It has just past midnight here in the UK so a Happy New Year to all that read this Blog.
I hope you all have a lovely 2011.
Happy New Year
I thought I would have up the Gonad Awards by Christmas. But life had other plans.
Today, my dog died.
Just like as last year, I'll get them up in the first week of the New Year.
Take care of your blessings.
Novak Djokovic & Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Video
A video from Italian TV of when Nole met up with a few AC Milan players at their training session in Dubai.
Novak Djokovic - The Last Word 2010
Courtesy: Tennis.com
Best of 2010
Viktor Troicki’s win over Michael Llodra in the fifth and decisive rubber of the Davis Cup final, in which Serbia beat France. Oh, Djokovic contributed his maximum two singles wins, but had Troicki not sealed the championship for Serbia, Djokovic would not have enjoyed “his greatest moment in tennis.”
Worst of 2010
Djokovic lost his first match (after benefiting from a first-round bye) in Miami to diminutive Olivier Rochus, No. 59 in the world.
Year in Review
A five-set loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Aussie Open quarters—on the same court where Djokovic beat the same opponent to clinch his first and thus far only Grand Slam title—was a pretty good predictor of what lay in store. Although Djokovic would go on to win in Dubai a few weeks later, he struggled at the two big U.S. hard-court events in the spring and ran out of steam at the French Open, losing in the quarters to Jurgen Melzer (after blowing a two-set lead). He followed that with a remarkably passive semifinal match at Wimbledon that punched Tomas Berdych’s ticket to the final. Djokovic recovered—barely—at the U.S. Open, narrowly avoiding a first-round upset to slash his way to the final with Rafael Nadal. He played a terrific match there and seemed a man reborn. He won Beijing, lost the Basel final to Roger Federer, then, with the monumental Davis Cup final approaching, he cooled his jets until he led his team to the win over France.
See for Yourself
Djokovic picked up a lot of steam with his fourth-round win over Mardy Fish at the Open; these highlights show him at his punishing best:
The Last Word
Having to labor in the shadow of the consensus Greatest Player of All-Time (Federer) as well as a man who seems bent on snatching that distinction away from him (Nadal) has to be dispiriting. And despite occasional lapses (it’s almost as if Djokovic said, earlier in the year, “Aw, to hail with it. . .”) as well as a tendency to ham it up and enjoy his reputation as a showman, Djokovic has done well to keep himself not only in the mix, but within striking distance of both Grand Slam titles and the No. 1 ranking. It would not take a whole heck of a lot for Djokovic to win two majors in 2011 and end up with the top spot, what with Federer less lethal than he once was and Nadal injury-prone and coming off a career year. If something even remotely like that happens, you can attribute it to the boost of morale Djokovic got from leading his small nation, Serbia, to the Davis Cup championship. When he said it was his greatest moment in tennis, he meant it.
Best of 2010
Viktor Troicki’s win over Michael Llodra in the fifth and decisive rubber of the Davis Cup final, in which Serbia beat France. Oh, Djokovic contributed his maximum two singles wins, but had Troicki not sealed the championship for Serbia, Djokovic would not have enjoyed “his greatest moment in tennis.”
Worst of 2010
Djokovic lost his first match (after benefiting from a first-round bye) in Miami to diminutive Olivier Rochus, No. 59 in the world.
Year in Review
A five-set loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Aussie Open quarters—on the same court where Djokovic beat the same opponent to clinch his first and thus far only Grand Slam title—was a pretty good predictor of what lay in store. Although Djokovic would go on to win in Dubai a few weeks later, he struggled at the two big U.S. hard-court events in the spring and ran out of steam at the French Open, losing in the quarters to Jurgen Melzer (after blowing a two-set lead). He followed that with a remarkably passive semifinal match at Wimbledon that punched Tomas Berdych’s ticket to the final. Djokovic recovered—barely—at the U.S. Open, narrowly avoiding a first-round upset to slash his way to the final with Rafael Nadal. He played a terrific match there and seemed a man reborn. He won Beijing, lost the Basel final to Roger Federer, then, with the monumental Davis Cup final approaching, he cooled his jets until he led his team to the win over France.
See for Yourself
Djokovic picked up a lot of steam with his fourth-round win over Mardy Fish at the Open; these highlights show him at his punishing best:
The Last Word
Having to labor in the shadow of the consensus Greatest Player of All-Time (Federer) as well as a man who seems bent on snatching that distinction away from him (Nadal) has to be dispiriting. And despite occasional lapses (it’s almost as if Djokovic said, earlier in the year, “Aw, to hail with it. . .”) as well as a tendency to ham it up and enjoy his reputation as a showman, Djokovic has done well to keep himself not only in the mix, but within striking distance of both Grand Slam titles and the No. 1 ranking. It would not take a whole heck of a lot for Djokovic to win two majors in 2011 and end up with the top spot, what with Federer less lethal than he once was and Nadal injury-prone and coming off a career year. If something even remotely like that happens, you can attribute it to the boost of morale Djokovic got from leading his small nation, Serbia, to the Davis Cup championship. When he said it was his greatest moment in tennis, he meant it.
Novak Djokovic & AC Milan - **UPDATED**
Novak has been spotted at the AC Milan training session at Mamzar Beach & Park.
Courtesy: GreatTennisPhotos
2 more photos courtesy of menstennisfourms
Courtesy: GreatTennisPhotos
2 more photos courtesy of menstennisfourms
Novak Djokovic commercials
Whilst I have already posted the commercial from Head this video also contains a few more of Novak's endorsements, some old but worth another look.
Courtesy: silvinafunes
Courtesy: silvinafunes
Hopman Cup 2011
Team Serbia is represented with Novak & Ana Ivanovic. They are top seeds and have been drawn in the group stage to play #3 seeds Belgium (Henin & Bemelmans), the host nation Australia (Molik & Hewitt) & Kazakhstan (Shvedova & Golubev)
Schedule (7hrs ahead of Srbija, 8hrs ahead of UK, 18-21hrs ahead of the US)
Official website here
Twitter
Facebook
Schedule (7hrs ahead of Srbija, 8hrs ahead of UK, 18-21hrs ahead of the US)
Official website here
A few posts added
Not much going on in the tennis world so I have gone to my Rafael Nadal Blog and taken a few articles I have posted about Novak. Please see the previous 5 articles :)
Novak to play Rafa in Colombia
The 2 will play an exhibtion match between the Indian Wells & Miami Masters on March 21 in Bogota, Colombia. Both players share the same PR manager, Benito Perez-Barbadillo.
Google Translation:
This was confirmed by the signing Imlah, organizer of the exhibition game. Not yet set the scene.
Nadal's presence at that time was to take advantage of free days that remain between tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.
The meeting will take place at the Plaza de Toros La Santamaría, setting this year was the confrontation between Colombia and the United States, for promotion to World Group Davis Cup.
Courtesy: eltiempo
Behind Serbia's rise - A star & his family
To begin to understand how a small, struggling nation like Serbia managed to reach its first Davis Cup final this weekend, you could interview Slobodan Zivojinovic, a big-serving Serbian trailblazer at Wimbledon and elsewhere before he became a portly tennis administrator and car salesman.
You could delve into tomes that explain the stubborn, resilient character of the Serbs, whose territory and autonomy have been overrun repeatedly but whose identity and sense of mission endure. You could spend an afternoon in Belgrade’s tennis clubs, where members once played on when NATO bombs were falling in 1999.
But if you have to pick just one essential starting point, perhaps it is best to drive south from the capital toward the still-disputed border with Kosovo and follow the serpentine mountain road to Kopaonik, Serbia’s leading ski resort. Like so much of this diminished nation, Kopaonik has seen better days and is preparing to see them again.
It was here that Novak Djokovic’s family, much more familiar with schussing down slopes than hitting balls over nets, once operated several small businesses — including a pizzeria, sports equipment shop and art gallery — on the ground floor of a large complex during the winter and summer months. And it was here that the state-owned Yugoslav company Genex, which developed much of Kopaonik, chose to build three tennis courts just across the parking lot from where the Djokovics opened their Red Bull restaurant and creperie in the late 1980s.
Now full of cracks, holes and undulations, the green hardcourts are hardly a playground for the game’s elite. It is hard to believe that the planet’s third-best player, the man who held off Roger Federer at the U.S. Open in September, emerged from this.
If some planner had chosen a different recreational destiny for this plot of land, perhaps young Novak would have become a competitive skier, like his father, Srdjan, and uncle, Goran, and the French Davis Cup team would not be bracing to compete in the din of a sold-out final in Belgrade Arena from Friday to Sunday.
But even with those three courts in plain view in Kopaonik, Novak needed a mentor, someone with the requisite charisma and clout to show him that however isolated this place, however unlikely the prospect, these courts could be the path to something much grander.
“It was the first day of my first year in Kopaonik, and I was doing a tennis camp,” said Jelena Gencic, a leading tennis coach and former professional player. “And he was just standing outside the tennis courts and watching all morning, and I said: ‘Hey little boy, do you like it? Do you know what this is?”’
That summer afternoon in 1993, Novak, just 6 years old, accepted Gencic’s invitation and returned to take part in the clinic himself. He arrived carrying a gym bag with his belongings well in order, just like the professionals he admired via satellite television.
“One racket, towel, bottle with water, one banana, a dry extra T-shirt, wrist band and the cap,” Gencic recalled recently. “And I said: ‘O.K., who prepared your bag? Your mother?’ And oh, he was very angry. He said, ‘No, I am playing tennis.”’
He began playing in earnest, aided enormously and at just the critical moment by Gencic, the same cultivated and intuitive coach who had helped shape the games of the future Grand Slam champions Monica Seles and Goran Ivanisevic.
“Pretty much what I know on court, I owe to her,” Djokovic said of Gencic, a former leading tennis player and member of Yugoslavia’s team handball squad.
It was Gencic who taught him the grips and fundamentals; Gencic who provided him inspiration with Pushkin poems and classical music; Gencic who gently helped him arrive at the conclusion that he preferred to hit his backhand with two hands instead of the single hand used by his American idol, Pete Sampras. Just as important, it was Gencic who gave Djokovic’s parents, Srdjan and Dijana, along with Srdjan’s siblings, Goran and Jelena, the assurance that the boy had what it took to be something exceptional in a game whose subtleties they did not yet grasp.
“The third day, I called to see the father and mother for the first time, and I said, ‘You have a golden child,”’ Gencic, 74, recalled in an interview at a clay court in Belgrade where she still gives lessons. “I said the same thing about Monica Seles when she was 8.”
The Djokovics were stunned but ultimately inspired. They would need all the inspiration they could muster in the years ahead as they sacrificed security and scrambled for money in a disintegrating economy.
