2020 Australian Open: Novak Djokovic outfit and shoes
January 18, 2020 · Leave a Comment
Novak Djokovic starts his campaign for a 8th Australian Open title with a first round match against Jan-Lennard Struff.
Here's the Lacoste outfit he will be wearing in Melbourne:
Novak's signature shoes, asics Court FF Novak:
Filed under Australian Open, Fashion, Gear · Tagged with 2020, Asics, footwear, Lacoste, Novak Djokovic, outfit, ozopen2020, shoes, sneakers
2010 US Open: Nadal defeats Djokovic
September 8, 2019 · Leave a Comment
Back in 2010, Nadal was the man to beat. After his victories in Roland Garros and Wimbledon, he defeated Novak Djokovic to claim his first US Open trophy and complete a Golden career Grand Slam.
From Rafa's autobiography, Rafa:
The secret lies in being able to do what you know you can do when you most need it. Djokovic is a fantastic player, but in a Grand Slam final, decided over the best of five sets, nerves and stamina count as much as talent. Any doubts I might have had before the match began had been dispelled by my performance in the first two sets. As for the stress of a US Open final, I'd won eight Grand Slams to his one, and that gave me the confidence of knowing that I could take it on at least as well as he. Another thing going for me was that his track record showed that he flagged physically in longer matches. He had never beaten me in a best-of-five match. He was, it was true, a player who have dazzling moments, but I was playing steadily, the diesel engine was purring. I sensed that if I won the third set, he'd be left feeling as if he had a mountain to climb.
But he got right into his groove at the start of the third set, picking up where he had left off at the end of the second. The match could not have been more evenly balanced at this point, with the tide, if anything, shifting slightly his way. I shot a glance at my team and family, who were all sitting together in a clump to my left. Toni, Carlos, Titin, my father, and Tuts, and behind them my mother, my sister and Maria Francisca, who looked especially nervous. This was only the second time she'd come to watch me play a Grand Slam final. Usually she watches at home, alone, as she did during Wimbledon in 2008, or with her parents. If it all gets too much for her, she's confessed to me, she changes channels for a while or leaves the room. This time, in New York, she said she had to resist the urge at times to get up and leave. Right now was the moment in the match where her resolve was most tested.
Maria Francisca has played tennis and understood as well as I did that the rain break had given Djokovic a boost. He showed it in the first point of the set, playing it impeccably, pulling me wide to the left and finishing it off with an electric backhand winner down the line to my right. He repeated the trick, with a deeper shot, after a longer rally on the second point. Too good.
I took it well. Some players explode with anger when their opponent is dominating them. But there's no point. It can only do you harm. You just have to think, "I can't do anything about this, so why worry?" He was taking a lot of risks and they were paying off, for now, but I was managing to play at the level of intensity I wanted, hitting the ball hard and deep without taking risks, leaving myself more margin for error. "If I can't come back on the next point, I will on the one after that."
Not in this game, though. He won it, handing just the one point with a rather inexplicable double-fault – he seemed to want to go for a second-serve ace. OK. So it goes. Bad luck. He was ahead, and I'd have to play catch-up on my serve, maybe for a long time.
The next game was a critically important one for me to win. He'd won the previous three, if you included the last two of the second set, and I had to stop him in his tracks or risk being overrun. I played the first point intelligently, playing the ball high. If you hit it low or medium height to Djokovic, especially when his line of vision is as sharp as it was now, he strikes the ball perfectly. But if he receives the ball at shoulder height, you make him uncomfortable, you make him guess, put him off his stride. This was how I went 15-love up. Not by hitting a winner, but by bludgeoning him into making an un uncharacteristic mistake. That gave me confidence to up my game, take a risk, and win the next point with a deep forehand to the corner. He nodded, as if to say, "There was nothing I could do about that." I don't do that. I don't do that. I don't show my appreciation of an opponent's better shots. Not because I am impolite but because it would be too dangerous a departure from my match script. But his attitude was the correct one: bow before the inevitable and move on.
I won the game without dropping a point and then, in an unexpected early bonus, broke his serve to go 2-1 up after playing one of my best shots of the match, a cross-court backhand on the run from two meters behind the base line.
