2015 Internazionali BNL d\'Italia…ATP 1000…Rome, Italy

[don_budge]

LEGS…in this case tennis is LEGS

All Djokovic, all the time.

Does not matter if Federer had the better or nicer looking strokes, Djokovic absorbed all of it and neutralizes better than anyone I can remember.

The Rome final was a snooze fest. Djokovic so good he makes it boring. I still like Roger though. How can you not? As a coach, teacher, student of the game, I don't know if I could take someone seriously if they didn't like Roger

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

I have said before in this Forum that tennis is CAP, consistency, accuracy and power, necessarily in that order. For the power player to win, he has to make the steady player play at his higher pace where he is no longer more consistent. No one can play big enough to make Nole inconsistent, at least not on normal surfaces. Perhaps on very fast hard and maybe on grass or indoors, but not on the vast majority of surfaces. He is too consistent and accurate with his depth. His power is not too bad either even if it is less than Fed's.

don

Good post. I think the control thing is a key component with Djokovic. When playing well, he hits an amazing length which very much negates what players can do against him.

This was really evident at 4 games all 1st set. Roger really put the pressure on Novak, played really big, but as you say, Novak absorbed it all and did not appear to be scrambling to do so. His footwork and core body posture ia really something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNyWrh629fI

Djokovic has younger legs. That's all. He is in his "prime".

"Perhaps on very fast hard and maybe on grass or indoors"…there is no question in my mind that this guy would be cat food for any of the top hundred players in the world in 1980 or so with real tennis racquets. The huge snowshoe racquets and the slow as molasses courts are deceiving to those that don't know any better. He's great at what he does but it doesn't change the fact that he is very one dimensional as a tennis player…historically speaking. The lack of variation in his play is numbing. The lack of competition is glaring. It's a weak field…the game has been "dumbed down". In every respect…you can start with the announcers.

Roger has played some 1250 tennis matches and been around the world X number of times. He is 34 years old. Novak has play "only" 780 tennis matches and is 27 years old. He has fewer miles on him.