“Let’s say that Jelena Gencic gave us strength; she’s a serious woman,” said Goran Djokovic, who at 46 is four years younger than Srdjan. “We were all together as a family, and we had our project. It was not good times, there were sanctions and the war was starting. It was not an easy time for Serbia, for Yugoslavia, but all the money we had we invest in Novak. He had to be the one in front of the family who had to have everything he need — the new racket, the good food and everything. Of course we can live very easy if he didn’t play tennis, but we have a vision.”
The vision — maintained like a fireplace in winter by the strong-willed Srdjan — would require Novak to leave home at age 12 for the Munich academy run by the former top Yugoslav player Niki Pilic, a friend of Gencic’s. It would require loans, tight communal living quarters, tears and angst, but surprisingly little internal dissent in the family.
“We didn’t want bad vibrations, only good energy, good energy,” Goran said. “But of course people were talking sometimes, saying: ‘This family is crazy, who do they think they are? How can they even think Novak will be something?”’
The family’s intense presence in the players’ boxes of the world — Srdjan and Dijana wore shirts bearing Novak’s portrait during the U.S. Open — might still rub some the wrong way. But Novak is certainly something now: a 2008 Australian Open champion and two-time U.S. Open finalist who, at 23, has won nearly $20 million in prize money and was recently named Serbia’s most eligible bachelor in an online newspaper poll (even though he is based in tax-friendly Monaco).
Now he will try to lead Serbia to its most prestigious sports title since the breakup of Yugoslavia, and he will do so at no small risk to his results next season, pushing his body for an extra week instead of joining his rivals Federer and Rafael Nadal, who have already started their short winter vacation breaks.
“It is a risk, but it is a price I feel is worth paying,” Djokovic said in a lengthy interview last month.
His picture can be found on posters throughout Belgrade as he swings a broom instead of a tennis racket as part of a national campaign to “Keep Serbia Clean.” It’s a pitch that can be absorbed on multiple levels in a society still struggling to root out corruption.
In New Belgrade, below the offices of the Djokovics’ four-year-old company, Family Sport, sits Novak Restaurant, an upscale eatery filled with well-dressed patrons and television screens showing highlights from Novak’s matches. A display case is filled with Novak lighters, key chains, pens.
The branding of Novak Djokovic takes on a more solemn air upstairs in Srdjan’s office, where a religious painting shows the late Patriarch Pavle, head of the Serbian Orthodox church, with Novak’s face painted in luminous tones below him. Goran played down its implications.
“We don’t want to make an icon of Novak, but people are always trying to put him up there,” he said. “It’s a fight to keep normal.”
Back in the older part of the city is the most concrete evidence of Djokovic’s impact. There, at the confluence of the Danube and Sava Rivers, sits the club that he and his family and other investors built. It is the site of a two-year-old A.T.P. event, the Serbian Open, which is owned and operated by the family. It is also the prospective site of Novak’s tennis academy, potentially a cooperative effort with the IMG Bollettieri Academy in Florida, where one of Djokovic’s younger brothers, Djordje, 15, now trains.
An ornate room just off the club entrance in Belgrade houses Novak’s Olympic bronze medal from Beijing, his Australian Open trophy and other major prizes. But Srdjan and Goran have shipped in a memento of their own. Although the Red Bull restaurant in Kopaonik is now closed, shut down because of increased commitments and a new landlord, the brick pizza oven that once generated revenue in the mountains is now the centerpiece of the new Red Bull café at the Belgrade club and a reminder of how far the family has come since Srdjan used to cheer them up by showing them photos of the fancy cars they might own when Novak became a star.
“We don’t want to just be Novak’s uncle, Novak’s father, Novak’s aunt,” Goran said. “Novak has his business. His business is to play tennis. Our business is to run all this. We could put on the sunglasses and relax. But all of our lives we were in private business, even in the Communist time. So we try to build something for the future, for Novak and for Serbia.”
Total investment here so far? About €10 million, or $13 million, according to Goran, who is also the Serbian Open’s tournament director.
“Serbian history tells that the family is the most important thing and you have to stick with the family,” Novak said.
But Djokovic’s talent has not just served himself and his kin. His talent has served a bruised nation, one that has seen its territory shrink and shrink some more in the last 20 years as Yugoslavia cracked apart and Serbia was left with Montenegro and Kosovo and then left with nothing but itself and a reputation in as much need of repair as the war-damaged buildings in Belgrade.
But as the country has grown smaller, its tennis has grown bigger, with Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic both reaching No. 1 in the women’s game and with Djokovic shining brightest for the men but hardly shining alone, with his Davis Cup teammates Janko Tipsarevic, Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic all part of the surge. Tipsarevic and Troicki are in the top 50 in singles; Zimonjic, the group elder at age 34, is a former No. 1 player in doubles now ranked No. 3.
The bandwagon is getting heavier, and there are plans for the Serbian government, no major player until now, to fund a new national tennis center next year with at least five indoor courts, 15 outdoor courts and a residential complex. The estimated cost is €8 million to €9 million, according to Zivojinovic, 47, a Wimbledon semifinalist in 1985 who is now president of the Serbian Tennis Federation, with an annual budget of less than €2 million.
The paradox of shrinking Serbia and its tennis growth industry is not lost on Djokovic, for whom the Davis Cup final represents renewal.
“I think it is very symbolic, and I think it’s very much deserved — for the tennis team, for the country, for the sport — because we put a lot of effort into improving the image of our country in the recent years,” he said.
“The history of our country is cruel. We have to face those issues or, should I say, we had to. Not anymore I hope, because we are going in the right direction, and we are ready to forgive, ready to move on.”
Although Djokovic once explored the possibility of representing Britain because of frustration with training conditions and government inertia in Serbia, he is ever more the Serbian patriot and has been vocal in opposition to Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008. He took the stance, in part, because Srdjan and his siblings — ethnic Serbs — were born in Kosovo.
It was the dispute over Kosovo that led to NATO’s bombing of Belgrade and other areas of the former Yugoslavia from March to June 1999. Gencic’s sister died in the bombing. But she said that she, Novak and others continued to play tennis in Belgrade, choosing areas that had been bombed the previous night on the assumption that they would not be bombed again so soon.
Djokovic expresses no bitterness, but plenty of emotion.
“We remember all these things and we will never forget, because it’s just very strong inside of you and very deep inside of you,” he said. “It’s traumatic experiences and so definitely you do have bad memories about it. We heard the alarm noise about planes coming to bomb us every single day a minimum of three times for two and a half months, huge noise in the city all the time, all the time. So in my case, when I hear a big noise even now, I get a little traumatized.”
But Djokovic, like his nation, has survived, and the big noises that will soon reverberate inside Belgrade Arena are not likely to have such negative effects.
Courtesy: New York Times
You could delve into tomes that explain the stubborn, resilient character of the Serbs, whose territory and autonomy have been overrun repeatedly but whose identity and sense of mission endure. You could spend an afternoon in Belgrade’s tennis clubs, where members once played on when NATO bombs were falling in 1999.
But if you have to pick just one essential starting point, perhaps it is best to drive south from the capital toward the still-disputed border with Kosovo and follow the serpentine mountain road to Kopaonik, Serbia’s leading ski resort. Like so much of this diminished nation, Kopaonik has seen better days and is preparing to see them again.
It was here that Novak Djokovic’s family, much more familiar with schussing down slopes than hitting balls over nets, once operated several small businesses — including a pizzeria, sports equipment shop and art gallery — on the ground floor of a large complex during the winter and summer months. And it was here that the state-owned Yugoslav company Genex, which developed much of Kopaonik, chose to build three tennis courts just across the parking lot from where the Djokovics opened their Red Bull restaurant and creperie in the late 1980s.
Now full of cracks, holes and undulations, the green hardcourts are hardly a playground for the game’s elite. It is hard to believe that the planet’s third-best player, the man who held off Roger Federer at the U.S. Open in September, emerged from this.
If some planner had chosen a different recreational destiny for this plot of land, perhaps young Novak would have become a competitive skier, like his father, Srdjan, and uncle, Goran, and the French Davis Cup team would not be bracing to compete in the din of a sold-out final in Belgrade Arena from Friday to Sunday.
But even with those three courts in plain view in Kopaonik, Novak needed a mentor, someone with the requisite charisma and clout to show him that however isolated this place, however unlikely the prospect, these courts could be the path to something much grander.
“It was the first day of my first year in Kopaonik, and I was doing a tennis camp,” said Jelena Gencic, a leading tennis coach and former professional player. “And he was just standing outside the tennis courts and watching all morning, and I said: ‘Hey little boy, do you like it? Do you know what this is?”’
That summer afternoon in 1993, Novak, just 6 years old, accepted Gencic’s invitation and returned to take part in the clinic himself. He arrived carrying a gym bag with his belongings well in order, just like the professionals he admired via satellite television.
“One racket, towel, bottle with water, one banana, a dry extra T-shirt, wrist band and the cap,” Gencic recalled recently. “And I said: ‘O.K., who prepared your bag? Your mother?’ And oh, he was very angry. He said, ‘No, I am playing tennis.”’
He began playing in earnest, aided enormously and at just the critical moment by Gencic, the same cultivated and intuitive coach who had helped shape the games of the future Grand Slam champions Monica Seles and Goran Ivanisevic.
“Pretty much what I know on court, I owe to her,” Djokovic said of Gencic, a former leading tennis player and member of Yugoslavia’s team handball squad.
It was Gencic who taught him the grips and fundamentals; Gencic who provided him inspiration with Pushkin poems and classical music; Gencic who gently helped him arrive at the conclusion that he preferred to hit his backhand with two hands instead of the single hand used by his American idol, Pete Sampras. Just as important, it was Gencic who gave Djokovic’s parents, Srdjan and Dijana, along with Srdjan’s siblings, Goran and Jelena, the assurance that the boy had what it took to be something exceptional in a game whose subtleties they did not yet grasp.
“The third day, I called to see the father and mother for the first time, and I said, ‘You have a golden child,”’ Gencic, 74, recalled in an interview at a clay court in Belgrade where she still gives lessons. “I said the same thing about Monica Seles when she was 8.”
The Djokovics were stunned but ultimately inspired. They would need all the inspiration they could muster in the years ahead as they sacrificed security and scrambled for money in a disintegrating economy.
“Let’s say that Jelena Gencic gave us strength; she’s a serious woman,” said Goran Djokovic, who at 46 is four years younger than Srdjan. “We were all together as a family, and we had our project. It was not good times, there were sanctions and the war was starting. It was not an easy time for Serbia, for Yugoslavia, but all the money we had we invest in Novak. He had to be the one in front of the family who had to have everything he need — the new racket, the good food and everything. Of course we can live very easy if he didn’t play tennis, but we have a vision.”
