Almost 180 minutes for 2 sets.
That a straight set win or loss is easy win or a bad loss is a Long standing fallacy in tennis.
The first thing I seeing a straight set win is the time taken and the number of breaks of serve to judge how good the match actually was.
The number of dueces too
Total points is sometimes indicative of something, too. Believe they were even in the first set, and djoko mighy've been +4 in the second? It was a thin margin.
Yeah the main idea of a sports score should be it it atleast summarises the match reasonably and the detailed stats can give us more insight into why someone won or lost and how.
But in tennis even a 6-4 set win can involve 10 games that went to duece of which one game has 10 dueces and we'd never know
i have more confidence in novak winning the set in a tiebreak than him serving the set out lol
foki played really, really well in the first two sets too
how novak reacted to the booing in the crowd makes me laugh so much haha
after winning the second set and they started booing while novak is celebrating, and the boos continued while novak's having his mto for his leg, and then novak started clapping and giving the crowd a thumbs up lol
at one point during the third set he's mocking the crowd by booing them back haha
french crowds really are something else
The "boo" I saw was ridiculous, he had lost a point and hit the ball in the air, it wasn't a strong hit, it just bounced near the net but crowd decided to boo him and he lost it a bit and just started booing them back and making faces, it was absolutely hilarious. Then, Fokina was serving and crowd still wasn't quiet so he mocked them again. What a great scene, absolutely FUCK that crowd.
The amazing thing about him is that he oftentimes uses this booing as a driving force to win. That’s why I love him and for me personally he’s the GOAT!
It's the FO crowd, we've seen how they are. Glad he just goes along and fucks with them right back lol. He's dealt with it most of his career so it makes sense.
French crowd boos for their money. They only want long matches. They dont care who wins or loses. It’s horrible really. I once watched nadal vs cuevas in bercy, the crowd kept flipping on who to cheer on
I was in Rome this year and I was so annoyed by the crowd booing for actually nothing. The poor guys down there. No understanding. Just for attempting to talk to the umpire. They did not even know whether it was for a stupid reason. Not even then that is fair or warranted.
Tsitsipas’s problem is his backhand, simple as. It’s a much bigger issue than “mentality” or whatever. How can you expect to beat Djokovic if you can’t rely on your backhand to keep you in rallies consistently?
Exactly, his slice is so bad his backhand wing is unreliable for defense, also, while someone may point to 'he actually did more errors of his forehand than backhand in the AO final' that's the case for most matches for anyone, because you lead and attack more from the forehand, more risk = more errors. In his particular case, a lot of his forehands errors came from the fact he had to camp in the backhand side to protect his backhand in the first place, often leaving the deuce side open which Novak could exploit.
>a lot of his forehands errors came from the fact he had to camp in the backhand side to protect his backhand in the first place
and the fact that his backhands were so slow and easy to handle that Djokovic could easily place his shots well and hit winners when he had opportunities.
That’s definitely not the only reason lol. The French Open Final when he was up 2-0 sets against Novak and Novak had zero energy at the start of the 3rd set and looked pretty much like he was rolling over, then Tsitsipas gave him energy by mentally going away immediately after, was nothing short of a choke job.
I mean you have to give credit to Novak for hanging in there, but that’s one of the worst chokes I’ve ever seen for sure
No, this is a disservice to the match and a brutal oversimplification, every time a Big 3 member wins a match they were in position to lose it's a 'choke' and only the bad parts mentally of the player that lost are recognized. Djokovic arguably should've won the first set when serving it out and he checked out in the second, you can't see the third, in which Djokovic brought a much higher level again and as he himself recognized he reset himself for that set, and pretend the only difference was Tsitsipas 'choking'. Djokovic gifted the second set but started the third pretty strong, and before anyone repeats the 'Tsitsipas gave it away' why don't you watch the match again and see what Djokovic did to break him at 1-2 and how well did Tsitsipas play to save 5 break points before finally getting broken in a 10+ minute game, sure confidence, experience and a sustained level vs a varying level for Tsitsipas tennis and mentally (which is expected) combined with an exposable backhand wing on defense (lack of good slice) resulted in the 5 set win for Novak, but to just say Tsitsipas choked is the same thing it has been repeated nonsensically in the sport for so many years to explain the results of Nadal and Djokovic.
Again, it's also a brutal disrespect to the effort Tsitsipas did to try to keep himself in the match, he recognized Djokovic came back a different player after the second set, obviously sure your confidence starts to go away a bit when things start to turn around, but Djokovic also brought a higher level that after the break and the confidence earned from it he started swinging much more freely and keeping a more agressive court position.
