve.

@Djoker 'Fed (and nadal) are also lucky that djokovic hit a nasty slump in 09 where he list it physically and mentally'

Of course if Djokovic was playing this well back then that might yes things might have been different but to say that Nadal and Fed were lucky is just not true because Djoko wasn't held back by some bad fate.

In terms of his physical problems he still competed in all slams at that time, and people still claim that he could have finished the matches in which he retired from. Its not like he was dominating nadal and fed and then suddenly got hit by a car and broke his leg or something, now that would have been a stroke of luck for fed and nadal.

In regards to his mental problems and struggling with his serve then again this isn't 'luck' for fed and nadal djoko simply did not develop enough. the reason he wasn't able mentally to compete with Nadal in finals until he was 23 is Djokovic's problem, there was no back luck that held him back. Similar with his problems with his serve, his serve was just not as reliable as say Fed's was.

Look at it this way, should we think that everyone is lucky that Nadal does not have a serve like andy roddick? No because its up to Nadal to develop the ability to have an effective serve, nothing held him back but himself. Even if you concede for the physical problems of Djoko to be bad luck, the mental and serve issue were completely down to him, if he was not able to compete its his fault, if murray can't hit a high first serve% its his fault, if Fed can't cut out the errors on his backhand then its his fault. Luck played no part in any of these things.

And, yes- Roger has no chance against Tsonga !!!!!

Speaking of competition, perhaps with the exception of Dolgopolov, Nole's draw this year at the Open is a piece of cake until the semis. Even in the early rounds his opponents folded before even starting. Berlocq??? Are you kidding me? That was the worst level of play seen in a Grand Slam. By contrast, Golubev came to play with Nadal and gave a good fight. Even Giraldo with Fed played reasonably, challenged Fed a bit. Nole's projected quarterfinal opponent retired already. Fed will have to play Fish or Tsonga if he advances to the quarterfinal - more difficult proposition.

So for Nole fans who have jumped here to declare that Fed has had no competition over the years -which is completely stupid - come on, pause to take note that your man was handed a very kind draw at this event.

I really don't know what stupid a.ss of idiot is choosing topic pictures of Novak for this site

Posted by Philly V. 09/04/2011 at 12:39 AM

@btforrres

it's hardly Djokovic;s fault concerning the walkovers. His level right now is Federer 2005 or 2007, Nadal 2010 and now....Djokovic 2011. All these years will be famous for the domination of a certain player
--------------------

With obvious difference that Federer at those times didn't have any serious opponent.

Even Murray at that time and those opponents would collect 12 GS

i have no problem with nole being the best is just annoys me and clearly other fed fans. that despite this great year nole is having ,that they dont seem to see nole in the GRAND SCHEME of things nole is not on feds level more titles weeks and number 1, h2h the lot all in favour of fed

yet I dnt constantly rub it in faces of nole fans .in the CURRENT scheme of things nole is the best that doesn't mean all his fans should brag so much they should also respect fed and his accomplishments .

since because just like nole nearly every-time fed steps on court he makes history he is still on course to become the open era hardcourt king if he can win here and tie agassi's 46 on hard then surpass him he needs just five more titles to surpass guilermo vilas's 55 outdoor titles.

djokoholics you dont need to put fed down to make nole seem good he is no 1 one in the world making history enjoy it to the fullest and dont waste your energy on fed put-downs.

Fernando says Danydenko challenged Djoker in the long baseline rallies. The Bull will do the same but will not relent.

Fernando says that Maestro did not look good and will get beat by the winner of tsonga fish. At times cilic was overpowering him. Maestro can no longer handle a power game and his service return game is really going down hill . Fish or tsonga's serves will over power maestro. Running forehand going downhill as well . Fernando tells the truth, no? Fernando

DOPEovic is on the DOPe of his game....

blood doping / EPO can work great if nobody(ATP) objects

Posted by Anders 09/04/2011 at 02:32 AM

Federer is the most dominant tennis player to have ever graced the tennis courts of the ATP tour, period.
-------------

someone greatness-es are not measured by number of wins or victories, but by the greatness of that someone opponents.

Obviously the greatness of Federer in 'dry tennis times' are not greatness "per say" (in itself)

Sorry, but just lighten up, all------------was there college football yesterday??????????
LOL

"Survey Says Fernando Says, It's All The Same"

What exactly pray tell
Does Fernando really know?
We know he knows tennis
Or atleast thinks that he knows

But what about life?
And what really counts......
Would his perceptions be sharp?
And hold as the tension mounts?