The vision — maintained like a fireplace in winter by the strong-willed Srdjan — would require Novak to leave home at age 12 for the Munich academy run by the former top Yugoslav player Niki Pilic, a friend of Gencic’s. It would require loans, tight communal living quarters, tears and angst, but surprisingly little internal dissent in the family.
“We didn’t want bad vibrations, only good energy, good energy,” Goran said. “But of course people were talking sometimes, saying: ‘This family is crazy, who do they think they are? How can they even think Novak will be something?”’
The family’s intense presence in the players’ boxes of the world — Srdjan and Dijana wore shirts bearing Novak’s portrait during the U.S. Open — might still rub some the wrong way. But Novak is certainly something now: a 2008 Australian Open champion and two-time U.S. Open finalist who, at 23, has won nearly $20 million in prize money and was recently named Serbia’s most eligible bachelor in an online newspaper poll (even though he is based in tax-friendly Monaco).
Now he will try to lead Serbia to its most prestigious sports title since the breakup of Yugoslavia, and he will do so at no small risk to his results next season, pushing his body for an extra week instead of joining his rivals Federer and Rafael Nadal, who have already started their short winter vacation breaks.
“It is a risk, but it is a price I feel is worth paying,” Djokovic said in a lengthy interview last month.
His picture can be found on posters throughout Belgrade as he swings a broom instead of a tennis racket as part of a national campaign to “Keep Serbia Clean.” It’s a pitch that can be absorbed on multiple levels in a society still struggling to root out corruption.
In New Belgrade, below the offices of the Djokovics’ four-year-old company, Family Sport, sits Novak Restaurant, an upscale eatery filled with well-dressed patrons and television screens showing highlights from Novak’s matches. A display case is filled with Novak lighters, key chains, pens.
The branding of Novak Djokovic takes on a more solemn air upstairs in Srdjan’s office, where a religious painting shows the late Patriarch Pavle, head of the Serbian Orthodox church, with Novak’s face painted in luminous tones below him. Goran played down its implications.
“We don’t want to make an icon of Novak, but people are always trying to put him up there,” he said. “It’s a fight to keep normal.”
Back in the older part of the city is the most concrete evidence of Djokovic’s impact. There, at the confluence of the Danube and Sava Rivers, sits the club that he and his family and other investors built. It is the site of a two-year-old A.T.P. event, the Serbian Open, which is owned and operated by the family. It is also the prospective site of Novak’s tennis academy, potentially a cooperative effort with the IMG Bollettieri Academy in Florida, where one of Djokovic’s younger brothers, Djordje, 15, now trains.
An ornate room just off the club entrance in Belgrade houses Novak’s Olympic bronze medal from Beijing, his Australian Open trophy and other major prizes. But Srdjan and Goran have shipped in a memento of their own. Although the Red Bull restaurant in Kopaonik is now closed, shut down because of increased commitments and a new landlord, the brick pizza oven that once generated revenue in the mountains is now the centerpiece of the new Red Bull café at the Belgrade club and a reminder of how far the family has come since Srdjan used to cheer them up by showing them photos of the fancy cars they might own when Novak became a star.
“We don’t want to just be Novak’s uncle, Novak’s father, Novak’s aunt,” Goran said. “Novak has his business. His business is to play tennis. Our business is to run all this. We could put on the sunglasses and relax. But all of our lives we were in private business, even in the Communist time. So we try to build something for the future, for Novak and for Serbia.”
Total investment here so far? About €10 million, or $13 million, according to Goran, who is also the Serbian Open’s tournament director.
“Serbian history tells that the family is the most important thing and you have to stick with the family,” Novak said.
But Djokovic’s talent has not just served himself and his kin. His talent has served a bruised nation, one that has seen its territory shrink and shrink some more in the last 20 years as Yugoslavia cracked apart and Serbia was left with Montenegro and Kosovo and then left with nothing but itself and a reputation in as much need of repair as the war-damaged buildings in Belgrade.
But as the country has grown smaller, its tennis has grown bigger, with Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic both reaching No. 1 in the women’s game and with Djokovic shining brightest for the men but hardly shining alone, with his Davis Cup teammates Janko Tipsarevic, Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic all part of the surge. Tipsarevic and Troicki are in the top 50 in singles; Zimonjic, the group elder at age 34, is a former No. 1 player in doubles now ranked No. 3.
The bandwagon is getting heavier, and there are plans for the Serbian government, no major player until now, to fund a new national tennis center next year with at least five indoor courts, 15 outdoor courts and a residential complex. The estimated cost is €8 million to €9 million, according to Zivojinovic, 47, a Wimbledon semifinalist in 1985 who is now president of the Serbian Tennis Federation, with an annual budget of less than €2 million.
The paradox of shrinking Serbia and its tennis growth industry is not lost on Djokovic, for whom the Davis Cup final represents renewal.
“I think it is very symbolic, and I think it’s very much deserved — for the tennis team, for the country, for the sport — because we put a lot of effort into improving the image of our country in the recent years,” he said.
“The history of our country is cruel. We have to face those issues or, should I say, we had to. Not anymore I hope, because we are going in the right direction, and we are ready to forgive, ready to move on.”
Although Djokovic once explored the possibility of representing Britain because of frustration with training conditions and government inertia in Serbia, he is ever more the Serbian patriot and has been vocal in opposition to Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008. He took the stance, in part, because Srdjan and his siblings — ethnic Serbs — were born in Kosovo.
It was the dispute over Kosovo that led to NATO’s bombing of Belgrade and other areas of the former Yugoslavia from March to June 1999. Gencic’s sister died in the bombing. But she said that she, Novak and others continued to play tennis in Belgrade, choosing areas that had been bombed the previous night on the assumption that they would not be bombed again so soon.
Djokovic expresses no bitterness, but plenty of emotion.
“We remember all these things and we will never forget, because it’s just very strong inside of you and very deep inside of you,” he said. “It’s traumatic experiences and so definitely you do have bad memories about it. We heard the alarm noise about planes coming to bomb us every single day a minimum of three times for two and a half months, huge noise in the city all the time, all the time. So in my case, when I hear a big noise even now, I get a little traumatized.”
But Djokovic, like his nation, has survived, and the big noises that will soon reverberate inside Belgrade Arena are not likely to have such negative effects.
Courtesy: New York Times
Novak Djokovic - Career defining moment?
A solid world No. 3 and a Grand Slam champion, Djokovic has had the misfortune to be in his prime in an era dominated by the consensus Greatest Player of All Time (Roger Federer) and a younger rival insolent enough to successfully steal Federer's thunder (Rafael Nadal). But as a proud Serb, Djokovic has spent most of the fall treading water, preoccupied by his nation's chance to join powers like the United States, Australia, Spain and France as a Davis Cup champion.
Over the past few weeks, it became abundantly clear that the Davis Cup had become Novak's major -- a title that would satisfy his craving for the success and distinction that has been denied him through the 11 Grand Slam events he has played since winning the 2008 Australian Open.
Scoff if you will; we all know that neither Federer nor Nadal played Davis Cup this year, clearing the path for Djokovic. Still, the team nature and the inherent unpredictability of the Davis Cup draw ensure that the ride to the title usually is wild, woolly and unpredictable -- and therefore that much more satisfying when successfully completed.
This final was a fitting testament to the volatility of Davis Cup. In the end, the toast of the tie was Viktor Troicki, who crushed France's Michael Llodra in straight sets to secure the win in the winner-take-all fifth rubber. This is the same Troicki who was passed over as a singles competitor the first time around, when Serbia chose to nominate Janko Tipsarevic as its No. 2 player (behind Djokovic).
But Tipsarevic's unconvincing performance against French No. 1 Gael Monfils on Day 1 convinced Serbian captain Bogdan Obradovic (no, he's not Irish) to roll the die and play Troicki -- trumping the decision of French captain Guy Forget (no, he doesn't suffer from memory lapses) to pull Gilles Simon, the original French No. 2, in favor of serve-and-volley throwback Michael Llodra.
Obradovic won the mind games, and the rich subtext provided by those substitutions only served to enhance the theory that while Davis Cup consists of only five matches featuring some combination of four team members, the possibilities are intriguing, if not exactly infinite, and wonderful fodder for armchair quarterbacks. The day of the typical "reverse singles," with two men from each squad fighting out the four singles matches, may be over.
The strategic nuances this week overshadowed the fact that Djokovic admirably completed the one critical task he faced: He won both of his singles matches. Troicki may have emerged the hero, but Djokovic was the rock. Serbia was down 2-1, on the brink of elimination, when Djokovic beat Gael Monfils in the battle of the No. 1s. When the dust clears, it will be obvious it was Djokovic who carried the Serbs to the final in 2010, and Djokovic who set up Troicki for his career moment.
You may not believe, as I do, that Davis Cup is an event of utmost significance. But this was Djokovic's long-awaited second major, and I think it will provide him with rocket fuel for the rest of his career. How much did it mean to Djokovic?
"I would put everything behind me that I have achieved in 2010 just for this win. Definitely the best feeling that we have experienced on a tennis court, ever."
This was a powerful statement from a Grand Slam champion who is now in the company of Nadal, Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Rod Laver and many other icons as a Davis Cup winner.
Courtesy: ESPN
Another young Novak video
Whilst this has some of the same content as the other videos i posted the other day this one is slightly longer and has more recent footage so it is worth a look.
Courtesy: bihevioristi
Courtesy: bihevioristi
Yuletide
Daedalus chomping, Orange Juice chilling, Wallpaper posing, Princess grazing in the distance.
::
May your holidays be bathed in peace and love. Take care of your blessings.
Young Novak Djokovic
I have found a few more videos of Novak when he was a kid. So cute :)
Courtesy: bihevioristi
Courtesy: place4place
Courtesy: zorangrbic
Courtesy: bihevioristi
Courtesy: place4place
Courtesy: zorangrbic
Novak Djokovic supports Father's outburst
BELGRADE, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Serbia’s top tennis player Novak Djokovic has expressed support for his father’s initiative to topple the country’s tennis federation (TSS) leadership and the body’s president Slobodan Zivojinovic.
Djokovic senior and Zivojinovic clashed after Serbia won their first Davis Cup title earlier this month with a 3-2 win over France in Belgrade.
“I’m really sorry that the situation is almost out of control but changes are inevitable,” world number three Djokovic said on his website (www.novak djokovic.rs).
“The Tennis Association needs new people in order to finally build a national tennis centre and provide better conditions for young talents to progress.
“I have to say my father has no intention of taking any position in the TSS, but to present to all clubs the functioning of the concept he represents.
“He does it very successfully and we fully support him because prosperity and well-being are guaranteed with the new management,” said Djokovic, who posted his comments in his online diary while holidaying in Dubai.