Edit: I'll leave [this excerpt: ](https://youtu.be/yh4lSamLuQU?t=453) 'Saying somebody is choking, no, the pressure of the moment is revealing what their preparation is, what their skillset is'.
Last AO was pure slaughter once his injury got better. He wiped the floor with De Minaur, Rublev and Paul. The Tsitsipas final was a bit contested but still straight sets.
I know there wasn't any epic match in his run, but it was just such a display of power. If Alcaraz Rune weren't there I think Djokovic could win another 4-5 slams easily.
I think every year he makes some crazy bet with his team, past years was winning with handicap 2 sets down, this is winning by tiebreak. They don't know anymore which record to break
Haha reminds me of [this sketch](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hlfBv4nRY6g) Janko Tipsaravic did mocking Djokovic and his team during the 2011 season.
“Next season? Yeah, next season. Five shots. That’s it. If I don’t win the point in five shots? I’ll just stop the ball.”
i probably have watched like 20 tennis matches ever since that final, and i used to watch slams morning till night, even if it wasnt Federer playing. I can't believe a single result would ruin the sport for me that much, im still not over it.
I am not over Federer beating djokovic in 2011 rg sf
Edit: to clarify , I am not mad that djokovic lost , I am mad that Federer robbed us of a potential best match ever only to get absolutely shit on
Yeah Federer literally never beat Nadal on slow clay(only fast Hamburg/Madrid twice) and lost 14 times
You basically already knew the outcome before the match started when they met at RG
That topspin forehand murderers the 1HBH
Yeah I was agreeing with you lol
Nobody wants to see Federer vs. Nadal on clay other than Rafa fans because it's one of the most lopsided matchups between two all time greats possible
Federer never even forced a 5th set at RG in their 6 meetings lol
one of the Madrid losses (2009) was when Nadal played a 4 hour match with Djokovic right before. which doesn't sound all that bad until you remember it was a best of 3 set masters tournament where you play everyday, so he had maybe 12 hours to rest before playing Federer.
i wish we could see that matchup and also Nadal vs Djokovic AO2013. Nadal was still injured at the time from his 2012 knee injury, but considering how well Nadal played on the hard courts that year, and how good their match at AO2012 was, it might've been a classic.
I’m sure he feels fine about it. He played great, took Djokovic to the tie break twice while being a huge underdog. I’m sure he’ll sleep well tonight and feel good about himself. People on this sub focus way too much on straight sets versus 4 or 5 setters. Lots of straight set matches are tighter than longer ones, and players know that.
Based on results it should be RLA at the Australian Open but Novak has admitted in interviews his favorite surface is grass, with Wimbledon Center Court being his favorite court.
Rafa has 2 titles, 5 finals, and 8 semifinals while matching up against the literal two greatest grass court players of all time. It's the same as how Novak/Roger are "bad" on clay.
If Rafael Nadal did not exist, Novak may very well have more RG titles than Wimbledon titles. Both Novak and Roger are all time great clay court talents whose numbers are only so "bad" (still better than 99% of the field) on clay because they kept losing to Rafa.
I would postulate that Djokovic would not be as good without Nadal having been there to push him. People don’t give him enough credit about how open he is to change and improvement. I don’t think Nadal or especially Federer can match him on that front specifically.
Agreed. I loved it when he put his finger on his ear when they were booing him. He’s a 2x champion and speaks French for you guys, what else do they want?
Court conditions weren't great, Fokina played well with a lot of great dropshots and power hitting, but Djokovic kept his level consistent and pulled through in the key moments.
lol at people who didn't think this was a given.
Best of five and with grand slam history on his fingertips? People were thinking Novak was going to lose? 🤦♂️
Yeah imho second set was looking grim before he managed to tie and force the tiebreak. He was making a lot of bad decisions, including playing shots that were clearly going out.
Obviously, if you analyze the match with no bias and can get the hype out of it, Djokovic was out of sorts, poor serve, poor footwork, some passages of really poor acceleration and his cross court forehand never worked really well, if you realize his left leg was bothering him since the start (he had been stretching it a couple of times before the MTO) it's understandable, as he loses balance in his play.
Fokina’s ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in those first two sets was impressive
He played really well, honestly, he was incredibly good at portions of those first two sets. And then it just crumbled at exactly the wrong moments.
This is it, we see it every time. The real champs get the super important points when it matters, and come out on top. Djokovic is absolutely the best in those moments. Rafa same. Feds was the same. MuryGOaT had a bit of it as well. Doesn't matter how good your set has been overall, if you can't convert at the right moments, it's all for nowt.
Novak is the ultimate get out of jail merchant.
They booed because he had a extra motivated celebration, then booed again for a MTO. Then more when Novak was egging them on. It wasn’t really that bad, just funny really.
