Table of Contents
Djokovic Wins 24th Masters Title Over Federer in Rome
First of all my sympathies to Fedfans and second congrats to the Djoker and his fans. With his 4th Rome title, the Djoker surpasses Roger in Masters titles won and it looks very likely that he will surpass Nadal too to get the record. He has now also won every big tournament(Masters and up) that he played since losing to Roger in Shanghai last year.
Opening Set
- Second Set
- Closing Observations
- Federer’s Week
I can only speak for myself. I know many Fedfans get very disappointed after a loss like this and tend to look at the negatives. The way I see it Roger did as well as he could and lost to the better player in the final. Simple as that. He will go to the French Open with loads of confidence with a great shot of making semis. I don’t know what more you can ask as a Fedfan at this point.
- Looking Ahead
- Highlights
- Match Stats
- Articles/Pressers
The is in your court.
Posted in Masters 1000, Rome.
40 Comments
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Nadal only won Madrid last year due to Nishikori getting injured. He is the favorite for the French Open and only when or if he falls there will it be doom and gloom. I don’t see Djokovic deserving anyhing at the French Open, he will deserve it when he earns it.
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Roger made again the final of a tour he was not sure he would enter. How can we not be proud of that?? At age 33,5. Respect. TOTAL respect. Today he played great, Novak was just better. If Novak will rule until Wimby, then he has to be too tired after that. So that time, if Roger keeps his schedule right, he can “rule” the other half of the year. Because, even with the loss today, he still is the closest person who can beat Novak. First I didn’t understand why Roger would say that Rafa is still the favourite to win RG, even when Rafa is losing so much now. But Roger is smart….. Rafa lost one match at RG in 10 years. One match !! How can anyone not say he still is the favourite?? Anyway, I am not counting Rafa out, but I am certainly not counting Roger out for RG. And you may disagree with me Ru-an, but I don’t think Novak will win RG. It “seems” like “the Universe” stands in his way (Roger beating him, rain delay, net incident, being sick). We will see if he wins it or not. Maybe just like USO…. there could be two finalists we never would expect……
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Ru-an Reply: May 17th, 2015 at 10:40 pm I don’t disagree that you think Novak will not win the FO Katyani. I’m sure you are not making that up. Anyway, no one knows who will win the FO. What we do know is that Djokovic is by far the best player in the world right now and that Nadal is pretty damn far from that.
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Veronica Reply: May 18th, 2015 at 4:20 am Kat, Roger is very loyal to Nadal. He will say Nadal is favourite until the moon turns blue or when Nadal is crippled, whichever occur first
I would say Roger is in denial (sorry, just being realistic). How you label a favourite is based on history AND current consistent form. Roger, although he respects Djoker more these days, still refuses to admit Djoker into his tight inner circle of the greatest players of this era where he feels only he and Nadal belongs. He is also identifying Nadal’s spiral with his own life where people wrote him off and he came back and proved them wrong. I sometimes wonder too if the universe is conspiring against Djoker. It was looking like he would win it since 2011 but as you say, Kat, it was “Roger, net, rain, sick!” but if you look at it properly, it was explainable. Djoker was under tremendous pressure to win it, he was not that experienced yet, Nadal was still in beastly form, Roger produced his greatest clay court game. The fact now is Djoker is at so much peace with himself, so happily married and a son to provide him with inspiration everyday. He feels joy, super confident with his game, sitting on top of the world mountain of points ahead of everyone, has a perfect team working for him, won all the big ones, no injury. And to make the argument even stronger that he will not collapse this year and that the universe will run out of things to stop him, Djoker is a “wholesome” sportsman. It works for everything in life, in work, in school, in play, in relationship. When you go on a healthy lifestyle of healthy food and healthy mind, you have the edge. How many tennis players look after themselves as well as the Djoker? None! He’s got everything covered. Where can you find a hole??!! Like you, Kat, I don’t like Djoker but I do admire all that he has achieved and doing to be a great player. What I’m saying is I think the universe has run out of ways to deter the Djoker at RG this year.
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Katyani Reply: May 18th, 2015 at 6:18 am Hey Ronnie and Ru-an, Novak totally deserved to win the match. Period. No arguement there. Even I could see that. Some of his returns…. how did he made them?? But I do have to say this too. In my opinion, Roger played amazing in the 1st set, but…. not in the 2nd set. Ofcourse that also came from the fact that Novak wasn’t ALLOWING him to play his best. Always pressuring him. Like the commie says… the point of the match that Roger made…. I think 2nd set, first game 30-40 for Roger…. Roger just had to play such a genius point just to stay in the match, let alone win it. That was Novak’s credit. He pressured Roger in every single way. It is not a secret that I don’t like Novak, but he played a fair and amazing match and totally deserved the win. But…. Roger should and could have made a 3rd set out of it. He ofcourse would lose that too, but….oke…. And guys, I know you think I am talking nonsense with my “Faith and Destiny”, but…. something is standing in Novak’s way to win RG. He might win it this year or not. Everybody says that the big big reason Roger won RG in 2009 was that Rafa was out, but…. Roger didn’t get a free ticket to the final right?? Wasn’t he almost losing to Haas and Delpo?? Yes, Rafa was out, but he had to get to the final. Same goes for Novak. He is not the best player on the planet, but the best player in the universe !!!, but he still has to make it to the final and win it. This is not me dissing Novak for winning Rome. He earned the win. Moving on. But I don’t think he will win RG too. I think Rafa will. (Hoping for Roger with all my heart !!!). Because…. the match against Stan….. If that is Rafa at his “worst”…. my God…. we should all fear. He was everywhere !!! Returning everything. Stan had literally play above himself just to win. I am not counting Novak out, neither Roger and unfortunately… neither Rafa.