Give us something real
That can relate to our situation
That can lift and enlighten us
Not cliched incantations

So what exactly pray tell
Does Fernando really know?
More than meets the eye?
Or less than your big toe?

(((BP 2011)))

Maria,Maria!? Indian Wells: Djokovic-Golubev :6-0(potato),6-4

Posted by Sirius 09/04/2011 at 05:02 AM

I think its funny this whole talk of Djoko getting revenge on Fed. On one hand Djoko fans say that Fed and Nadal are finished, and then they say that Djokovic deserves more credit because he has had to battle throught those two. So you can't believe both.

----------------

That is not entirely truth.
That revenge you talking about is from Fed's fans corner.
Any time Novak do something good or great you run into verbal clichés expressions "never 16" talk or about of some stupid 'manner' talks where honestly that crying android had only manners when he was winning or after breaking Sampras record.

@alex

Get a life!

Novak has already proven that he is one of the greatest......and he got the job done last night. That was all he had to do and he was honest enough to say that he thought he didn't play his best...Love his sense of humor and fun! Well hopefully he is saving up for the rest of the top seeds to come.

Bravo, Nole......you still rock, and are on of the most entertaining
player personalities and good for tennis. Yesterday Federer looked unenthused and had that unpleasant scowl on his face. Lighten up Fed and get some food and rest. He looks emaciated.....yes, he can still play with ease but liven up a little. Thank goodness for players like Rafa, Novak,Roddick.......they make tennis alive!

@ Sirius
You use the word Indiotic, and Im sure u are Indiot. People like u are trying to make Federer the best player ever and he wasn't the best in hes on time, Nadal was playing with him like with some kid, so Nadal is better player than him, now Novak is betting Nadal, for sure he is better player then him. You probably never compete in any sport, so u just dont know....

I'm glad someone else noticed that the score was wrong...

The world of fandom isn't even in the same galaxy as the world in which these superb athletes move. Sadly, when we could be discussing the game, instead we have to endure 80-85% of the space being taken up by back-alley "gang wars". I seriously doubt that the players could be other than embarrassed by what some of you utter on behalf of your heroes.

How do you feel, knowing that you can't touch them? Tennis, as with day-to-day life, is played one point at a time. Some points are earned, some are the result of accidents. Whoever plays better during a specific match wins it. Nothing else matters.

Thing is, Federer played his top in RG and he deserved that win. He was hitting aces and lines like crazy.
However No1e showed him that he can come back after 2:0, pushed it into 5th set and almost won it.
Federer doesn't have anything on No1e, not anymore, his time is long gone. He won't make it past Tsonga in US Open.

@Milan

I'm actually a Nadal fam, so I'm not trying to make Fed the greatest. And if we go by your logic the Rafa is better than both of them as he has a winning h2h overall and in slams against both of them.

'You probably never compete in any sport, so u just dont know....'

hahaha that is one of the funniest comments I've ever seen. Firstly, I play three competitive sports. Secondly, who cares if I don't, you don't need to play competitive sports to know that you are talking rubbish.

You are clearly just a Djokovic fan who is trying to annoint him the goat but I've just torn your argument apart again. Heres another one for you if it just works whichever player you beat does that mean that up until the other day Mahut was a better player than Nadal because he was 1-0 in their h2h, he must be better than Fed and Djoker also. Sigh, I'll stop wasting my time talking to you now.

Very bad quality tennis matches. Nadal vs Nalabandian in specific. I should have watched any one of WTA matches, instead.

Steve,

I must say that I love reading your articles. They are based on facts, great observations of the players, and your genuine opinions. Reading them I can always learn something new. Thank you.

The relentless tallying up of slam titles is a relatively new phenomenon. Is McEnroe not worthy of consideration with his lowly 7? Or Borg with his 11? Nobody counted until Sampras came along in the era of big sports agents and corporations like Nike.

Instead of appreciating what Novak has achieved this year (everybody is still in shock, perhaps) everyone has their minds set on raising the bar to levels never even expected of Nadal.

Sure Fed won that semi in Paris - but couldn't beat Nadal in the final. Will he get another chance? And we're back on hard courts. Barring the retirement in Cincy, Djokovic hasn't lost a match on hard courts since last year. If he seemed a little disinterested in his match with Davydenko, at least he didn't drop a set.

