So, i've talked a lot about hockey so far, its time to get into tennis! So my favourite tennis player growing up was Andy Roddick, loved his serve, swagger, and his passion. Of course, at the moment Roddick is looking like a Challenger level player, and his annoying rants are becoming far more frequent and far less funny. So, I have essentially become a Nadal supporter full-time. I hate Djokovic for multiple reasons that I will get into.
Firstly, I just want to express my amazement, and disappointment on Djokovic's run in 2011. He is 37-0, with 7 of those wins being over Federer and Nadal. This is truly one of the best runs in tennis ever, as he has done things not even a prime Federer was able to do; beat everyone, including Nadal. Djokovic is playing amazing right now, he is as fit as ever, has matured a lot more (though he still screams like a beast) and his ball striking abilities are as good as ever. All that being said, Djokovic's perfect season is also occurring at a time when his fellow members of the "big four": Rafa, Federer and Andy Murray are all playing below their best. With Federer, its no secret that he is not the player he once was, mainly due to age, but both Murray and Rafa, aged 23 and 24 respectively are not playing as well as they did last year. While Rafa is still playing very good tennis, I have noticed that two key areas of his game are struggling: his backhand and his passing shots. Despite the fact his backhand was never his best shot, it was always a shot he could pull the trigger on in key moments to throw his opponent off (see Aussie 09 final). Lately however, especially on the clay, Nadal has begun to merely push of the backhand side, just playing it back into the court. For Nadal to be aggressive on his forehand, he needs to be more confident on his backhand so he doesnt have to run around it as much, sacrificing court position. His passing shots, one viewed as miraculous have lot a bit of their edge. If you watch Nadal in 2007 - 2009, you will notice that he passed players at the net so easily that players where scared to approach him. This is no longer the case, and while his passing shots are far from poor, he is no longer able to pull of the shots we expect him to make. Nadal is still good enough to compete and beat everyone sans Djokovic, but at their current levels, Rafa has no shot at beating the Serb.
So now on to why I dislike Djokovic. Firstly, I dislike the way he acts hurt or tired every time in a match when he is down. Exhibit A of this was his match against Murray in Rome. For the first time since late 2010, a man was a hold of serve away from beating for Djokovic. Oddly enough, for the first time in roughly the same period of time, fans saw Djokovic bending over between points, rubbing his legs, breathing heavily. My point here is that Djokovic acts tired and hurt almost every match where he is losing. While it could be proven that many players, if not all, do this, Djokovic takes it to an extreme. It especially ticks me off when he ends up winning that match, and shows no ill effects post-match. My best example of this was at the 08 US Open where Djokovic was pushed to 5 sets in the 4th round against Spaniard Tommy Robredo, a solid but hardly elite veteran. Djokovic saw the trainer countless time that match, and was seen bending down to catch his breath many times as well. Of course when he won the match there was none of that. In the very next round against my boy Roddick, he showed no ill-effects of his injury and won in 4 sets. After the match he would chirp Roddick and the fans, bringing me to my next point; he runs his mouth too much. Right from the time he was an up and comer, Djokovic has been known to run his mouth. At the 06 French Open as a tour rookie, he said "He was in control of the match" that he played against defending champion Nadal. For someone in control, the stats didnt show it. He was down 6-4, 6-4 before retiring. While he has toned down a bit, it still annoys me when I see him complaining and screaming on court in matches he shouldnt be. For example, in a match at the 2010 Rogers Cup against journeyman Victor Hanescu, Djokovic screamed loudly, banging his racquet after missing a forehand, that would have put the 1st set even more in his favour, even after he had the lead.
Simply put, I am not a fan of Djokovic, and while I acknowledge he is the man right now, I hope Rafa gets his act together to put Novak back in his place
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