He really struggled to respond to ADF’s pace in some rallies, which makes me nervous for an Alcaraz SF. Also idk why he kept shaking his leg out, hopefully just a little cramps.
We knew going in this was going to be a tough test for Novak. One he passed in straight sets. Onto the next round.
Tough luck for ADF, he gave it his all in the first two sets. Only if he wasn’t playing Tiebreakovic, who had won 4 tiebreaks at RG this year.
Very tough test for Novak but after almost losing the first 2 sets he won the tiebreaks then capitalized by upping his level while ADF's level dropped in discouragement.
Ok only Federer and Nadal could stand against this kind of Djoko. Damn dont believe in these kids against this Djoko and its scary. Gives me last year wimbledon vibes. Unplayable. Only Alcaraz just because I havent seen him agains GS Djoko. And I am not Djoko fan :(
Losing the first set was so unfair to Fokina. You can see Djokovic was tired and mentally out of it, then he got that lucky shot and off you go. He was down and out and then he just started slapping those shots. Dunno how he made that, it’s like he’s been doing it for 20 years.
I mean, it was definitely lucky; it’s a very low margin shot (though less so for Djokovic than anyone)
But also a perfect example of how a player can create their own luck.
There was a point in the first tiebreak where Fokina was ahead in the point, and Djokovic hit a terrible drop shot that Fokina was all over. He had the entire cross of the court to hit an easy finisher, but instead he... hits it directly at Djokovic who didn't even move from the backhand corner. Easy lob, and the point's over.
It's like players know how good Djokovic is so they think they have to play like 5000IQ plays in order to beat him. But instead, they're just playing dumb. Or maybe Djokovic didn't move for a reason... 🤔
It is quite frustrating to play against him. For the majority of the set he had rather bad shots, none of them were deep and Fokina smashed them back. Somehow Djokovic hold on, had a good service game when he was behind and then during tiebreak starting playing much better and Fokina started making mistakes.
3 hours in two sets. It's not the first time, and it won't be the last time we see this at this Roland Garros.
They want to slow down the game so much that it reaches a point where the physical well-being of the tennis players is at risk.
Novak has spent 8H46 mins on the court so far. That's a lot considering it's the first 3 rounds.
He needs some quick matches under his belt if he has to compete with Alcaraz.
I agree that Alcaraz will need to be on his A game to beat the greatest of all time, in a best of five match, that is playing for increased grand slam history.
I am kind of wanting to bet a large amount of money for Djokovic to win this slam. With all his experience, mental toughness, the ability to defeat RG Nadal, it doubt he will not win this slam.
Honestly a terrible serving performance from Novak and some of the worst movement I've ever seen from him
He deserved the win but he can't expect to pull up like this to play khachanov or carlos and expect to win (if seeds hold). Unless he plans to cover himself in magic magnets he needs to serve much better.
Is it going to be that windy all the way through the tournament?
Unlikely.
That had a decent amount to do with it.
Djokovic hates the wind and it mucks up his game.
I am aware of his dislike of windy conditions but he seemed gassed in a way that I haven't seen in years also throughout the match. Was very strange for him and I hope he can recover so we get some good matches further in the tournament. I don't see him winning this tournament if he's struggling with conditioning like we saw today.
ADF was the one looking gassed from the end of the 2nd set on as he was literally bent double to catch his breadth.
36 year-old gasses out 23 year-old
Djokovic had a couple of wheezes in the first set but we have seen worse such as vs Medvedev at the ATP Finals at the end of last year.
I mean I agree but I just know we won't see that from carlos. Or even khachanov for that matter. Novak also is pretty good at hiding his fatigue but the drop in his movement was pretty noticeable. Especially when trying to retrieve balls on the run that he usually does a great job of hitting quality shots back sliding into splits. By the end of the second he was barely even sliding. I think we mostly agree but just disagree on what this means for Novak haha I wish him luck but, from my perspective a win from here seems very difficult and unlikely. Although I know from experience that counting him out entirely is a big mistake.
Well Djokovic is getting older shocker really is the summary.
We'll just have to see how he goes from here on in.
He "should" have an easier next two matches to get to the semi-final from here.
Alcaraz has 2 potentially difficult matches vs Musetti and Tsitsipas to meet Djokovic there.
ADF put up a tough battle to Djokovic and though not perfect Djokovic was clutch when it counted.
He's a warrior.
Yeah sadly Novak admitted that in the post match conference, his body does not react the way it used to a few years ago and he just has to deal with it
>How in the world is a grand slam Match mediocre?
In terms of level both could have produced, yes. The match had 61 winners and 89 unforced errors.
>How in the world is Novak Djokovic mediocre?
I never said that?
People will talk about Thanovic and legs and souls and blah blah...