IT will be forever-till another type of federer will come
so the ranking is fedex -against novak, rafa and the rest of the world
this is because roger plays technical tennis and the rest are workers and fanatic suisiders-all the best for everybody
-everybody who liles real tennis must agree that nowak-nadal matches are ping-pong games--real nice tennis are roger games, this is the true

I like to under line that behind of winning as crazzy-ideea that obsess djoko and nadal ,is the style of playing
-first nadal distroyed the ideea of normal ,nice and technic tennis screaming and hiting like an animal -djoko is the second killer of the tennis nice play
even they win- they will remain forever behind federer,sampras,nastase,mc-enroe or edberg...
this kind of crazzy ping-pong play is the shortest way of suicide ,both for player as well as for spectato.\
sorry, this is the true and if you like real tennis enjoy roeger game

Nadal game and personality are boring. He is just a puppet to uncle Toni. Toni pulls all the strings in that relationship. Also, why cant Nadal learn to speak intellingent english after all these years? Everyone else on the tour has picked it up. Nadal would probably be a bus boy in his home town is he wasnt a tennis player.

Novak is well spoken and has a fun personality. He should do well to give the game more exposure. Hopefully, he can highlight the game as Fed has done.

I READ some funny and weird opinions of some nazi djoko funs
-this spoiled -kid wants to die on the field but he not be to compared to FED
first of all he has no brain-he wants to be on the top running for every ball,he wants to dominate everything -but he is a poor spoiled kid who has the luck to be finally on the top after 6 years
he needs 100 years to be compared to fedex palmares and never to his style because djoko is an animal gladiator as well as nadal . roger can olny be compared with sampras -edberg or nastase
nadal and djoko are the inventors of crazzy ping-pong and this is the finish of the technical tennis-unfortunatly

@ mircea
Novak playing ping-pong game?
You obviously didn't watch any of his matches.

Ty - Your insults are disgusting and irrelevant here. America isn't the only country where an international player competes - and it certainly isn't the centerpiece of international tennis. Note how often we see virtually no American players in foreign tournaments.

Please take some time to work on your own English. Then, you might consider being silent. Guess what? Great players like Nadal could care less what you think. They are focused on winning games. Bravo!

Djokovic and Federer have met 23 times with Federer leading 14–9, and 5–3 in Grand Slam events. Djokovic is the only player besides Nadal to have defeated Federer more than once in a Grand Slam tournament since 2004, and the only player besides Nadal to defeat Federer in consecutive grand slam tournaments (2010 US Open and 2011 Australian Open). Djokovic is one of two (the other again being Nadal) players currently on tour to have defeated Federer in straight sets at a Grand Slam (2008 Australian Open and 2011 Australian Open). *WIKIPEDIA

Djokovic is playing great and has a great chance to beat federer in the US open this year. Most everyone on the site has something bad to say about Djokovic. I think hes a great player to watch and it one of the few people to have beaten Federer over 8 times and one of the few people that can beat Federer period.

Fernando you are a crack up. Every match you continue to say Federer will lose and had no bullets left yet he continues to win. When he wins his next match are you going to eat your own words? or will we hear once again that federer will lose his next match from you once again.

Tinice, I am just lucky YOU ARE BACK, so I can read something truly intelligent. Kisses from the White City.

I agree Novak had far more competition than Fed ever did.

Safin was an erratic clown and Hewitt best died before Fed even became no 1, who did that leave Fed with ?

An aging Agassi for a short while , and his 3 rivals who were barely a blimp on the tour.

Hardly suprising Fed dominated give the age / experince difference.

Fed just like Hingis took advantage of major lapse in competition between 2003 and 2007

http://2011.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/cmatch/17ms.html
Compare the match statistics. Federer clearly dominated, however, luck is a factor.

@Hane,

There is no evidence that Djokovich fans are Nazis, so stop insulting and bullying his fans. But if you want to find more about Neo-Nazism, the Swastika and things like that just google Croatia+ Nazi, Croatia+swastika, you will find plenty of evidence of Nazism there.

"He should concentrate more on winning the majors and less on winning every match"

dear genius who came up with this line - concentrating on winning every match is exactly how players win majors.

@Sheila - I guess some people don't know that Serbs also perished in WWII death camps - in neighboring Croatia. Present day Ustashe graffiti and events in Croatia make me feel ill, beautiful as Croatia is to look at.