Feeling psychologically at my strongest in the match so far, I felt I was beginning to edge ahead in the mental battle. In our past encounters Djokovic had shown a tendency to grow frustrated as the game progressed when he saw he had to push himself to the limit on every point. He also tended to tire more quickly than I do. That's what I had in the back of my mind. In the front, I was only thinking of the next point. (…)
He was battling to hold his serve; I was winning mine comfortably – as I did now, at love, to go 4-2 up. Another chance to break him and what felt like another thousand game points to me, but again I failed to make the decisive breakthrough. I was playing better, undoubtedly, and he was on the ropes – but holding on. We each held serve the next two games, and I found myself serving at 5-4 for the set.
Now I became nervous. It is when victory appears to be in sight that I so often seem to suffer an attack of vertigo. If I won the game and I went two sets to one up, I'd be two thirds of the way to winning my fourth Grand Slam. Djokovic would then have to win the next two sets, and he could see that I wouldn't be giving him an inch. Much as I tried to banish the thought entirely from my mind, there it lurked, inhibiting me. That was why it was important to keep playing safe, sticking more than ever to my natural defensive game, hoping his nerves would be more frayed than mine.
We started out the game with two very long rallies, more than twenty shots each. I won the first one when he hit the ball long; he, the second, with a terrific forehand winner. It was fifteen all and I felt the tension rise, yet I remained just about composed enough to register that, satisfied as he might have been at having won the point so well, he also grasped he'd have to dig very deep to get the upper hand against me.
I lost the next point with a reckless forehand but bounced back to 30-30 with a great serve high and wide. Typically, I would have played safe on the serve. I'd have concentrated on getting the first one in, sparing myself the prospect of handing him the possible gift of a hesitant second serve. But I'd never been more confident in my serve than in this tournament, and I felt the moment had come to go for broke. It was the correct decision. My next serve was an ace, which gave me set point, and the one after that was just as good – wide, hard, and unreturnable on his backhand side. I had won the set 6-4.
Here was crystal clear vindication of the philosophy of hard work that had guided me in my twenty years of tennis life. here was compelling cause-and-effect evidence that the will to in and the will to prepare are one and the same. I had worked long and hard before the US Open on my serve. And here it was, paying off when I most needed it, saving me at just the moment when my nerves threatened to undermine the rest of my game. I was on the brink of something truly great.
The fact that I got to this point was the culmination of long years of sacrifice and dedication, all based on the unbreakable premise that there are no shortcuts to sustained success. You can't cheat in elite sports. Talent enough won't get you through. That's just the first building block, on top of which you must pile relentlessly repetitive work in the gym, work on the courts, work studying videos of yourself and your opponents in action, always striving to get fitter, better, cleverer. I made a choice to become a professional tennis player, and the result of that choice could only be unflagging discipline and a continual desire to improve. (…)
Novak Djokovic is one of the contemporary greats, no doubt about it, but, with darkness falling in New York, I was beating him two sets to one. It was nine fifteen when he served at the start of the fourth set. He was playing well, but I was playing very well. I knew he had to be feeling under a lot of strain, having been obliged to play from behind right from the start, at no point finding himself in the lead in the match. And now he was falling further behind. If I went ahead in this set, it was going to be very hard for him mentally. The pressure was on me too, but I had sufficient experience of Grand Slam finals to be confident my game would hold up.
At 1-1, on his serve, I smelled blood. The momentum had been with me since the beginning of the third set, and I was not going to let it go. My legs were fresh and I felt a surge of confidence. He, on the other hand, was tiring in both mind and body, and it showed in the first two points of the game, which he lost badly, with the lamest shots. his first serve kept working, throwing him a lifeline, but after I ripped a forehand winner past his defenses, he surrendered the game at thirty. I had my break and I served to go 3-1 up. (…)
I didn't have to push myself as hard as I'd expected to break Djokovic's serve a second time. He failed a forehand on the first point, hitting it long, and I hammered home the advantage by winning the next one with a forehand drive that caught him way out of position. Then he doubled faulted to go 0-40 down. I missed my first chance, looping a forehand long, but then surrendered the match, yelling in despair after he mishit a simple forehand into the net. I was winning 4-1 two sets to one up and about to serve. (…)
Serving for the match at 5-2, the nerves returned. They are always there. As difficult to conquer as your opponent across the net, and, like your opponent, sometimes they are up, sometimes they are down. Right now they were the biggest remaining obstacle between me and victory. I looked up at my corner, saw the old familiar faces, elated, shouting encouragement. Inside I wanted so much to win this for them, for all of us, but my face – a good face – betrayed nothing.