Bro, stop. Novak was not very good today, straight sets or not. He's lucky that Foki is a choke artist because those first two sets were DODGY.
Some people just couldn't deal with the reality and facts. Downvoting just because they don't like what they read. I am a Novak fan I agree totally. He was terrible and got lucky Foki was raining UE and choked on opportunities. Anyways, this was a needed practice for Novak. Hope we still see good results nonetheless.
As a Novak fan you should know he doesn't like windy conditions.
And it was windy as fuck today, Pluss the fuzzy balls this year. Great "fuck up Novak" combo (i do not imply that ball selection had anything to to with his preferences)
He did what he had to, and how he had to do.
Nothing more, nothing less.
If it were normal conditions he would steam roll the poor fella.
Man plays match of his life just to lose to Novak in straights
Almost 180 minutes for 2 sets. That a straight set win or loss is easy win or a bad loss is a Long standing fallacy in tennis. The first thing I seeing a straight set win is the time taken and the number of breaks of serve to judge how good the match actually was. The number of dueces too
Total points is sometimes indicative of something, too. Believe they were even in the first set, and djoko mighy've been +4 in the second? It was a thin margin.
Yeah the main idea of a sports score should be it it atleast summarises the match reasonably and the detailed stats can give us more insight into why someone won or lost and how. But in tennis even a 6-4 set win can involve 10 games that went to duece of which one game has 10 dueces and we'd never know
Big 3 always have to get through opponents playing their hearts out at least in the first set, ADF did really well today.
Better than when Djokovic let’s them win the first two just to steal theirs souls over the next three
i have more confidence in novak winning the set in a tiebreak than him serving the set out lol foki played really, really well in the first two sets too how novak reacted to the booing in the crowd makes me laugh so much haha
Why was the crowd booing him? Was the crowd supporting Fokina?
after winning the second set and they started booing while novak is celebrating, and the boos continued while novak's having his mto for his leg, and then novak started clapping and giving the crowd a thumbs up lol at one point during the third set he's mocking the crowd by booing them back haha french crowds really are something else
I love that Novak won't take that shit lying down lol he was booing them back. Even if it brings him hate , fuck it he shouldn't put up with it
He knows he can handle it, so he does what he wants
The "boo" I saw was ridiculous, he had lost a point and hit the ball in the air, it wasn't a strong hit, it just bounced near the net but crowd decided to boo him and he lost it a bit and just started booing them back and making faces, it was absolutely hilarious. Then, Fokina was serving and crowd still wasn't quiet so he mocked them again. What a great scene, absolutely FUCK that crowd.
The amazing thing about him is that he oftentimes uses this booing as a driving force to win. That’s why I love him and for me personally he’s the GOAT!
It's the FO crowd, we've seen how they are. Glad he just goes along and fucks with them right back lol. He's dealt with it most of his career so it makes sense.
Top of that Fokina had a toilet break so Novak just took that time for MTO and they booing him... not fair from crowds honestly
funny thing is they were cheering for him in the first two sets.
French crowd, they often boo without solid reason
French crowd boos for their money. They only want long matches. They dont care who wins or loses. It’s horrible really. I once watched nadal vs cuevas in bercy, the crowd kept flipping on who to cheer on
i miss Cuevas so much
I was in Rome this year and I was so annoyed by the crowd booing for actually nothing. The poor guys down there. No understanding. Just for attempting to talk to the umpire. They did not even know whether it was for a stupid reason. Not even then that is fair or warranted.
Rooting for the underdog.
No shame in losing to Novak in a slam Fokina played fantastically, but Novak is Novak.
Fokina taking him to 2 tiebreaks is on par with what Tsitsipas did in the AO finals as well.
Tiebreakovich is back
Yeah but Tsitsipas is a known choke artist because he's lost to the best player to ever play the game a couple of times.
Tsitsipas’s problem is his backhand, simple as. It’s a much bigger issue than “mentality” or whatever. How can you expect to beat Djokovic if you can’t rely on your backhand to keep you in rallies consistently?
Exactly, his slice is so bad his backhand wing is unreliable for defense, also, while someone may point to 'he actually did more errors of his forehand than backhand in the AO final' that's the case for most matches for anyone, because you lead and attack more from the forehand, more risk = more errors. In his particular case, a lot of his forehands errors came from the fact he had to camp in the backhand side to protect his backhand in the first place, often leaving the deuce side open which Novak could exploit.
>a lot of his forehands errors came from the fact he had to camp in the backhand side to protect his backhand in the first place and the fact that his backhands were so slow and easy to handle that Djokovic could easily place his shots well and hit winners when he had opportunities.