Djokovic’s father Srdjan said last week that the TSS deserved no credit for Serbia’s Davis Cup success and called on Zivojinovic to step down.
His public statement was backed by coach Bogdan Obradovic and the players, but Zivojinovic replied that he would run for another four-year term in office.
Zivojinovic, twice a Wimbledon semi-finalist, said in his own statement he would put forward a “realistic programme devoid of unrealistic promises” if he was re-elected.
Courtesy: Yahoo
Djokovic senior and Zivojinovic clashed after Serbia won their first Davis Cup title earlier this month with a 3-2 win over France in Belgrade.
“I’m really sorry that the situation is almost out of control but changes are inevitable,” world number three Djokovic said on his website (www.novak djokovic.rs).
“The Tennis Association needs new people in order to finally build a national tennis centre and provide better conditions for young talents to progress.
“I have to say my father has no intention of taking any position in the TSS, but to present to all clubs the functioning of the concept he represents.
“He does it very successfully and we fully support him because prosperity and well-being are guaranteed with the new management,” said Djokovic, who posted his comments in his online diary while holidaying in Dubai.
Djokovic’s father Srdjan said last week that the TSS deserved no credit for Serbia’s Davis Cup success and called on Zivojinovic to step down.
His public statement was backed by coach Bogdan Obradovic and the players, but Zivojinovic replied that he would run for another four-year term in office.
Zivojinovic, twice a Wimbledon semi-finalist, said in his own statement he would put forward a “realistic programme devoid of unrealistic promises” if he was re-elected.
Courtesy: Yahoo
Novak Djokovic - Official Diary
Novak has updated his official diary.
Aah, back to Dubai. I also paid a two-day visit to Abu Dhabi and its magical, fairy Emirates Palace hotel.
This is my first diary after the historic world title in the Davis Cup. I can officially confirm that my hair grows faster than my teammates’, and that I can finally show up on the street without a hat! Many of us fell ill after the triumph, because our bald heads were not ready for blast! The hairstyle looks best on Viktor (my brother Marko follows him). Ziki and I are competing for the title "the most tragic bald look." Boca was cheating, he did not shave his head completely, and has an elegant "two". His explanation: The electric shaver broke! Hmmm ... I am glad we all completed a long-standing promise that we had made between ourselves in the middle of the year, so everyone who was holding a toast was saying "for bald heads." The idea to shave our heads on the spot was Miljan’s, and the picture went around the world! The ‘hairless’ idea was Viktor's (no wonder) and it was highly debatable, but it motivated us and made us the happiest athletes in the world.
It is very difficult to describe everything in details. The feeling is special and memorable, the Davis Cup title has brought thrill, delight, joy, pride to the whole Serbian nation! We have shown unity, friendship, immense mutual support, heart and pride to write our country’s name in the history of this sport as the world champions! Celebration?! Hahahahahahahahahaha! Eeeeeh, one has to experience that! I contain that nobody in the world rejoices and celebrates like brother Serbs. People, it's been lasting and will last until we are alive. We can call it Davis baldies festivity. Domestic and foreign music, roast pork, Uzicko kolo (country-dance), kissing bold heads, trumpeters (what would we do without them) ...
Then came the recovery in sunny Monaco with my darling Jelena. We both had difficult but successful previous weeks and now we are on holiday.
I’ve been following the latest developments in Serbian tennis apropos the upcoming elections in the Tennis Association of Serbia. I'm really sorry that the situation is almost out of control and that media write about quarrels that actually don’t exist, but changes are inevitable. Of course it’s not a good time for such things to happen now when we are all still under the impression of winning the title, but the Tennis Association needs new people, in order to finally build a national tennis center and provide better conditions for young talents to progress. Development of tennis in Serbia is also partly our responsibility, and that’s why we (all players and our coach) engaged to help, and we made clear in the statement what we want. I have to say that my father has no intention to take any position in the TAS, but to present to all clubs the functioning concept set by people he represents. He does it very successfully and we fully support him. I sincerely hope that the clubs from Serbia will have understanding, because prosperity and well-being are guaranteed with the new management! That's all from me today, I will soon show you some interesting photos from the past few months. Shukran and best regards!
Your Nole
Aah, back to Dubai. I also paid a two-day visit to Abu Dhabi and its magical, fairy Emirates Palace hotel.
This is my first diary after the historic world title in the Davis Cup. I can officially confirm that my hair grows faster than my teammates’, and that I can finally show up on the street without a hat! Many of us fell ill after the triumph, because our bald heads were not ready for blast! The hairstyle looks best on Viktor (my brother Marko follows him). Ziki and I are competing for the title "the most tragic bald look." Boca was cheating, he did not shave his head completely, and has an elegant "two". His explanation: The electric shaver broke! Hmmm ... I am glad we all completed a long-standing promise that we had made between ourselves in the middle of the year, so everyone who was holding a toast was saying "for bald heads." The idea to shave our heads on the spot was Miljan’s, and the picture went around the world! The ‘hairless’ idea was Viktor's (no wonder) and it was highly debatable, but it motivated us and made us the happiest athletes in the world.
It is very difficult to describe everything in details. The feeling is special and memorable, the Davis Cup title has brought thrill, delight, joy, pride to the whole Serbian nation! We have shown unity, friendship, immense mutual support, heart and pride to write our country’s name in the history of this sport as the world champions! Celebration?! Hahahahahahahahahaha! Eeeeeh, one has to experience that! I contain that nobody in the world rejoices and celebrates like brother Serbs. People, it's been lasting and will last until we are alive. We can call it Davis baldies festivity. Domestic and foreign music, roast pork, Uzicko kolo (country-dance), kissing bold heads, trumpeters (what would we do without them) ...
Then came the recovery in sunny Monaco with my darling Jelena. We both had difficult but successful previous weeks and now we are on holiday.
I’ve been following the latest developments in Serbian tennis apropos the upcoming elections in the Tennis Association of Serbia. I'm really sorry that the situation is almost out of control and that media write about quarrels that actually don’t exist, but changes are inevitable. Of course it’s not a good time for such things to happen now when we are all still under the impression of winning the title, but the Tennis Association needs new people, in order to finally build a national tennis center and provide better conditions for young talents to progress. Development of tennis in Serbia is also partly our responsibility, and that’s why we (all players and our coach) engaged to help, and we made clear in the statement what we want. I have to say that my father has no intention to take any position in the TAS, but to present to all clubs the functioning concept set by people he represents. He does it very successfully and we fully support him. I sincerely hope that the clubs from Serbia will have understanding, because prosperity and well-being are guaranteed with the new management! That's all from me today, I will soon show you some interesting photos from the past few months. Shukran and best regards!
Your Nole
What to expect from Novak Djokovic in 2011?
World number three Novak Djokovic is one strongest nominee, expected to break the Rafa-Roger major supremacy next year on the ATP tour. 2011 will definitely be an important season for the Serbian who will also look to reach the pinnacle of rankings in the world.
Next month, the years opening Grand Slam; the Australian Open will mark three seasons since the Monte Carlo resident captured his only major crown, after posting a win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the finals. After that success, the right hander couldn’t continue his form for the rest of the season as he hardly reached the semi-final round in any event.
The 1.88 meter tall Djokovic, who made his debut on the ATP tour back in 2003, achieved his career high ranking of number two back in February this season. He finished the year at number three on the fourth occasion in a row which is a big achievement for most players, however the Serbian will without any question be eager to end the 2011 season inside the top two for the first time in his career.
While major success would definitely help strengthen Novak’s spot at the top of the game, he will also hope to play better in the ATP World Tour competitions.
The professional tennis ace from Serbia, who won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games back in 2008, picked up just a total of two ATP World Tour crowns this season at Dubai and Beijing which also marked his lowest tally since 2006. World number one Rafael Nadal, on the other hand, won seven trophies in 2010, including three Grand Slams at the French Open, Wimbledon and the United States Open in New York.
The Swiss tennis maestro, Roger Federer, who started the season on a high with an Australian Open title, had a rough patch during the middle, ended the 2010 year with his career fifth Barclays ATP World Tour crown in London, beating Rafael Nadal in the finals.
The 23-year-old Djokovic, on the other hand, particularly underperformed in the nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 competitions, as he just advanced into the semi-finals in Monte-Carlo, Toronto and Shanghai.
His most notable match victory in 2010 came during the semi-final round of the year’s final Grand Slam, the United States Open in New York where he played a high level of tennis to beat Roger Federer. The Serbian prevented two match points to end the Basel native’s tournament campaign and thus sealed a win in the end. In the title battle though, Djokovic was toppled at the hands of Rafael Nadal.
The Belgrade born then went on to have a very successful finish to the year, leading his country to a 3-2 win against France in the final of the Davis Cup on his home soil.
While disappointed after his loss at the Flushing Meadows, Novak said, “I am feeling bad about my loss. I wanted that trophy, and I know I gave my maximum to get it even tonight. But when I sleep over the night, tomorrow I will wake up as a new man. I will continue to work hard and wait for the next chance to come.”
Despite his final loss, the Serbian however, was satisfied with his overall game and is hopeful to reach the top of the world’s ranking soon on the tour.
“I feel much more comfortable on the court, more confident and getting this aggressive game back - the game that I need to have in order to stay at the top - and a game that has been a part of me always. It is a good sign. I will continue on working, as I said, and hope that I can keep that performance,” he said.
Therefore, he is definitely expected to break the Roger-Federer Grand Slam dominance in 2011, provided he keeps on improving his game and performs consistently on the tour.
Courtesy: Bettor
Next month, the years opening Grand Slam; the Australian Open will mark three seasons since the Monte Carlo resident captured his only major crown, after posting a win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the finals. After that success, the right hander couldn’t continue his form for the rest of the season as he hardly reached the semi-final round in any event.
The 1.88 meter tall Djokovic, who made his debut on the ATP tour back in 2003, achieved his career high ranking of number two back in February this season. He finished the year at number three on the fourth occasion in a row which is a big achievement for most players, however the Serbian will without any question be eager to end the 2011 season inside the top two for the first time in his career.
While major success would definitely help strengthen Novak’s spot at the top of the game, he will also hope to play better in the ATP World Tour competitions.
The professional tennis ace from Serbia, who won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games back in 2008, picked up just a total of two ATP World Tour crowns this season at Dubai and Beijing which also marked his lowest tally since 2006. World number one Rafael Nadal, on the other hand, won seven trophies in 2010, including three Grand Slams at the French Open, Wimbledon and the United States Open in New York.
The Swiss tennis maestro, Roger Federer, who started the season on a high with an Australian Open title, had a rough patch during the middle, ended the 2010 year with his career fifth Barclays ATP World Tour crown in London, beating Rafael Nadal in the finals.