The nerves were getting to everybody. Djokovic hit his return of serve long on the first point, and then the line judge declared one of his balls out that had clearly hit the line. We had to replay the point. Everything was life-and-death now, and this changed call was a blow. I had to put it out of my mind immediately and keep reminding myself to play steadily, nothing clever, give him plenty of room to make mistakes.
On the second point he went for another drop. This time I did tun for it, and made it. He reached the volley, and I, my nose almost touching the net, volleyed the ball right back to win the point, 30-0. The crowd, unable to stay quiet during this point, as in many previous points, went nuts – Toni more so than anyone. I looked up and saw him over to my left. He was on his feet, fists clenched, trying not to cry. I did cry. With the towel I wiped the tears away from my eyes. Through the blur, I saw it; I saw victory now. I knew I shouldn't, but I did.
Not quite yet, though. He got a lucky net cord on the next point, and the ball dribbled over my side of the net. Inwardly, I cursed. I could have been 40-0 up and in a position to play the next point calmly, knowing it was all over. Instead, more stress. And then he made it to thirty all after I hurried my shot, missing an attempt at a forehand winner. My heart was racing, nerves battling with elation. Just two more points and I'd make it. I tried hard to stay focused, saying to myself, "Play easy, no risks, just keep the ball in."
This time I followed my script. The rally was a long one, fifteen shots. We exchanged a dozen hard baseline punches, and then he came to the net behind a deep drive to my backhand corner. This time it was me who got a touch of luck. The ball skimmed the top of the net, and as he managed to stab it back over, I ran diagonally across the court and scooped up the forehand. He was expecting me to hit cross-court. Instead, I went down the line, and the ball, heavy with topspin, looped in. Djokovic couldn't believe it. He issued a challenge; he was wrong. The screen showed the ball had gone in, by a millimeter, brushing the outside of the baseline. Djokovic crouched down and bowed his head, the image of defeat. Toni, Titin, and my father clenched their fists, screaming "Vamos!" Tuts, my mother and my sister applauded, laughing with joy. Maria Francisca had her hands on her head, as if not believing what seemed to be about to happen.
Match point. Championship point. Everything point. I glanced up at my team, as if imploring them to give me courage, seeking from them some measure of calm. Fighting back tears again, I served. Wide to the backhand, as instructed. The rally lasted six shots. On the sixth he hit the ball wide, well wide, and out. My legs buckled and I fell to the ground before the ball had even landed and I stayed there, facedown, sobbing, my body shaking.
For all the passion and work I had invested for so long in trying to make myself as good a tennis player as I could be, this was truly something I had never imagined. As I held the US Open trophy and the cameras flashed and the crowd roared, I understood that I had made the impossible possible. I was, for that brief moment, on top of the world.
Filed under Books, US Open · Tagged with 2010, John Carlin, Novak Djokovic, Rafa, Rafael Nadal, USOpen2010
2019 US Open: Novak Djokovic outfit and shoes
August 24, 2019 · Leave a Comment
Defending champion Novak Djokovic will be the favorite for the 2019 US Open starting on Monday. He will wear this Lacoste Striped Jersey Polo and his Court FF Novak signature shoes by asics.
Filed under Fashion, Gear, US Open · Tagged with 2019, Asics, footwear, Lacoste, Novak Djokovic, shoes, sneakers, usopen2019
2009 US Open: Juan Martin del Potro stuns Roger Federer
Back in 2009, Roger Federer made history by reaching the four Slam finals and winning a record-breaking 15th Grand Slam career title at Wimbledon.
From Bud Collins The History of tennis:
But there would be no number 16 before the year slipped away. Standing in the way at the US Open was the 6-foot-7 Argentine pillar, del Potro, cool in the tie-breakers, 3-6 7-6 4-6 7-6 6-2, in 4:06 – the first five-set men's final in Flushing in ten years.