@Tina

I've heard that. My Serbian neighbor's father was beheaded by Croatian army I think in "Storm" or something like that. Poor guy was 68 years old civilian, very nice man, they showed me rewards that he has gotten through the years. I guess, he volunteered and helped all kind of people a lot through the years. Croatian army destroyed his house and everything in it and killed pure guy. So this doesn't have anything to do with the tennis. It might not be proper to write it here, but it is sad to hear people still bullying and insulting the Djokovich fans, especially Croatian people tend to do that, and I feel that is just not right.

As a huge Nole fan, I paid a ridiculous amount of money to attend the men's semi-finals in Chartrier Stadium at Roland Garros. All credit to Roger for serving lights out and proving his competitiveness, although his finger-wagging proved him, once again, to be much less of a champion than Pete Sampras.

It seemed that Fed got everything he wanted by beating Nole on Chartrier that day; maybe that's why for a change he didn't cry (something Pete never did) when he took his usual beatdown by Nadal in the finals.

The Swiss is about 50% of what he once was, and that's why I think he will fall in the quarters to either Fish or Tsonga (I take Fish). In any event, should he advance, it will be a pleasure to see Nole revenge his loss in Paris. Federer showed an extreme lack of respect for Nole upon that victory---let's face it, the Swiss doesn't like Nole, but has no choice except to appreciate him because Nole is the only person standing in the way of Rafa's surpassing Fed's grand slam record, which was largely built upon winning 9 slams by beating less-than-stellar opponents in three years when there was no serious competition.

So for all you Roger-philes, bring it on. If you have a set of objective eyes, you know that Fed's a shell of what he was in the last decade. He shanks the ball all the time, his forehand fails regularly, and his backhand is beautiful but totally attackable. His only chance is to serve lights-out, which won't be easy to do on the slow Ashe court. Nole's return, unlike Fed's, is more than a block back.

Talk as much as you need to about the great one, argue about his record, criticize Rafa and Nole on a relative basis, but realize that we're living in 2011, and it's Nole's world. Fed is just an advertising behemoth, one who clearly doesn't understand how tacky his many endorsement advertisements look when he's getting beaten time and again. Good-bye Roger, so sad (not) to see you go.

Steve, I disagree Novak was bored. I think he was always wary of Davydenko--who still has a little gas left in the tank. Nole was challenged but clearly not fully challenged Davydenko, but there is nothing wrong with players conserving energy in such situations...Johnny Mac made that observation. Sometimes I think analysts in an attempt to analyze the crap out of everything feel an unnecessary desire to find a clever spin on situations, where none is really warranted--save for the obvious.

Had he went all out, crushing Davydenko in the ground, he would have been accused of "overkill.."

Hey johninmiamibeach,

If Fed is such a ruin as you describe, where does this leave your man who was beaten by Fed at Roland Garros? You are pathetic.

Maria: Awfully harsh to say I'm pathetic. Yes, Fed won at Roland Garros. And there's always the chance that he'll win in the semis at the USO, should both he and Nole make it. But to call someone pathetic is not a good reflection on you. We all post opinions on here, mine was not harsh. If you think Fed hasn't lost a step, and if you don't think he was rude at Roland Garros, then you don't have a television or a brain. Allow others to post their opinions without attacking them with words like pathetic. If your boy Fed wins it all, you'll have all the satisfaction you need. I'm just a poster, and I think Fed (and I don't like him) can win any match at any time. Sampras (the real champion of our time) won the USO in 2002 seeded at 17. No need to make personal attacks, shows a lack of education.

Also Maria, it's important to remember that all these guys make millions of dollars a year. They'll all be fine, especially your King Federer who has clearly decided to make every last dollar/euro/swiss francs out of what he's done. You'll still be a poor middle income woman, and I'll still be who I am. Don't call people pathetic if they are willing to post a well thought out opinion, especially if they are willing to immediately say they are a fan of someone besides your Swiss miss. Grow up, learn english, and get out of my face.

If we care about tennis, let's not participate in the fan-on-fan mud-wrestling that goes on here all too frequently. Let's ignore the provocateurs who try to lure us in, unless they offer an opportunity for a lively discussion relevant to tennis.

Hmmmm ----- It may well be that the sexist, racist, nationalist posters of hateful remarks subconsciously feel GUILTY about their biases - with which they daily attempt to fill their otherwise empty lives. Following this line of thinking, one might even conclude that Racquet Reaction is a sort of "confessional", and that the ugly comments constitute a desperate cry for help. Oops, we've run out of Absolution coupons!

Brilliant writing.

Djokovic is the king! Period