The 23-year-old Djokovic, on the other hand, particularly underperformed in the nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 competitions, as he just advanced into the semi-finals in Monte-Carlo, Toronto and Shanghai.
His most notable match victory in 2010 came during the semi-final round of the year’s final Grand Slam, the United States Open in New York where he played a high level of tennis to beat Roger Federer. The Serbian prevented two match points to end the Basel native’s tournament campaign and thus sealed a win in the end. In the title battle though, Djokovic was toppled at the hands of Rafael Nadal.
The Belgrade born then went on to have a very successful finish to the year, leading his country to a 3-2 win against France in the final of the Davis Cup on his home soil.
While disappointed after his loss at the Flushing Meadows, Novak said, “I am feeling bad about my loss. I wanted that trophy, and I know I gave my maximum to get it even tonight. But when I sleep over the night, tomorrow I will wake up as a new man. I will continue to work hard and wait for the next chance to come.”
Despite his final loss, the Serbian however, was satisfied with his overall game and is hopeful to reach the top of the world’s ranking soon on the tour.
“I feel much more comfortable on the court, more confident and getting this aggressive game back - the game that I need to have in order to stay at the top - and a game that has been a part of me always. It is a good sign. I will continue on working, as I said, and hope that I can keep that performance,” he said.
Therefore, he is definitely expected to break the Roger-Federer Grand Slam dominance in 2011, provided he keeps on improving his game and performs consistently on the tour.
Courtesy: Bettor
Where next for Novak Djokovic?
Yesterday we named Novak Djokovic as one the players most likely to break up the Nadal-Federer Grand Slam dominance in 2011, and in what will be a critical year for the Serb he will certainly hope to hit the heights he scaled in 2008.
The upcoming Australian Open will mark three years since the 23-year-old Djokovic won his lone Grand Slam title, with victory over first-time finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Following that success, though, the Belgrade native struggled to perform consistently at the majors, with a host of semi-final appearances punctuated by surprising losses to Marat Safin in the second round at Wimbledon a few months later, Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round of 2009 Roland Garros and Tommy Haas in the ’09 Wimbledon quarter-finals.
Djokovic rose to No. 2 in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings in February and went on to finish the year World No. 3 for the fourth straight year. A grand achievement for the vast majority of professionals, but Djokovic will no doubt be eager to finish the year inside the Top 2 for for the first time.
While Grand Slam success would surely help cement Djokovic’s place at the top of game, he will also look to improve his performance in ATP World Tour events. In 2010 the Serbian won just two ATP World Tour titles (Dubai and Beijing), his lowest tally since 2006 and five less than Nadal’s extraordinary tour-level haul. He particularly underperformed in the nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, only reaching the semi-finals in Shanghai, Toronto and Monte-Carlo.
However, Djokovic reaped the rewards of hard work and self belief when he hit top form to save two match points and defeat five-time former champion Roger Federer in this year’s US Open semi-finals, before finishing runner-up to World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the final. The right-hander then went on to have a very successful end to the season, culminating in leading Serbia to a 3-2 victory over France in the Davis Cup final.
While disappointed after his defeat in the US Open final, Djokovic believed he had turned a corner in his career. “I am feeling bad about my loss. I wanted that trophy, and I know I gave my maximum to get it even tonight,” said the Serb. “But when I sleep over the night, tomorrow I will wake up as a new man. I will continue to work hard and wait for the next chance to come.
“I feel much more comfortable on the court, more confident and getting this aggressive game back - the game that I need to have in order to stay at the top - and a game that has been a part of me always. It's a good sign. I will continue on working, as I said, and hope that I can keep that performance.”
Courtesy: ATP
The upcoming Australian Open will mark three years since the 23-year-old Djokovic won his lone Grand Slam title, with victory over first-time finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Following that success, though, the Belgrade native struggled to perform consistently at the majors, with a host of semi-final appearances punctuated by surprising losses to Marat Safin in the second round at Wimbledon a few months later, Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round of 2009 Roland Garros and Tommy Haas in the ’09 Wimbledon quarter-finals.
Djokovic rose to No. 2 in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings in February and went on to finish the year World No. 3 for the fourth straight year. A grand achievement for the vast majority of professionals, but Djokovic will no doubt be eager to finish the year inside the Top 2 for for the first time.
While Grand Slam success would surely help cement Djokovic’s place at the top of game, he will also look to improve his performance in ATP World Tour events. In 2010 the Serbian won just two ATP World Tour titles (Dubai and Beijing), his lowest tally since 2006 and five less than Nadal’s extraordinary tour-level haul. He particularly underperformed in the nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, only reaching the semi-finals in Shanghai, Toronto and Monte-Carlo.
However, Djokovic reaped the rewards of hard work and self belief when he hit top form to save two match points and defeat five-time former champion Roger Federer in this year’s US Open semi-finals, before finishing runner-up to World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the final. The right-hander then went on to have a very successful end to the season, culminating in leading Serbia to a 3-2 victory over France in the Davis Cup final.
While disappointed after his defeat in the US Open final, Djokovic believed he had turned a corner in his career. “I am feeling bad about my loss. I wanted that trophy, and I know I gave my maximum to get it even tonight,” said the Serb. “But when I sleep over the night, tomorrow I will wake up as a new man. I will continue to work hard and wait for the next chance to come.
“I feel much more comfortable on the court, more confident and getting this aggressive game back - the game that I need to have in order to stay at the top - and a game that has been a part of me always. It's a good sign. I will continue on working, as I said, and hope that I can keep that performance.”
Courtesy: ATP
Novak Djokovic - Serbian "promoter of 2010"
Novak Djokovic was proclaimed the best promoter of Serbia for the second year in a row, at the seventh annual prize award "Best of Serbia", held on Wednesday evening in Belgrade.
Nole was one of 20 candidates and he was chosen as a person who has contributed the most to the promotion of Serbia in the world. Diplomats from Serbia and all over the world, and more than 5,000 visitors of website www.najboljeizsrbije.rs took part in voting.
The contest was organised by Ministry of Commerce of Serbia, Serbian Chamber of Economy and economic journal Economic Review. Prizes to the best brands were awarded in 24 categories.
Nole was one of 20 candidates and he was chosen as a person who has contributed the most to the promotion of Serbia in the world. Diplomats from Serbia and all over the world, and more than 5,000 visitors of website www.najboljeizsrbije.rs took part in voting.
The contest was organised by Ministry of Commerce of Serbia, Serbian Chamber of Economy and economic journal Economic Review. Prizes to the best brands were awarded in 24 categories.
Courtesy: NovakDjokovic
Novak Djokovic Comes Of Age
Perhaps 2010 was not Novak Djokovic's best year. Perhaps he did not close it as the top player in the world. And perhaps he made earlier exits from some events than he should have done.
Maybe he misjudged his preparations for the year's first grand slam. Maybe, during the spring months, he took the wrong advice on his serve from coach Todd Martin. And maybe, in the closing months, he wished he had encountered Roger Federer in rather fewer matches.
But Djokovic may still look back on 2010 as the year when he "put away childish things" and matured into one of the most complete players in tennis.
It is easy to forget how young Djokovic was when his career took off. He turned pro at 16 and two years later ended 2005 as the youngest player in the top 100. By 2006, he had won two ATP titles from three finals and was the youngest player to end the year in the top 20.
It was the same story in 2007: five ATP titles, a first Grand Slam final and—still just 20—the youngest man in the top 10 at the end of the year.
Two more mountains were scaled in 2008 with a first slam title in Melbourne and the Masters Cup in Shanghai. Now ranked third in the world, Djokovic won four titles from seven finals, reached the semis of Roland Garros and Wimbledon and took the bronze medal at the Olympics. And there was one more significant event: a win in the Davis Cup playoffs that ensured Serbia's place in the World Group.
The lean, fast Djokovic physique, driven by a keen intelligence and a passion that threatens to burst through his ribcage after every win, powered through 10 finals to five more titles in 2009.
He played more matches than anyone else—97. He reached the quarter-finals or better in 19 out of 22 tournaments. And on his favourite hard courts, he won 29 out of 33 matches in the second half of the year.
So he rode into 2010 on a wave of success, with new coach Martin in his corner and some of his natural, but often misplaced, ebullience reined in. His reward was to break through the Federer-Nadal duopoly.
With the Spaniard needing treatment on troublesome knees, Djokovic rose to No2 in the world. Once Nadal was back at top of the rankings, Djokovic stepped above Federer not once but twice between summer and autumn.
Consistency was his watchword: he reached the quarters or better in all four Grand Slams, for one thing. But though he won an early title in Dubai, he suffered his first opening round loss since January 2009 in Miami, and had to wait until October and Beijing for his second and final trophy of the year.
It began to look, in particular, as though the Djokovic serve was not up to its usual standard. And the less reliable it became, the more the confidence seemed to leach from the rest of his game.
So in the early summer, he took decisive action and separated from coach Martin. He cited communication problems but went on to say: "He tried to change [my serve], but it was all too complicated in the end and now I’m back to the old one."
The second important confidence boost came at the US Open, in a semi-final meeting with a Federer aiming to reach his seventh final in New York. Djokovic carried the baggage of losses to the Swiss on Arthur Ashe in each of the previous three years and, when he went down 7-5 to an attacking Federer in the opening set, it had the makings of a similar tale.
But Djokovic replied with a 6-1 set, and they split the next two between them. Federer then won two match points in the fifth, but the Serb exhibited all his new confidence in saving them: one with a huge smash to the backhand corner, the second with a searing forehand down the line.
The way he won the match was even more impressive, outlasting Federer in a 21-stroke rally and eventually forcing the Swiss to drive a forehand wide. The Serb’s expression moved from shell-shocked to matter-of-fact to celebratory. He had broken a jinx, proved a point, and swelled with confidence by another inch or two.
Even though Federer beat him in their three remaining matches of the year he knew he had made a serious breakthrough. The clue to how he achieved it came in his own words. "I just knew I had to be patient and not lose my emotions too much,” he said. “Federer uses that nervousness of the opponent. He feels it."
This time, Djokovic did not look nervous and showed infinite patience. He was also pragmatic in recognising that Federer had found his best tennis of the year to beat him in the semis of the World Tour Finals. In any case, Djokovic had more important business before 2010 was out: the final of the Davis Cup, against France—in his home city of Belgrade.
Djokovic was entirely dominant in his first match against Gilles Simon—not too much of a surprise, of course, against a man working his way back from injury. But against the outrageous athleticism and flamboyant tennis of Gael Monfils, Djokovic was equally impressive.