The 20-year-old del Potro, who had jolted Nadal with his most one-sided major defeat (6-2 6-2 6-2) in the semis, started nervously against the champion, and was two points from gonezo at 4-5, 15-30 in the fourth set. But as Delpo got his massive forehand in gear, along with belief, Federer began to fade and hardly competed in the last set. Their final was pushed back to the third Monday, a one-day rainout slightly marring otherwise gorgeous weather.
Roger had won all six previous matches with the Argentine, including a 6-3 6-0 6-0 throttling in the Australian Open quarterfinals at the start of the year. He had won 40 matches in a row at Flushing and threatened to equal big Bill Tilden's record of six straight (1920-25) US titles. However, del Potro was muy caliente in the stretch, becoming the first Argentine man to win the US title since Guillermo Vilas in 1977.
Disappointing was number 2, Scotsman, Murray, the 2008 finalist, ineffective in falling to number 13, Croat Marin Cilic 7-5 6-2 6-2, in the fourth round, as was 2007 finalist Novak Djokovic, number 4, downed by Federer in the semis, 7-6 7-5 7-5 – the penultimate point of the match being won by Federer with a masterfully hit "wicket shot', a between-the-legs blast that zipped by a stunned Djokovic at the net.
A Wimbledonian hangover seemed to grip number 5 Roddick, succumbing to 38 aces and serve-and-volleying John Isner, 7-6 6-3 3-6 5-7 7-6 in the third round. But 6-foot-9 Isner was brushed aside by number 10 Fernando Verdasco, 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 – and the quarterfinals contained no American men. The last time their number was down to one was 1986, Tim Wilkinson preventing a QF shutout.
Filed under Books, US Open · Tagged with 2009, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, Bud Collins, Fernando Verdasco, Guillermo Vilas, John Isner, Juan Martin Del Potro, Marin Cilic, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Tim Wilkinson, usopen2009
All fourth round matches are traditionally played on the second Monday of the tournament, called Manic Monday. And as often in the women's draw, upsets followed upsets as the three highest seeds left lost.
First, world number one Ashleigh Barty fell to Alison Riske. The unseeded American who's enjoying a superb grass court season (wins in Surbiton and 'S-Hertogenbosch) rallied from a set down to win 3-6 6-2 6-3. Barty had won her last 15 matches.
Then, Karolina Pliskova, winner in Eastbourne, lost to Karolina Muchova after a marathon match 6-4 5-7 11-13.
And finally, Johanna Konta prevailed over two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 4-6 6-2 6-4. She will face Barbora Strycova for a place in the semi-finals.
Simona Halep who ended Cori Gauff's fantastic run in straight sets will face Shuai Zhang who had never won a match in her previous 5 appearances in London. This year she defeated Caroline Garcia and Caroline Wozniacki on her way to the quarter-finals.
Elina Svitolina and Serena Williams made a quick work of Petra Martic and Carla Suarez Navarro.
Ladies quarter-finals:
Alison Riske vs Serena Williams (11)
Barbora Strycova vs Johanna Konta (19)
Elina Svitolina (8) vs Karolina Muchova
Simona Halep (7) vs Shuai Zhang
Djokovic and Nadal made their way to the quarters dispatching Ugo Humbert and Joao Sousa respectively.
No problem either for Federer who ousted Matteo Berrettini, recent winner in Stuttgart, 6-1 6-2 6-2.
Kei Nishikori booked his place in the last eight with a four-set win over Kukushkin 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4.
Mens quarter-finals:
Novak Djokovic (1) vs David Goffin (21)
Guillermo Pella (26) vs Roberto Bautista Agut (23)
Sam Querrey vs Rafael Nadal (3)
Kei Nishikori (8) vs Roger Federer (2)
More to follow…
Filed under Wimbledon · Tagged with 2019, Alison Riske, Ashleigh Barty, Elina Svitolina, Johanna Konta, Karolina Muchova, Kei Nishikori, Novak Djokovic, Petra Kvitova, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Shuai Zhang, Simona Halep, wb2019