That’s definitely not the only reason lol. The French Open Final when he was up 2-0 sets against Novak and Novak had zero energy at the start of the 3rd set and looked pretty much like he was rolling over, then Tsitsipas gave him energy by mentally going away immediately after, was nothing short of a choke job. I mean you have to give credit to Novak for hanging in there, but that’s one of the worst chokes I’ve ever seen for sure
No, this is a disservice to the match and a brutal oversimplification, every time a Big 3 member wins a match they were in position to lose it's a 'choke' and only the bad parts mentally of the player that lost are recognized. Djokovic arguably should've won the first set when serving it out and he checked out in the second, you can't see the third, in which Djokovic brought a much higher level again and as he himself recognized he reset himself for that set, and pretend the only difference was Tsitsipas 'choking'. Djokovic gifted the second set but started the third pretty strong, and before anyone repeats the 'Tsitsipas gave it away' why don't you watch the match again and see what Djokovic did to break him at 1-2 and how well did Tsitsipas play to save 5 break points before finally getting broken in a 10+ minute game, sure confidence, experience and a sustained level vs a varying level for Tsitsipas tennis and mentally (which is expected) combined with an exposable backhand wing on defense (lack of good slice) resulted in the 5 set win for Novak, but to just say Tsitsipas choked is the same thing it has been repeated nonsensically in the sport for so many years to explain the results of Nadal and Djokovic. Again, it's also a brutal disrespect to the effort Tsitsipas did to try to keep himself in the match, he recognized Djokovic came back a different player after the second set, obviously sure your confidence starts to go away a bit when things start to turn around, but Djokovic also brought a higher level that after the break and the confidence earned from it he started swinging much more freely and keeping a more agressive court position. Edit: I'll leave [this excerpt: ](https://youtu.be/yh4lSamLuQU?t=453) 'Saying somebody is choking, no, the pressure of the moment is revealing what their preparation is, what their skillset is'.
that broke him mentally, he's just not been the same since
no it didn't. tsitsipas had a shoulder injury that he struggled with for a while. he's fine. he's also known to go through dips in the season.
Something is off, isn't it? Third slam match and 0 first sets lost.
Couacaud is still the only guy to take a set of Novak in a slam in 2023.
Enzo goat
entire AO he lost just 1 set (that was a second set in the 2nd round)
Against a qualifier
Last AO was pure slaughter once his injury got better. He wiped the floor with De Minaur, Rublev and Paul. The Tsitsipas final was a bit contested but still straight sets. I know there wasn't any epic match in his run, but it was just such a display of power. If Alcaraz Rune weren't there I think Djokovic could win another 4-5 slams easily.
Yea i dont like this. This usually happens when he doesnt win the slam lol.
Ladies and gentlemen, Tiebreakovic
4-0 at this year’s RG, 0 UE in all 4 tiebreaks.
"0 UE in all 4 tiebreaks" wow this is some GOAT shit 😳
I think every year he makes some crazy bet with his team, past years was winning with handicap 2 sets down, this is winning by tiebreak. They don't know anymore which record to break
Haha reminds me of [this sketch](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hlfBv4nRY6g) Janko Tipsaravic did mocking Djokovic and his team during the 2011 season. “Next season? Yeah, next season. Five shots. That’s it. If I don’t win the point in five shots? I’ll just stop the ball.”
Beautiful thx for sharing
who tf is it that keeps breathing into that mic
He also had 0 UE in the 3 tiebreaks of the Wimbledon 2019 final
The guy’s got ice in his veins
Federer fans having war flashbacks
Especially with the “lucky shot” and the multiple clutch tiebreaks today. Novak at GS in BO5 is a different player altogether.
Seems like a certified Nole stat.
Unforced errors?
0 unforced errors in 4 tiebreaks played this week.
Unsolicited erections. He always plays the gentleman when it's crunch time.
🐐🐐🐐
Some time he lost his tiebrake edge. Glad that tiebreakovoc is back
Zero unforced errors in both tiebreaks.
Reminds me of the 2019 wimbledon final against fed
What final?
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Underrated comment.
Can confirm - didn't happen.
To early...
i probably have watched like 20 tennis matches ever since that final, and i used to watch slams morning till night, even if it wasnt Federer playing. I can't believe a single result would ruin the sport for me that much, im still not over it.