He wasted not one iota of emotional energy. He neither dropped his head nor glanced to the heavens—the familiar gestures of old. He quickly went 4-1 up with a merciless attack of piercing ground strokes mixed up with drops and a few lobs.
The Djokovic serve was also back to its best—82 per cent of first serves in the opening set—and he produced hardly an error in closing out the first set 6-2.
The second set was a near repeat, with Monfils forced into over-hitting by the accuracy and penetration of the Djokovic game: 6-2 again.
The third set saw the composure of the Serb disturbed only once when Monfils achieved a rare break. Djokovic vented his frustration by smashing his racket to pieces, and that release helped him regain his focus and reassert his dominance.
In the end it took a little over two hours to illustrate the kind of player that Djokovic has become: his new patience, his consistency, his intelligent control and the abandonment of despair.
The full-blown celebration of Davis Cup victory had to wait out a marvellous performance by his compatriot, Viktor Troicki, but then the extrovert, uninhibited Djokovic was unleashed.
That Djokovic is the same man who strode into the O2 arena sporting an eye-patch after a contact lens incident the night before. He ios the man who happily modelled the briefest of briefs on the catwalk in Toronto. He is the man who enthusiastically shaved his head, on court, with his Serbian team-mates.
But he is also a man who can say of an opponent "every ball kind of listens to him", who can speak Serbian, Italian, German, French and English, who has established a new ATP tournament in his home Belgrade to spread the tennis word to young Serbians.
He claims that “right now, emotionally, I'm confident, I'm happy, and looking forward to upcoming challenges." This new-found maturity and contentedness, married to his rich array of shot-making, will surely deliver the 23-year-old his second grand slam in 2011.
Courtesy: BWIN
Maybe he misjudged his preparations for the year's first grand slam. Maybe, during the spring months, he took the wrong advice on his serve from coach Todd Martin. And maybe, in the closing months, he wished he had encountered Roger Federer in rather fewer matches.
But Djokovic may still look back on 2010 as the year when he "put away childish things" and matured into one of the most complete players in tennis.
It is easy to forget how young Djokovic was when his career took off. He turned pro at 16 and two years later ended 2005 as the youngest player in the top 100. By 2006, he had won two ATP titles from three finals and was the youngest player to end the year in the top 20.
It was the same story in 2007: five ATP titles, a first Grand Slam final and—still just 20—the youngest man in the top 10 at the end of the year.
Two more mountains were scaled in 2008 with a first slam title in Melbourne and the Masters Cup in Shanghai. Now ranked third in the world, Djokovic won four titles from seven finals, reached the semis of Roland Garros and Wimbledon and took the bronze medal at the Olympics. And there was one more significant event: a win in the Davis Cup playoffs that ensured Serbia's place in the World Group.
The lean, fast Djokovic physique, driven by a keen intelligence and a passion that threatens to burst through his ribcage after every win, powered through 10 finals to five more titles in 2009.
He played more matches than anyone else—97. He reached the quarter-finals or better in 19 out of 22 tournaments. And on his favourite hard courts, he won 29 out of 33 matches in the second half of the year.
So he rode into 2010 on a wave of success, with new coach Martin in his corner and some of his natural, but often misplaced, ebullience reined in. His reward was to break through the Federer-Nadal duopoly.
With the Spaniard needing treatment on troublesome knees, Djokovic rose to No2 in the world. Once Nadal was back at top of the rankings, Djokovic stepped above Federer not once but twice between summer and autumn.
Consistency was his watchword: he reached the quarters or better in all four Grand Slams, for one thing. But though he won an early title in Dubai, he suffered his first opening round loss since January 2009 in Miami, and had to wait until October and Beijing for his second and final trophy of the year.
It began to look, in particular, as though the Djokovic serve was not up to its usual standard. And the less reliable it became, the more the confidence seemed to leach from the rest of his game.
So in the early summer, he took decisive action and separated from coach Martin. He cited communication problems but went on to say: "He tried to change [my serve], but it was all too complicated in the end and now I’m back to the old one."
The second important confidence boost came at the US Open, in a semi-final meeting with a Federer aiming to reach his seventh final in New York. Djokovic carried the baggage of losses to the Swiss on Arthur Ashe in each of the previous three years and, when he went down 7-5 to an attacking Federer in the opening set, it had the makings of a similar tale.
But Djokovic replied with a 6-1 set, and they split the next two between them. Federer then won two match points in the fifth, but the Serb exhibited all his new confidence in saving them: one with a huge smash to the backhand corner, the second with a searing forehand down the line.
The way he won the match was even more impressive, outlasting Federer in a 21-stroke rally and eventually forcing the Swiss to drive a forehand wide. The Serb’s expression moved from shell-shocked to matter-of-fact to celebratory. He had broken a jinx, proved a point, and swelled with confidence by another inch or two.
Even though Federer beat him in their three remaining matches of the year he knew he had made a serious breakthrough. The clue to how he achieved it came in his own words. "I just knew I had to be patient and not lose my emotions too much,” he said. “Federer uses that nervousness of the opponent. He feels it."
This time, Djokovic did not look nervous and showed infinite patience. He was also pragmatic in recognising that Federer had found his best tennis of the year to beat him in the semis of the World Tour Finals. In any case, Djokovic had more important business before 2010 was out: the final of the Davis Cup, against France—in his home city of Belgrade.
Djokovic was entirely dominant in his first match against Gilles Simon—not too much of a surprise, of course, against a man working his way back from injury. But against the outrageous athleticism and flamboyant tennis of Gael Monfils, Djokovic was equally impressive.
He wasted not one iota of emotional energy. He neither dropped his head nor glanced to the heavens—the familiar gestures of old. He quickly went 4-1 up with a merciless attack of piercing ground strokes mixed up with drops and a few lobs.
The Djokovic serve was also back to its best—82 per cent of first serves in the opening set—and he produced hardly an error in closing out the first set 6-2.
The second set was a near repeat, with Monfils forced into over-hitting by the accuracy and penetration of the Djokovic game: 6-2 again.
The third set saw the composure of the Serb disturbed only once when Monfils achieved a rare break. Djokovic vented his frustration by smashing his racket to pieces, and that release helped him regain his focus and reassert his dominance.
In the end it took a little over two hours to illustrate the kind of player that Djokovic has become: his new patience, his consistency, his intelligent control and the abandonment of despair.
The full-blown celebration of Davis Cup victory had to wait out a marvellous performance by his compatriot, Viktor Troicki, but then the extrovert, uninhibited Djokovic was unleashed.
That Djokovic is the same man who strode into the O2 arena sporting an eye-patch after a contact lens incident the night before. He ios the man who happily modelled the briefest of briefs on the catwalk in Toronto. He is the man who enthusiastically shaved his head, on court, with his Serbian team-mates.
But he is also a man who can say of an opponent "every ball kind of listens to him", who can speak Serbian, Italian, German, French and English, who has established a new ATP tournament in his home Belgrade to spread the tennis word to young Serbians.
He claims that “right now, emotionally, I'm confident, I'm happy, and looking forward to upcoming challenges." This new-found maturity and contentedness, married to his rich array of shot-making, will surely deliver the 23-year-old his second grand slam in 2011.
Courtesy: BWIN
Serbia - Davis Cup defence
The Serbian team will begin their defence of the Davis Cup against India on 4-6 February 2011.
The ITF has announced that the venue for this 1st Round tie will be held at the Spens Sports Center in the city of Novi Sad. The surface chosen is indoor hard court.
The ITF has announced that the venue for this 1st Round tie will be held at the Spens Sports Center in the city of Novi Sad. The surface chosen is indoor hard court.
Novak Djokovic - The Joker video
A band called Zona B have dedicated a song & video to Novak. Tis quite funny but I am glad he now concentrates more on his tennis than joking around on court.
Novak vists Special Olympics Centre
© ATP Novak Djokovic signs autographs for members of the Special Olympics Centre.
Djokovic, a Monaco resident, became involved with the organisation earlier this year as he sponsored the European Soccer Special Olympics Championship held in Monte-Carlo and invited the Serbian team to be part of it.
“I was really impressed with the good organisation of the centre and the nice and dedicated people working there,” Djokovic said. “It’s always very nice to be able to give time and resources to these kinds of causes here in Monte-Carlo, where I live.”
Courtesy: ATP
Face Of The Day
Martina Hingis and her new husband Thibault Hutin.
Why does this photo make me laugh?
Novak's 2011 schedule - Jan-May
Here is a list of confirmed tournaments up till the French Open
01.01. Perth, Australia (Exhibition tournament)
17.01. Melbourne, Australia (Grand Slam)
07.02. Rotterdam, Netherlands (ATP 500)
21.02. Dubai, UAE (ATP 500)
04.03. Belgrade, Serbia (Davis Cup)
07.03. Indian Wells, USA (ATP 1000)
21.03. Miami, USA (ATP 1000)
11.04. Monte Carlo, Monaco (ATP 1000)
25.04. Belgrade, Serbia (ATP 250)
02.05. Madrid, Spain (ATP 1000)
09.05. Rome, Italy (ATP 1000)
23.05. Paris, France (Grand Slam)
Up Next
The Gonad Awards.
Since I spent so much of the latter half of the tennis season AWOL, I'll ask you all to nominate some players and some matches for some Gonads over the next week or so. I'll try to post my year-end awards before Christmas.
Peace.
Since I spent so much of the latter half of the tennis season AWOL, I'll ask you all to nominate some players and some matches for some Gonads over the next week or so. I'll try to post my year-end awards before Christmas.
Peace.
Novak's legs
Whilst trawling the internet for any news of Novak I came across a blog dedicated to men's legs. 2 blog entries were regarding Novak and his rather luscious legs. I thought it would be a good idea to share them with you :)
And no post of this nature can be complete without a look at the top half of Novak :)
Enjoy!
And no post of this nature can be complete without a look at the top half of Novak :)
Enjoy!
Novak's Father speaks out against Serbian Tennis Federation
Serbia's tennis federation deserved no credit for the national team's maiden Davis Cup win and needed "a thorough reconstruction", according to Srdjan Djokovic, father of world number three Novak Djokovic.
"I have no ambition to take over from Zivojinovic but the TSS needs a thorough reconstruction."
Davis Cup coach Bogdan Obradovic echoed Djokovic's remarks, saying the TSS had given little support to the players, who beat France 3-2 in the final in Belgrade last weekend.
"The Djokovic family wants fresh forces to take over and I am sure this will happen because both the players and I support changes," Obradovic told reporters.
"We need better facilities and I won't speculate who will replace whom in the TSS but I can assure you that staff changes will be made.
"The players have received slim financial support from the TSS all these years while we have achieved an incredible result by winning the Davis Cup in our first final.
