NOVAK’S SCARE WAS A MATCH TO REMEMBER
Bill Simons
Melbourne
1. At last year’s US Open, Novak Djokovic reached double figures. Translation: he won his tenth Grand Slam. In his 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win here in Australia over Giles Simon, he made it to triple digits: he had 100 unforced errors.
2. It only made sense that the wackiest Grand Slam in recent memory (replete with the clouds of scandal, the emotion of a legend’s retirement, big upsets of veterans, delightful breakouts, a Chinese feel-good story and collapsing coaches) came within a set of seeing the dominant player of our era go down.
3. Djokovic scored a notable record for consistency. He reached his 27th straight Slam quarterfinal to tie Jimmy Connors for the second-most ever. Yet, today Novak was consistently inconsistent.
4. The mighty Casey can strike out. Steph Curry can shoot air balls, and Novak Djokovic can have a bad day. Brad Gilbert recently said, “The Big Four [in tennis] is now the Big One – Novak.” The Serb, who has won three of the last four Slams and hasn’t lost a match that really mattered since August, had his diciest Grand Slam match since he almost lost to Kevin Anderson in the Wimbledon quarters.
5. When Novak’s game started to fall apart in the second set, broadcaster Richard Evans said, “I haven’t seen Djokovic play like this for several years…He’s completely lost his mind. I’d love to be inside his head right now. This is the most astounding performance I have ever seen from a dominant world No. 1.”
6. Novak admitted that in the fourth set he “lost his calm.” When Jim Courier asked him what was going through his mind when his game faltered badly, he said, “You don’t want to know.” Later he told IT that, “Many times my mind was asking for oxygen because there were so many rallies. You’re just trying to focus on breathing and the next point….It’s not a very pleasant feeling.” Then he said that in the fifth set his serve kicked in and that was a key to his win.
7. Boris Becker gets paid millions to coach Novak, but it took a fan to give Novak his best coaching tip yesterday. During the post-match interview a fan called out to the Serb, “No more drop shots!” Novak said hitting drop shots are “not easy when [you’re] not moving the ball and not moving great so you try sometimes to shorten the point. You have a brain freeze.” BTW: A couple of years ago another fan called out with a tip for Serena. He said, “Keep on moving forward.” Williams took it to heart and later thanked the fan.
8. Although Darren Cahill’s nickname for Giles Simon is “Mr. Wobblylegs,” Djokovic said one of Giles’ strengths today was his legs.
9. In 2008 Simon beat Federer, Nadal and Murray, but he’s lost 10 straight times to Novak.
10. Simon has won some key Davis Cup matches, still he’s not beloved in his homeland. The French prefer the stylish shot-making and charismatic play of Jo-Willie Tsonga, Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet.
11. Simon is one of the best defenders and counterpunchers in the game. He makes you hit an extra shot and often prevails in long 30-stroke rallies. As Federer has noted, “He knows what he’s doing.” But ultimately, Simon doesn’t have the big weapons that are so critical to close out key points and to score bail-out points when on defense.
12. Broadcaster Chris Bowers said today’s match was about “the soft presence of Simon, his slight of hand and the pressure he put on Novak.” He didn’t press and was fearless, but still, he blinked in the fifth set, allowing Djokovic to sprint to a 5-1 lead.
13. After a reporter suggested that players in the locker room would have been happy if he was out of the tournament, Novak joked that he was very popular in the women’s locker room.
14. Simon said that Novak is “improving year after year. That’s terrible..because he’s already No. 1. He added that Novak is so much more fit now than when he was younger.
15. When IT asked Simon to compare Djokovic with Federer and Nadal, Simon said, “I’m depressed already.” He recalled, “I lost, I lost, I lost again….[But] I see them as humans and tennis players…Sometimes I feel players are not always trying their best…[Novak] is playing fantastic…[so] the match is over after 20 minutes.”
16. Sometimes Boris Becker’s reactions in the player’s box are priceless, but the most twitchy people in the friends box in the Open era were Bjorn Borg’s former wife Mariana Simionescu and Becker’s former wife Barbara Feltus.
17. Djokovic said his battle today was a “match to forget…[But] I won, so it’s pretty good. When you’re playing that bad and still manage to win…it gives you great joy to know that you can’t get worse.”
18. Novak doesn’t have a cakewalk to the title, though. He next plays Kei Nishikori, who he lost to at the 2014 US Open, and then possibly Federer in the semis. In the finals, he could face Stan Wawrinka, who beat him at the French Open, or Andy Murray.
19. Will Novak’s poor performance spur him to finish strong, or is it a problematic omen?
20. Will Djokovic again dominate this year, and manage to finally win the French Open? And will he capture the gold at the Olympics?