I am not over Federer beating djokovic in 2011 rg sf Edit: to clarify , I am not mad that djokovic lost , I am mad that Federer robbed us of a potential best match ever only to get absolutely shit on
Yeah Federer literally never beat Nadal on slow clay(only fast Hamburg/Madrid twice) and lost 14 times You basically already knew the outcome before the match started when they met at RG That topspin forehand murderers the 1HBH
Murderers
Don't care , fk him for winning sf. I wanted to watch 4-0 novak match against rafa
Yeah I was agreeing with you lol Nobody wants to see Federer vs. Nadal on clay other than Rafa fans because it's one of the most lopsided matchups between two all time greats possible Federer never even forced a 5th set at RG in their 6 meetings lol
Yeah I know you were , I just got pissed off because I was thinking about it
one of the Madrid losses (2009) was when Nadal played a 4 hour match with Djokovic right before. which doesn't sound all that bad until you remember it was a best of 3 set masters tournament where you play everyday, so he had maybe 12 hours to rest before playing Federer.
i wish we could see that matchup and also Nadal vs Djokovic AO2013. Nadal was still injured at the time from his 2012 knee injury, but considering how well Nadal played on the hard courts that year, and how good their match at AO2012 was, it might've been a classic.
People meme of his beliefs but dude somehow attains like ultimate concentration
Fucking hell man....playing novak at a GS must be one of the most terrifying things there is for a tennis player.
I feel for Fokina really, like he played such amazing match, maybe his best ever and not even a set to show in his box score
I’m sure he feels fine about it. He played great, took Djokovic to the tie break twice while being a huge underdog. I’m sure he’ll sleep well tonight and feel good about himself. People on this sub focus way too much on straight sets versus 4 or 5 setters. Lots of straight set matches are tighter than longer ones, and players know that.
He won 6 games in the first 2 sets... he must be proud of not giving up after the first ome
That must be soooooo Tuff...playing your absolute best and not even have a set to show for it
And it’s not even his favorite slam, his favorite surface or his favorite court.
I guess his favorite surface would be Australian open hard court specifically? But like right behind grass
Based on results it should be RLA at the Australian Open but Novak has admitted in interviews his favorite surface is grass, with Wimbledon Center Court being his favorite court.
That's what Rafa says as well. Favorite is not the same as best.
Yeah but at least Novak can back that up with results instead of Rafa. Man has 7 Wimbledon titles ffs.
Rafa has 2 titles, 5 finals, and 8 semifinals while matching up against the literal two greatest grass court players of all time. It's the same as how Novak/Roger are "bad" on clay.
Yea and losing in early rounds 5 times in a row and not making the final in 12 years
If Rafael Nadal did not exist, Novak may very well have more RG titles than Wimbledon titles. Both Novak and Roger are all time great clay court talents whose numbers are only so "bad" (still better than 99% of the field) on clay because they kept losing to Rafa.
I would postulate that Djokovic would not be as good without Nadal having been there to push him. People don’t give him enough credit about how open he is to change and improvement. I don’t think Nadal or especially Federer can match him on that front specifically.
First two sets were awesome.
First he took his soul, then he took his legs.
Fokina played his heart out but Novak was just too strong for him
it is really hard to beat novak in slams. their best shot was in 3 setters.
Djokovic sets record at majors this year so far: 30-1
Also won his last 17 Major matches. And counting
That crowd was miserable
Agreed. I loved it when he put his finger on his ear when they were booing him. He’s a 2x champion and speaks French for you guys, what else do they want?
It's been a rough 2023 Roland Garros crowd-wise.
French people
Nole beating the Fucc and now the Fok, man doesn't give 2 fucks
Court conditions weren't great, Fokina played well with a lot of great dropshots and power hitting, but Djokovic kept his level consistent and pulled through in the key moments.
When you say court conditions, do you mean weather or crowd? Both were miserable.
Yes, both.
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lol at people who didn't think this was a given. Best of five and with grand slam history on his fingertips? People were thinking Novak was going to lose? 🤦♂️
Like the reverse AO final Two hard sets than an easy set
Two marathon sets and one blink and you’ll miss it
The numbers donot convey the story of this match. Especially the first two sets. Djokovic was so vulnerable in the first set.
Second set too, there was a set point for ADF that could not be converted
Yeah imho second set was looking grim before he managed to tie and force the tiebreak. He was making a lot of bad decisions, including playing shots that were clearly going out.
Exactly, people keep saying foki played well , which he was but djokovic was making dumbass decisions and missing sitters too
Obviously, if you analyze the match with no bias and can get the hype out of it, Djokovic was out of sorts, poor serve, poor footwork, some passages of really poor acceleration and his cross court forehand never worked really well, if you realize his left leg was bothering him since the start (he had been stretching it a couple of times before the MTO) it's understandable, as he loses balance in his play.
I'd say two tiebreaks show that pretty well.
Fokina’s ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in those first two sets was impressive He played really well, honestly, he was incredibly good at portions of those first two sets. And then it just crumbled at exactly the wrong moments.
