OT: Wimbledon Finals
I'm for Novak. but would be happy if the young upstart gets it started.
Will never cheer for Novak. Nothing to do with covid or being a nadal guy — he has just always seemed like a weird dude idk.
I’m legit shocked to see there are Djokovic fans here. I seriously thought only Serbians and some other Eastern Europeans support him
Classy comment.
I was never a fan, hated that he could surpass Rafa as the GOAT... but went to western and southern open and after the match he made my daughters day by signing a ball for her... he only signed like 4 or 5 and I had to hold her over a fence for her to be able to reach him.
A core memory shell never forget... so now I cant hate the guy.
Damn, that is what it takes to make you not hate someone?
It’s not that difficult. Class, very well could be best of all time, articulate. The humility and graciousness in defeat is standard operating procedure for him. I don’t get where people say he’s weird or a jerk. Can be ornery at times but no more than anyone else on tour.
I've always found the hate and general distaste of Novak to be weird, especially pre-Pandemic. The guy is generally classy in interviews and has done some fun stuff with kids on the court. Now I can't defend his strange nonsensical status of the covid vaccines, but he's a great player and is generally clean on court. He was supremely gracious in defeat yesterday, given how devastating that loss was (he could have put himself on a very short list including Roger for 5 Wimbledon wins in a row, not to mention he could have been on his way to a Calendar slam for the first time in tennis since 1969).
Novak je budala i fašistički (a fool and a fascist)
Still reliving the wars from the 90s? Take that nationalist bullshit somewhere else.
Funny. I actually cheer for Djokovic, but ... I think AA_native isn't completely wrong. There's a lot of Djokovic's character and personality I find ... frustrating. Still cheer for him, though, as for some reason I did McEnroe back in the day!
I’m also frustrated by some of his decisions.
But calling him a fascist is overboard. I can only assume that AA is referring to the Kosovo issue, but even the US government has been critical of the Kosovo govt. Plus, Djokovic has had ex-YU (non-Serbs) on his coaching team. What fascist would do that?
He's a controversial guy, no doubt.
Always felt kinda bad for the guy. He came along after Federer and Nadal, and after most people had chosen sides in that rivalry. As a result, he never — IMHO — never quite got the love he deserved. An ironic situation for the player who may well be the greatest of all time.
I have the opposite view of the guy.
I was actually a fan of Novak early on. A lot of people were. But now he gets the love he earned with all his antics.
Novak had plenty of fans when he was younger.
He became an arrogant dick as he got older and did himself zero favors by grandstanding about all the vaccine shit.
Federer and Nadal are legends because of what they did on AND off the court.
Grandstanding? Give one example.
In terms of off putting, nothing is worse than Nadal's ritual every point of unplugging his shorts from his butt, tapping his ear, nose, ear, and then grunting like a primate every point. Good guy off the court though.
nadal has said that he’s not aware he’s doing those things.
You know not of what you speak. the peddler of nationalist bullshit is Novak, not me.
In a previous job I investigated war crimes for the UN (ICTY). The wars from the 1990s, the crimes, and their consequences shouldn't be discounted because some asshole can hit a tennis ball.
I forgot that Djokovic was involved in those events. How old was he again?
Your point is irrelevant unless you hold an entire people responsible.
(And I’m not sure how you assume I don’t know what I’m talking about. You know nothing about me).
Hope you are enjoying the match.
just because he didn't commit crimes in the 1990s, that doesn't mean he's not an asshole for supporting those who did commit crimes.
by your logic, there is nothing apprehensible about someone who has pro nazi-sympathies now because they didn't commit crimes in world war II, right? Or it would be ok for someone who is a white nationalist in the states because they personally didn't own slaves?
the whole point of the work at ICTY was to hold individuals responsible, not an entire people. That said, Novak has the ability to choose what to believe and what causes to support. the fact is he is a Serbian nationalist, and supports individuals and groups that were old enough to and did in fact commit crimes in the 1990s.
that doesn't mean he's not an asshole for supporting those who did commit crimes.
Give me one example where he supported someone who committed war crimes. Also give me an example of when he voiced pro-Nazi sympathies. Or give me a real example of his Serbian nationalism.
by your logic, there is nothing apprehensible about someone who has pro nazi-sympathies now because they didn't commit crimes in world war II, right? Or it would be ok for someone who is a white nationalist in the states because they personally didn't own slaves?
Your understanding of logic is shit.
What is a White Nationalist?
Can we have this poster join me in Bolivia for going political?
That's bigotry. Djokovic was a child during that war. Personally, I feel sympathy for somebody having to grow up in that situation.
Haha tell that to Djokovic himself
Congratulations to Marketa Vondrousova for winning the ladies championship
Novak dominated the first set, second set is Alcaraz
Rooting for Novak to see if he can get the slam
Watching now as someone that doesn’t watch tennis. Thanks for the heads up!