"I know that we don't have resources like countries such as the United States but investments have to be at least partially proportional to our results," he said.
Zivojinovic, whose four-year mandate as TSS president expires this month, said in his own statement to Serbian media that he would run again.
"After what we have achieved this year, it is only natural that I will run for another four-year mandate so that we can complete the tasks ahead, namely building a national tennis centre and facilities for young talents," he said.
"I've had the privilege to be the TSS president in the most successful year for Serbian tennis and I have a realistic programme for the next four-year period, devoid of unrealistic promises which can't be kept."
Courtesy: Yahoo
Novak Djokovic - ATP Year End Report
Novak Djokovic won two titles in 2010, but called Serbia's Davis Cup triumph the highlight of the season.
ATPWorldTour.com reviews the best players of the year, beginning with the World No. 3 to No. 5.
Novak Djokovic
For the fourth straight year, Novak Djokovic finished as the world’s No. 3 player. But in contrast to the previous seasons, 2010 was crowned not by his individual achievements, but by the collective effort of the Davis Cup team.
Djokovic was the backbone of the Serbian squad, going 7-0 in singles rubbers to lead the nation past the United States, Croatia, the Czech Republic and France. In the final, he kept the country’s hopes afloat after it’d fallen behind 0-1 and 1-2, drawing Serbia level with France each time and giving countryman Viktor Troicki the chance to become the hero with victory in the Cup-clinching fifth rubber.
Showing their solidarity, the 2008 Australian Open champion and teammates followed through on their promise of shaving their heads if they won the Davis Cup, each taking turns to complete the ritual on centre court at Belgrade Arena. Djokovic stated afterwards, “This is by far, individually and for the team, the best achievement in our career by far… Definitely the best feeling that we have experienced on a tennis court, ever."
In 2010, Djokovic also managed to break – albeit temporarily – the stronghold of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at the top two spots in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, holding down the No. 2 position for 26 weeks during the season and entering Roland Garros in a three-way battle for the No. 1 ranking.
At the US Open, Djokovic took part in one of the most memorable matches of the season when he saved two match points to defeat Federer in a five-set semi-final. Though he lost to Nadal in his third appearance in a Grand Slam final, Djokovic collected titles No. 17 and 18 during the season as he successfully defended his crowns at Dubai and Beijing.
But he finished the year with two question marks going into 2011. Can he finally push higher than No. 3 in the year-end rankings next season, and will he go a third year without adding to his first Grand Slam title won at the 2008 Australian Open?
Courtesy: ATP
Novak Djokovic: Has The Djoker in the Pack Come of Age?
Perhaps 2010 was not Novak Djokovic’s best year. He did not end it as the top player in the world, and made some earlier exits from events than he should have done.
Maybe he misjudged his preparations for the year’s first Grand Slam. Maybe, during the spring months, he took the wrong advice on his serve from Todd Martin. And maybe, in the closing months, he wished he had encountered Roger Federer in fewer matches.
But, when all is said and done, maybe he will look back on 2010 as the year when he wove together the multicolored strands of his uninhibited talent into a single, strong vein of form. And perhaps it will define the moment when the Djoker “put away childish things” and matured into one of the most complete players in tennis.
It is easy to forget how young Djokovic was when he began to impress on the tour. He turned pro at 16 and, two years later, ended 2005 as the youngest player in the top 100.
By 2006, he had won two ATP titles from three finals and was the youngest player to end the year in the top 20.
It was the same story in 2007: five ATP titles, a first Grand Slam final and—still just 20—the youngest man in the top 10 at the end of the year.
Two more mountains were scaled in 2008 with a first Slam title in Melbourne and the Masters title in Shanghai. Now ranked third in the world, Djokovic won four titles from seven finals, reached the semis of Roland Garros and Wimbledon while taking the bronze medal at the Olympics.
Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
One more key moment in that year—a blood-red strand in his ever strengthening rope of maturity—was a win in the Davis Cup playoffs that ensured Serbia’s place in the World Group in 2009.
It was no surprise, then, that in 2009 the lean, fast, rangy Djokovic physique, driven by a keen intelligence and a passion that threatened to burst through his ribcage after every win, powered through 10 finals to five more titles.
He played more matches than anyone else (97) and won more of them than anyone else (78). He reached the quarterfinals or better in 19 out of 22 tournaments. On his favorite hard courts, he won 29 out of 33 matches after Montreal in August, concluding with back-to-back titles in Basel and the Paris Masters.
Even on clay, Djokovic took the scalp of Federer in Rome and very nearly Nadal’s, too, in Madrid.
So he rode into 2010 on a wave of success, with a new coach—American Todd Martin—and some of his natural, but often misplaced, ebullience reined in. His reward was to break through the Federer-Nadal duopoly.
With the Spaniard needing treatment on troublesome knees, the Djoker proved just how serious his intentions were, and rose to No. 2 in the world. A little further into the year, with Nadal back at top of the rankings, Djokovic stepped above Federer not once but twice between summer and autumn. And yet, measured by his earlier progress, 2010 was more of a steady canter than a gallop to the line.
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Consistency was his watchword: for one thing, he made the quarterfinals or better in all four Grand Slams. But while he won an early title in Dubai, he waited until October and Beijing for his second and final ATP trophy of the year. In Miami he suffered his first opening round loss since January 2009, and in his home tournament in Belgrade, he retired ill in the first round. He conceded a two-set lead to Jurgen Melzer in the quarters of Roland Garros and went out of Queens in the third round.
Nevertheless, Djokovic was taking the first of several important steps towards infusing his game with the brilliant hues of his former palette. He separated from coach Martin, citing communication problems between the American and Djokovic’s long-standing coach, Marian Vajda. More revealingly, he commented on the impact of the partnership on his serve. “He tried to change [my serve], but it was all too complicated in the end and now I'm back to the old one.”
It had certainly appeared that the Djokovic serve was not up to its usual standard, and the less reliable it became, the more the confidence seemed to leach from the rest of his game.
The statistics from around this time make for fascinating reading. Between his first match in Indian Wells and his last in Rome, his first serve percentage was in the 50s four times and topped 70 only once, and his double fault rate in a couple of matches soared.
By Toronto, it did not fall below 68 in all four matches. By the U.S. Open, most matches ranged from the high 60s to the mid 70s. And between Flushing Meadows and the World Tour Finals, he averaged just one-and-a-half double faults in each of his 29 matches.
Nick Laham/Getty Images
The second important confidence boost came at the U.S Open itself, in a semi-final meeting with a Federer aiming to reach his seventh final in New York. Djokovic carried the baggage of losses to Federer on Arthur Ashe in each of the previous three years and, when he went down 7-5 to an attacking Swiss in the opening set, it had the makings of a similar tale.
But Djokovic attacked back, all guns blazing, with a 6-1 retort. The next two sets seesawed in the same way, and when Federer gained two match points in the fifth, the result looked inevitable. However, the saving of those points showed the very best of the Serb as he fired off two blazing winners, one a huge smash to the backhand corner, the second a searing forehand down the line.
The way he won the match was even more impressive, outlasting Federer in a 21-stroke rally, staying calm, striking every ball in the heart of the racket, angling almost every drive to the back corners. He eventually forced Federer to drive a forehand wide of the sideline.
The Serbian expression moved from shell-shocked to matter-of-fact to celebratory. He had broken a jinx, proved a point, and swelled with confidence by an inch or two.
Even though Federer beat him in their three remaining matches of the year, the Djoker knew he had made a serious breakthrough. The clue to how he achieved it—one more step in the maturing of the Serb—came in his own words after the New York win: “I just knew I had to be patient and not lose my emotions too much, because that was the case in the past where I was losing the momentum…[Federer] uses that nervousness of the opponent. He feels it.”
Julian Finney/Getty Images
This time, Djokovic did not look nervous and showed infinite patience. He was also pragmatic in recognising that Federer had found his best tennis of the year to beat him in the semis of the WTFs. What’s more, Djokovic had more important business before 2010 was out.
The flame-red fire of patriotic fervour, ignited already in helping his country into the Davis Cup World Group, had brought out the best of Djokovic twice in 2010 already. He had beaten Sam Querrey and John Isner to lead Serbia to the quarterfinals. Then after Wimbledon, he beat Ivan Ljubicic and Marin Cilic to set up a final showdown against France in his home city of Belgrade.
Serbia’s red, confronted by the blue of France, produced a purple streak from Djokovic. He was entirely dominant in his first match with Gilles Simon—not too much of a surprise, of course, against a man working his way back from injury. But against the outrageous athleticism and flamboyant tennis of Gael Monfils, many expected an altogether different affair.
Both men stretch and reach like India-rubber figurines, with limbs longer than they should be and movement faster than a raging torrent. Both are showmen to their fingertips and were in form. Monfils, indeed, had reached the final of the Paris Masters only the month before.
But the Djokovic aiming to keep Serbia in the competition was a new animal: serious, focused, efficient and contained. He wasted not one iota of emotional energy. He neither dropped his head nor glanced to the heavens—those familiar gestures of a pent-up Djokovic. Here was a man of purpose, with the confidence to back up that purpose.
Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Where Monfils’ balance was thrown backwards to take the ball on the fall, Djokovic held his baseline and took the ball on the rise. He was quickly up 4-1 with a merciless attack of wide forehands to within inches of the baseline corners and piercing backhands both down the line and angled across the forecourt. Add in delicate drop shots and a few lobs, and the Frenchman’s goose was cooked.
The Djokovic serve, too, was at its very best. Hitting 82 percent of his first serves in the opening set, he did not lose a point on serve until the seventh game and produced hardly an error in closing the first set at 6-2.
The second set was almost a repeat, with Monfils forced into over-hitting by the accuracy and penetration of the Djokovic play. The first break came with relative ease at 3-2, and a second break swept Djokovic to another set at 6-2.
The third set saw Monfils go on the offensive. For a brief phase, the crowd was treated to both players doing what they do best: drop shots, bullet-fast drives to the baseline, wide drives to the sidelines, a constantly moving ballet across the width and depth of the court.
The composure of the Serb was disturbed only once, when Monfils achieved a rare break. Djokovic vented his frustration by smashing his racket to pieces, and that release helped to channel the Serbian focus and he reasserted his dominance once more.
In the end, it took a little over two hours to illustrate the kind of player that Djokovic has become, his new patience, his consistency, his intelligent control and his abandonment of despair. And, incidentally, he served not a single double fault.
The full-blown celebration had to wait out a marvellous performance by his compatriot, Viktor Troicki, but then the extrovert, uninhibited Djokovic was unleashed.
That Djokovic is the same man who strode into the O2 arena sporting an eye-patch after a contact lens incident the night before. He’s the man who happily modelled the briefest of briefs on the catwalk in Toronto. He’s the man who enthusiastically shaved his head, on court, with his Serbian teammates.