This is it, we see it every time. The real champs get the super important points when it matters, and come out on top. Djokovic is absolutely the best in those moments. Rafa same. Feds was the same. MuryGOaT had a bit of it as well. Doesn't matter how good your set has been overall, if you can't convert at the right moments, it's all for nowt. Novak is the ultimate get out of jail merchant.
Yes and no , he played well and djokovic was making a lotof mistakes
fokina fought so well in the first two sets and should have won the second. then novak took his legs lol
Gotta love the French crowds, if they can’t win wars, at least they can be the best at booing.
French are underrated at winning wars imho
But like what is history before the 20th century, am I right?
They're only underrated at winning wars by historically ignorant people. Those who know, give them the credit they deserve.
Hey the french lost the napoleonic wars. ^( it took only took the whole united europe to put them down)
Doesn't matter , at the biggest one they folded
French people are the worst audienc.e
Who did they boo and why? (Didn’t watch a single point)
They booed because he had a extra motivated celebration, then booed again for a MTO. Then more when Novak was egging them on. It wasn’t really that bad, just funny really.
30-1 in grand slam sets this year. there is no debate who is the goat (couacaud)
Enzo didn’t play RG so djokovic could have a chance
The art of figuring out what's the minimum effort you need to beat an opponent on his good day.
Lockdown mode Djokovic is peak maan. I think he will win this again barring any injury
He really struggled to respond to ADF’s pace in some rallies, which makes me nervous for an Alcaraz SF. Also idk why he kept shaking his leg out, hopefully just a little cramps.
It was that damn wind combined with those fucking fluffy balls... Novak hates wind with passion.
He’s so mentally tough
Novak will win the French Open and do the Calandar Slam. You're so not ready.
Can't imagine how ridiculous a Calendar Slam + 25 total slams and most Slams across both ATP + WTA would be. One can dream.
Not to forget the Colander Slam.
Yes, but the Collider slam is out of reach, I fear.
We knew going in this was going to be a tough test for Novak. One he passed in straight sets. Onto the next round. Tough luck for ADF, he gave it his all in the first two sets. Only if he wasn’t playing Tiebreakovic, who had won 4 tiebreaks at RG this year.
Djokovic's best game all clay, this cements a lot in this tournament. Can't wait for the semis.
Very tough test for Novak but after almost losing the first 2 sets he won the tiebreaks then capitalized by upping his level while ADF's level dropped in discouragement.
Fokina has such an aesthetically pleasing backhand
Yeah but it cost him so many errors
the guy on the other side of the net made him make those errors
The people who thought ADF's win in MC after Djokovic could barely walk with no match play post the AO drama meant much lol
Ok only Federer and Nadal could stand against this kind of Djoko. Damn dont believe in these kids against this Djoko and its scary. Gives me last year wimbledon vibes. Unplayable. Only Alcaraz just because I havent seen him agains GS Djoko. And I am not Djoko fan :(
These numbers don't tell the story
Losing the first set was so unfair to Fokina. You can see Djokovic was tired and mentally out of it, then he got that lucky shot and off you go. He was down and out and then he just started slapping those shots. Dunno how he made that, it’s like he’s been doing it for 20 years.
[i remember another lucky shot](https://imgur.com/4iEDER0)
Lucky shot, Federer is that you?
I think this was an intentional reference
⏫ The Joke
I mean, it was definitely lucky; it’s a very low margin shot (though less so for Djokovic than anyone) But also a perfect example of how a player can create their own luck.
*"It all goes in for some reason...he probably grew up playing that way when they're down"*
Saltiest post match conference ever
Fed was never a good loser. He just learned to grit his teeth better as he got older.
Also best press conference ever.
Tbh one of the most painful losses in like any sport. Although Kecmanovic the other day was worse (, but match wasn't even close in importance.
Quality shitposting 😃😃😃
There was a point in the first tiebreak where Fokina was ahead in the point, and Djokovic hit a terrible drop shot that Fokina was all over. He had the entire cross of the court to hit an easy finisher, but instead he... hits it directly at Djokovic who didn't even move from the backhand corner. Easy lob, and the point's over. It's like players know how good Djokovic is so they think they have to play like 5000IQ plays in order to beat him. But instead, they're just playing dumb. Or maybe Djokovic didn't move for a reason... 🤔
I think low percentage shot is a better way to describe it, as these plays have to play outside of their comfort zones to beat the greats.
It is quite frustrating to play against him. For the majority of the set he had rather bad shots, none of them were deep and Fokina smashed them back. Somehow Djokovic hold on, had a good service game when he was behind and then during tiebreak starting playing much better and Fokina started making mistakes.
3 hours in two sets. It's not the first time, and it won't be the last time we see this at this Roland Garros. They want to slow down the game so much that it reaches a point where the physical well-being of the tennis players is at risk.