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Nakul Reply: May 18th, 2015 at 6:35 pm I’m not sure if you people know this, but Djokovic supported the stand that FO should give a ranking boost to Nadal. We know that’s not going to happen now. But his point was that when Wimbledon does it, FO should too. I’m not sure what Djokerer are thinking when they make such statements. Of course Nadal’s form and his performance at FO are sensitive issues for them and it’s sort of their duty to stand up to each other. For instance, when Roger was struggling in 2013, both Djokovic and Nadal supported him when the whole idiotic tennis media wanted him to retire. So in a way it’s nice how the Big-3 stand up to each other, despite their intense rivalries on court. Such a contrast to the Agassi-Sampras rivalry. As Ru-an said Roger is usually right when it comes to predictions and Nadal might even win the 10th FO but this time Roger definitely can’t stop Djokovic. Only realistic chance is Murray. Murray is in a similar situation which Roger was in 2011, having lost a series of matches to Djokovic that season. I know it doesn’t seem much sensible to think that Murray might upset Djokovic, that too on clay. But most people thought the same about Roger before the 2011 FO SF.
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Charlie Reply: May 19th, 2015 at 7:30 pm Great comment Ru-an, and you are certainly right about the CYGS. There’s a reason why it hasn’t been done since 1969. If Novak gets through FO and WB, then we can start to talk about it. The CYGS is so hard because one mistake and its over for the entire year. During Roger’s seasons where he was 27-1 at GS he played probably 20 good matches, 7 bad matches he managed to scrape through and then one bad match against Nadal each year. One bad match! But he lost that one match, and that was that. I would say the CYGS (if it ever happens again) would require some luck, and you would have to avoid the greatest champions of each event at least a couple of times I think. No way I ever can see anyone doing Djokovic at AO, followed by Nadal at FO, followed by Roger/Andy at WB, followed by Roger/Rafa/Novak/Andy at USO. I would give the probability of a CYGS in any given year as something like 1 in 100. Seen as Novak already won the AO and is in such good form I’ll say 1 in 25.
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Hi Ru-an, before I make my comment, must comment on the video—Djoker needs to take a lesson on how to open a bottle of champagne more safely. Would you believe he saw a doctor to check his wound on his forehead? Luckily, it was a minor wound. Funny in way! A masterful blog, Ru-an, on today’s match in Roma. Thank You. It was “fair and square” imho, I watched the match, Djoker was playing superb tennis. Don’t know how to describe Roger’s game, but it was not there. My thoughts wandered a bit after Roger’s loss….here he is, approaching his 34th birthday and he is Nr. 2 in the rankings? He is still playing some super tennis even against some of the much younger players, playing aggressive tennis and he still wins on most occasions? Has earned 17 GS, was #1 for umpteen years and he is still playing tennis because he loves the game. He is amazing, in my eyes. Shall follow him as long as he is still playing the game he loves…I shall also appreciate the younger players from Nr. 1, Djokovic to the upcoming younger players as slowly changing of the guards takes place. Tennis is what we all like that come to your blog, Ru-an, and you know I like coming here, it is an expanding family that gathers here around you. Keep up the good work, Ru-an, Kindly, Dolores
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Good post Ru-an and thanks for all the consolation you are giving us. A loss in a big one always hurts even if it doesn’t stink as much as before. He played as well as he could, given his inconsistencies, and at 33 still at number 2! Really proud to be his fan. He exceeded our expectations of reaching semis and he has found some form and deleted the losses in MC and Madrid. It is all good and I’m sure Roger is going to RG on a high. If he can manage semi in FO, again, he would have exceeded expectations. Even getting to quarters would be good already. However if he or we fans are thinking about no 18 in Wimby, a lot more improvements have to be done. I don’t know how he intends to go about it. Besides the obvious things he would need to improve on like return game and playing the important points well; for me, I feel, the most worrisome is the fh. Without his trademark fh that has won him his 17 slams, It would be hard for him to win the big ones.
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elizabeth Reply: May 18th, 2015 at 9:03 am Hi folks, another fair post by Ru-an and great to read how everyone can see the game a little different. First I have to congratulate Novak I thought he played as well as I have seen him play, thought Roger was a little flat just didn’t seem as up for it as usual although it would have been hard to beat Djo. As for RG I know that on form Novak should win and Nadal being off his game well you would think it a done deal….we know all this but everytime I think of RG I think of NADAL!
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Well, Roger completely takes that 2nd round loss in Madrid out of the conversation by getting to the final in Rome, which I think is good for his confidence. Also shows that he deserves the number 2 seed in Roland Garros. I’m still amazed how much higher Federer is seeded than Nadal at the French this year, all despite Roger having put in a lot more years on tour.
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Albert Reply: May 18th, 2015 at 4:44 pm Oh, I agree that Fed should be seeded higher than Rafa. But in my mind it’s part of his legacy that at age 33 he’s seeded higher than the man who has won more titles at Roland Garros than anyone else in history.
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Ru-an, I am currently watching the Cilic and Rublev match live, This kid has got some talent! (I am finding his game more exciting than the useless IPL matches here.) Simply fearless shot making; I find some of the shots, particularly on the forehand side very similar to Federer. He has got a pretty good return of serve as well. Looks like a very exciting prospect to me. I am sure in the near future, he will feature in your blog by doing well in the circuit.
Hopefully he will do some damage in the French open.
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Jiten Reply: May 20th, 2015 at 2:17 am He had a matchpoint though. Once he lost the second set, he simply folded. Lack of experience. I am sure with more experience on his side, he would be able to win matches from situation like yesterday’s.
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