It best of three now.. one set apiece. Could be very interesting…
Federer has been my all time favorite - and, I wonder who the next gen will be. Federer has retired, Nadal’s dealing with injuries - and, I wonder who will challenge Djokovic in the majors.
Enjoy…
I know Rafa says he's coming back for one more go, but tough to imagine his body will cooperate. Novak's window is obviously going to close at some point relatively soon. Takes unbelievable care of his body but time is going to catch up.
Rafa will forever, IMO, be the men’s master at Roland Garros. I just can’t see him competing / challenging on the hard courts of Melbourne or the US Open.
And, I think Federer reflected anticipation - tactics - strategy - and “elegance” on the court. Roger made championship tennis look effortless.
Definitely sad that no American players have been able to get over the hump. Roddick got the one US Open and lost in some finals, and that's been it the past two decades. A few players have gotten some hype since, but all seem to fizzle pretty quickly.
As an aside, it's crazy that an American hasn't won a men's grand slam since 2003. Especially so considering that American won at least one (of the annual four) grand slams each year from 1989-2003, and only missed two such years from 1968-1984. Having grown up with Sampras and Agassi in their primes, and with Roddick coming up behind them (who obviously never lived up to what many thought he'd become), it's pretty jarring what American men's tennis has become.
It could be our culture and the role that video gaming has. It seems like kids spend more time indoors in the summer - than outdoors - doing anything.
I don't know. Our culture and video games don't seem to be impacting the talent going to the NBA, the NFL, PGA, women's soccer, or any other sport where Americans are thriving.
In tennis, the U.S. has 7 players in the top 50 currently. Two in the top 10. Snapshot in time, but still indicative of competitiveness overall. We just haven't had generational talent over the last two decades to match the three best players to ever play the game. But that's true of nearly every other country not named Spain, Switzerland or Croatia.
I'm around enough youth tournament tennis to fairly confidently say that there are many kids who are focused on not much else other than tennis.
We'll see what happens over the next decade. The big three is already down to two, and the final two won't be a threat much longer. Door will be open for others. Alcarez has already stepped through.
The American #1, Taylor Fritz, is a self-proclaimed video game addict who livestreams gaming on Twitch, and he’s still the best American man!
Oh … maybe I’m helping your point
It seems like every time I start to get excited for Fritz, he flops in an early round :( ...
Although he's stood the test of time as possibly the greatest, I just can't bring myself to root for ol' stone-face.
Go Carlos Alcaraz!
Alcaraz wins the 2nd set with an early break!
Saludos a Alcaraz!
Maybe I’m in the minority in that I’m able to separate the greatness of an athlete from the quality of person they are, or more directly, how much I like them or root for them. Putting it nicely, I root very much against Djokovic.
Lol all because he didn’t wanna get the vax?
Ok… informal projection.. will this be a four set final - or will it go the distance and be a five setter?
It’s one set apiece and Alvarez just went up 4-1, with two breaks, in the third.
That was an emotionally crushing blow in that game. Djokovic always wins because of his emotional toughness. But can he come back from that knock down.
In the past 19 Wimbledon Men’s finals - 17 have been won by the Big Three - Federer, Nadal, or Djokovic. (Andy Murray won the two that the Big Three didn’t.)
Alcarez is now up two sets to one. Could it be a changing of the guard?
I've brought this up before, but it does make me wonder. So in Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic, we have quite possibly the three greatest players of all time (at least per grand slam victories), all overlapping. Over the past 20 years, in the majority of those years the four grand slams have been swept by those three players. Pretty incredible, and I think fairly unprecedented in tennis or golf (which has a similar structure with the majors) to have this stark of a lack of parity.
But I wonder how those three actually stack up historically. I.e., are they truly the three greatest of all time, and they just happen to play in the exact same era? Or do they appear to be the greatest because the competition around them has dropped off, allowing them to rack up these crazy grand slam totals with only each other as realistic competition most years? Or in other words, if you traded out the 4th-10th ranked players over the past two decades with some of the successful players from previous eras, how would the grand slam totals look?
Rod Laver was the best, or at least, most dominate player of all time. Not sure about how much equipment and training changes the equation since the 60’s, though. Certainly shoes and racquets have made a huge difference.
Rod “The Rocket” Laver - is most definitely the standard for men’s tennis excellence. The Big Three are certainly in discussion too - but, like every sport - the environment is SO much different - S&C, nutrition, supporting team, etc.
The equipment obviously evolved significantly - but, in his day, I think Laver would have been able to manage with a composite racket.
That seems unfair to me. When one player dominates, we say, "yeah, but how good was everybody else?" (I say that a lot about Serena, BTW). When three players dominate, we say, "yeah, but how good was everybody else?"
What happens when five players dominate? Or ten?
Besides, we've had Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, and of course for the past five years or so, Tsitsipas, Zverev, Rublev, Thiem, Medvedev .... Any suggestion that there are no good players around is silly.
Alcaraz whooped his ass in that 3rd set.
The match has turned to Alcatraz. Joker seems to have lost some steam after his last fall.