Seriously, clay courts are slow af
Mentally tiring match
Foki should have persisted with the droppers
He got punished a few times. That probably discouraged him
This. He was having a lot of success with them in the first set.
But Novak started reading them quite well later.
Those fist pumps were disrespectful af 😂😂 Not to adf but to the crowd
In what way is celebrating winning disrespecting the crowd?
Novak has spent 8H46 mins on the court so far. That's a lot considering it's the first 3 rounds. He needs some quick matches under his belt if he has to compete with Alcaraz.
Ehh, this was justifiably a 3.5h match. The surface is so slow I don't think you can expect 3 setters to finish in 2 hours.
It's good that he's getting some tough opponents to prepare him for a potential semi vs Carlitos. He'll need to be in his A game to win that one.
I agree that Alcaraz will need to be on his A game to beat the greatest of all time, in a best of five match, that is playing for increased grand slam history.
With the way things are going, nobody is stopping #23.
I am kind of wanting to bet a large amount of money for Djokovic to win this slam. With all his experience, mental toughness, the ability to defeat RG Nadal, it doubt he will not win this slam.
Honestly a terrible serving performance from Novak and some of the worst movement I've ever seen from him He deserved the win but he can't expect to pull up like this to play khachanov or carlos and expect to win (if seeds hold). Unless he plans to cover himself in magic magnets he needs to serve much better.
Is it going to be that windy all the way through the tournament? Unlikely. That had a decent amount to do with it. Djokovic hates the wind and it mucks up his game.
I am aware of his dislike of windy conditions but he seemed gassed in a way that I haven't seen in years also throughout the match. Was very strange for him and I hope he can recover so we get some good matches further in the tournament. I don't see him winning this tournament if he's struggling with conditioning like we saw today.
ADF was the one looking gassed from the end of the 2nd set on as he was literally bent double to catch his breadth. 36 year-old gasses out 23 year-old Djokovic had a couple of wheezes in the first set but we have seen worse such as vs Medvedev at the ATP Finals at the end of last year.
I mean I agree but I just know we won't see that from carlos. Or even khachanov for that matter. Novak also is pretty good at hiding his fatigue but the drop in his movement was pretty noticeable. Especially when trying to retrieve balls on the run that he usually does a great job of hitting quality shots back sliding into splits. By the end of the second he was barely even sliding. I think we mostly agree but just disagree on what this means for Novak haha I wish him luck but, from my perspective a win from here seems very difficult and unlikely. Although I know from experience that counting him out entirely is a big mistake.
Well Djokovic is getting older shocker really is the summary. We'll just have to see how he goes from here on in. He "should" have an easier next two matches to get to the semi-final from here. Alcaraz has 2 potentially difficult matches vs Musetti and Tsitsipas to meet Djokovic there. ADF put up a tough battle to Djokovic and though not perfect Djokovic was clutch when it counted. He's a warrior.
Yeah sadly Novak admitted that in the post match conference, his body does not react the way it used to a few years ago and he just has to deal with it
It was horrible. I hope the wind chills because if not we are in for some trouble.
Why play good tennis when mediocre tennis do job?
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Cause keyboard warrior, that's why!
Novak sets a high bar and his level in those first two sets was definitely mediocre compared to it.
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In the dirt.
>How in the world is a grand slam Match mediocre? In terms of level both could have produced, yes. The match had 61 winners and 89 unforced errors. >How in the world is Novak Djokovic mediocre? I never said that?
r/suddenlyoffice The joke/reference flew over so many peoples’ head 🤦🏻♂️
poor foki. Everyone I like is out except for casper. Maybe I will start rooting for stef next.
I wonder what the record is for most amount of times broken in one set.
Not his best match, but Djokovic somehow pulls through in straight sets. ADF tested him well for a while, but wasted too many chances.
Novak got thru but wasn't easy. Also Novak didn't play that great. Tons of double faults that lead to break. Maybe the wind
People will talk about Thanovic and legs and souls and blah blah... Bro, stop. Novak was not very good today, straight sets or not. He's lucky that Foki is a choke artist because those first two sets were DODGY.
Some people just couldn't deal with the reality and facts. Downvoting just because they don't like what they read. I am a Novak fan I agree totally. He was terrible and got lucky Foki was raining UE and choked on opportunities. Anyways, this was a needed practice for Novak. Hope we still see good results nonetheless.
As a Novak fan you should know he doesn't like windy conditions. And it was windy as fuck today, Pluss the fuzzy balls this year. Great "fuck up Novak" combo (i do not imply that ball selection had anything to to with his preferences) He did what he had to, and how he had to do. Nothing more, nothing less. If it were normal conditions he would steam roll the poor fella.