But he’s also a man who can say of an opponent “every ball kind of listens to him”, who can speak Serbian, Italian, German, French and English, who has established a new ATP tournament in Belgrade to spread the tennis word to young Serbians.
Now, he is also a player who, via a handful of key moments in his 23rd year, has learned to weave his many strengths—the arrow-straight backhand drive, the feathered drop, the cross-court air-born forehand, the accurate all-court placement—into the tightest and strongest of tennis.
He claims that, “Right now, emotionally, I’m confident, I’m happy, and looking forward to upcoming challenges.” It’s that maturity and contentedness, allied to a rainbow-rich array of shot-making, that will surely deliver his second Grand Slam in 2011.
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
Maybe he misjudged his preparations for the year’s first Grand Slam. Maybe, during the spring months, he took the wrong advice on his serve from Todd Martin. And maybe, in the closing months, he wished he had encountered Roger Federer in fewer matches.
But, when all is said and done, maybe he will look back on 2010 as the year when he wove together the multicolored strands of his uninhibited talent into a single, strong vein of form. And perhaps it will define the moment when the Djoker “put away childish things” and matured into one of the most complete players in tennis.
It is easy to forget how young Djokovic was when he began to impress on the tour. He turned pro at 16 and, two years later, ended 2005 as the youngest player in the top 100.
By 2006, he had won two ATP titles from three finals and was the youngest player to end the year in the top 20.
It was the same story in 2007: five ATP titles, a first Grand Slam final and—still just 20—the youngest man in the top 10 at the end of the year.
Two more mountains were scaled in 2008 with a first Slam title in Melbourne and the Masters title in Shanghai. Now ranked third in the world, Djokovic won four titles from seven finals, reached the semis of Roland Garros and Wimbledon while taking the bronze medal at the Olympics.
Clive Brunskill/Getty Images One more key moment in that year—a blood-red strand in his ever strengthening rope of maturity—was a win in the Davis Cup playoffs that ensured Serbia’s place in the World Group in 2009.
It was no surprise, then, that in 2009 the lean, fast, rangy Djokovic physique, driven by a keen intelligence and a passion that threatened to burst through his ribcage after every win, powered through 10 finals to five more titles.
He played more matches than anyone else (97) and won more of them than anyone else (78). He reached the quarterfinals or better in 19 out of 22 tournaments. On his favorite hard courts, he won 29 out of 33 matches after Montreal in August, concluding with back-to-back titles in Basel and the Paris Masters.
Even on clay, Djokovic took the scalp of Federer in Rome and very nearly Nadal’s, too, in Madrid.
So he rode into 2010 on a wave of success, with a new coach—American Todd Martin—and some of his natural, but often misplaced, ebullience reined in. His reward was to break through the Federer-Nadal duopoly.
With the Spaniard needing treatment on troublesome knees, the Djoker proved just how serious his intentions were, and rose to No. 2 in the world. A little further into the year, with Nadal back at top of the rankings, Djokovic stepped above Federer not once but twice between summer and autumn. And yet, measured by his earlier progress, 2010 was more of a steady canter than a gallop to the line.
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images Consistency was his watchword: for one thing, he made the quarterfinals or better in all four Grand Slams. But while he won an early title in Dubai, he waited until October and Beijing for his second and final ATP trophy of the year. In Miami he suffered his first opening round loss since January 2009, and in his home tournament in Belgrade, he retired ill in the first round. He conceded a two-set lead to Jurgen Melzer in the quarters of Roland Garros and went out of Queens in the third round.
Nevertheless, Djokovic was taking the first of several important steps towards infusing his game with the brilliant hues of his former palette. He separated from coach Martin, citing communication problems between the American and Djokovic’s long-standing coach, Marian Vajda. More revealingly, he commented on the impact of the partnership on his serve. “He tried to change [my serve], but it was all too complicated in the end and now I'm back to the old one.”
It had certainly appeared that the Djokovic serve was not up to its usual standard, and the less reliable it became, the more the confidence seemed to leach from the rest of his game.
The statistics from around this time make for fascinating reading. Between his first match in Indian Wells and his last in Rome, his first serve percentage was in the 50s four times and topped 70 only once, and his double fault rate in a couple of matches soared.
By Toronto, it did not fall below 68 in all four matches. By the U.S. Open, most matches ranged from the high 60s to the mid 70s. And between Flushing Meadows and the World Tour Finals, he averaged just one-and-a-half double faults in each of his 29 matches.
Nick Laham/Getty Images The second important confidence boost came at the U.S Open itself, in a semi-final meeting with a Federer aiming to reach his seventh final in New York. Djokovic carried the baggage of losses to Federer on Arthur Ashe in each of the previous three years and, when he went down 7-5 to an attacking Swiss in the opening set, it had the makings of a similar tale.
But Djokovic attacked back, all guns blazing, with a 6-1 retort. The next two sets seesawed in the same way, and when Federer gained two match points in the fifth, the result looked inevitable. However, the saving of those points showed the very best of the Serb as he fired off two blazing winners, one a huge smash to the backhand corner, the second a searing forehand down the line.
The way he won the match was even more impressive, outlasting Federer in a 21-stroke rally, staying calm, striking every ball in the heart of the racket, angling almost every drive to the back corners. He eventually forced Federer to drive a forehand wide of the sideline.
The Serbian expression moved from shell-shocked to matter-of-fact to celebratory. He had broken a jinx, proved a point, and swelled with confidence by an inch or two.
Even though Federer beat him in their three remaining matches of the year, the Djoker knew he had made a serious breakthrough. The clue to how he achieved it—one more step in the maturing of the Serb—came in his own words after the New York win: “I just knew I had to be patient and not lose my emotions too much, because that was the case in the past where I was losing the momentum…[Federer] uses that nervousness of the opponent. He feels it.”
Julian Finney/Getty Images This time, Djokovic did not look nervous and showed infinite patience. He was also pragmatic in recognising that Federer had found his best tennis of the year to beat him in the semis of the WTFs. What’s more, Djokovic had more important business before 2010 was out.
The flame-red fire of patriotic fervour, ignited already in helping his country into the Davis Cup World Group, had brought out the best of Djokovic twice in 2010 already. He had beaten Sam Querrey and John Isner to lead Serbia to the quarterfinals. Then after Wimbledon, he beat Ivan Ljubicic and Marin Cilic to set up a final showdown against France in his home city of Belgrade.
Serbia’s red, confronted by the blue of France, produced a purple streak from Djokovic. He was entirely dominant in his first match with Gilles Simon—not too much of a surprise, of course, against a man working his way back from injury. But against the outrageous athleticism and flamboyant tennis of Gael Monfils, many expected an altogether different affair.
Both men stretch and reach like India-rubber figurines, with limbs longer than they should be and movement faster than a raging torrent. Both are showmen to their fingertips and were in form. Monfils, indeed, had reached the final of the Paris Masters only the month before.
But the Djokovic aiming to keep Serbia in the competition was a new animal: serious, focused, efficient and contained. He wasted not one iota of emotional energy. He neither dropped his head nor glanced to the heavens—those familiar gestures of a pent-up Djokovic. Here was a man of purpose, with the confidence to back up that purpose.
Clive Brunskill/Getty Images Where Monfils’ balance was thrown backwards to take the ball on the fall, Djokovic held his baseline and took the ball on the rise. He was quickly up 4-1 with a merciless attack of wide forehands to within inches of the baseline corners and piercing backhands both down the line and angled across the forecourt. Add in delicate drop shots and a few lobs, and the Frenchman’s goose was cooked.
The Djokovic serve, too, was at its very best. Hitting 82 percent of his first serves in the opening set, he did not lose a point on serve until the seventh game and produced hardly an error in closing the first set at 6-2.
The second set was almost a repeat, with Monfils forced into over-hitting by the accuracy and penetration of the Djokovic play. The first break came with relative ease at 3-2, and a second break swept Djokovic to another set at 6-2.
The third set saw Monfils go on the offensive. For a brief phase, the crowd was treated to both players doing what they do best: drop shots, bullet-fast drives to the baseline, wide drives to the sidelines, a constantly moving ballet across the width and depth of the court.
The composure of the Serb was disturbed only once, when Monfils achieved a rare break. Djokovic vented his frustration by smashing his racket to pieces, and that release helped to channel the Serbian focus and he reasserted his dominance once more.
The full-blown celebration had to wait out a marvellous performance by his compatriot, Viktor Troicki, but then the extrovert, uninhibited Djokovic was unleashed.
That Djokovic is the same man who strode into the O2 arena sporting an eye-patch after a contact lens incident the night before. He’s the man who happily modelled the briefest of briefs on the catwalk in Toronto. He’s the man who enthusiastically shaved his head, on court, with his Serbian teammates.
But he’s also a man who can say of an opponent “every ball kind of listens to him”, who can speak Serbian, Italian, German, French and English, who has established a new ATP tournament in Belgrade to spread the tennis word to young Serbians.
Now, he is also a player who, via a handful of key moments in his 23rd year, has learned to weave his many strengths—the arrow-straight backhand drive, the feathered drop, the cross-court air-born forehand, the accurate all-court placement—into the tightest and strongest of tennis.
He claims that, “Right now, emotionally, I’m confident, I’m happy, and looking forward to upcoming challenges.” It’s that maturity and contentedness, allied to a rainbow-rich array of shot-making, that will surely deliver his second Grand Slam in 2011.
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
Davis Cup team donate shirts
Novak, Viktor & Nenad are to donate their Davis Cup shirts to charity. The money raised will go towards supporting reconstruction in the of city Kraljevo after the recent earthquake.
Here are the photos after the aution was announced in a Belgrade club called Mistique. Let's hope they raise lots of money for this worthwhile cause.
Here are the photos after the aution was announced in a Belgrade club called Mistique. Let's hope they raise lots of money for this worthwhile cause.
Today
The Feast of Harvest
has passed. Yuletide
rapidly approaches.
Smack dab in the middle
is today, the day I came
to be 43 years ago.
I have now lived longer
than all my artist
mentor friends,
save one.
Today,
I sing.
has passed. Yuletide
rapidly approaches.
Smack dab in the middle
is today, the day I came
to be 43 years ago.
I have now lived longer
than all my artist
mentor friends,
save one.
Today,
I sing.
Novak is now a stamp
The victorious Davis Cup team are now immortalised as national stamps to celebrate Serbia's "new sporting heroes". All 4 members of the winning team, Novak Djokovic, Janko Tipsarevic, Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic are featured in action shots. I wonder how long it will be before they run out of stock?
Davis Cup photos/videos
Here are all the photos & videos I have been able to find from the Davis Cup victory.
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