Dubai ATP 500

[don_budge]

Novak didn't look like his heart was in it. Bad news for the Russiaphobes...THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!!!

[jimlosaltos]

Wall of Med* = No Lockdown Mode.

Watched the highlights (good collection, 5 minutes at link) and it reinforced my first impression: Medvedev forced Djokovic out of his comfort zone. Novak has areas where he isn't great -- trouble is, they are things that are hard to attack.

Djokovic's drop shots are pretty bad, as Mats Wilander once said of his sliced backhand "Novak should just put that club back in his bag", and while Novak has good hands, his overall net play is not stellar (although like other great grinders he can usually come in behind great approaches), and as Boris Becker once said, "Novak's overhead is the worst in the ATP 100."

But how does one expose those? Hit short balls so you can lob him? ...

Somehow, Medvedev can force Djokovic to seemingly hit those shots more often in a match than he normally does in a tournament. {No, I didn't count.}, and go for a lot on his forehand, which leaked errors like a 9,300 foot-long Norfolk Southern toxic chemical train. {Yes, the train that crashed in East Palatine was that long.}

Djokovic hit 13 drop shots for 1 (one, lonely) winner and 1 "forcing shot". Stats don't show who won the points if the rally continued, but on the big points at least my memory and the highlights say it was Medvedev
https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/st...=StrokeSummary

As for his slice, Novak hit a lot & they certainly didn't set up his inside-out forehand nor disrupt Medvedev's rhythm nor court position.

P.S. I remember a day when Djokovic was, in Andy Roddick's words, "The best in tennis at changing direction." {And given Andy's animosity toward Novak, that's praise well earned}. I can't recall a DTL backhand that hurt Medvedev (must have been some but they didn't make an impression on me) ; instead when the backhand, cross-court rallies lengthened, Novak turned to slice.

P.P.S. * Did don-budge coin the "Wall of Med"? If so, kudos .... hmmmm no thumbs up emoji here so ... ╭( ⌒_⌒)و

[stroke]

Wall of Med* = No Lockdown Mode.

Watched the highlights (good collection, 5 minutes at link) and it reinforced my first impression: Medvedev forced Djokovic out of his comfort zone. Novak has areas where he isn't great -- trouble is, they are things that are hard to attack.

Djokovic's drop shots are pretty bad, as Mats Wilander once said of his sliced backhand "Novak should just put that club back in his bag", and while Novak has good hands, his overall net play is not stellar (although like other great grinders he can usually come in behind great approaches), and as Boris Becker once said, "Novak's overhead is the worst in the ATP 100."

But how does one expose those? Hit short balls so you can lob him? ...

Somehow, Medvedev can force Djokovic to seemingly hit those shots more often in a match than he normally does in a tournament. {No, I didn't count.}, and go for a lot on his forehand, which leaked errors like a 9,300 foot-long Norfolk Southern toxic chemical train. {Yes, the train that crashed in East Palatine was that long.}

Djokovic hit 13 drop shots for 1 (one, lonely) winner and 1 "forcing shot". Stats don't show who won the points if the rally continued, but on the big points at least my memory and the highlights say it was Medvedev
https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/st...=StrokeSummary

As for his slice, Novak hit a lot & they certainly didn't set up his inside-out forehand nor disrupt Medvedev's rhythm nor court position.

P.S. I remember a day when Djokovic was, in Andy Roddick's words, "The best in tennis at changing direction." {And given Andy's animosity toward Novak, that's praise well earned}. I can't recall a DTL backhand that hurt Medvedev (must have been some but they didn't make an impression on me) ; instead when the backhand, cross-court rallies lengthened, Novak turned to slice.

P.P.S. * Did don-budge coin the "Wall of Med"? If so, kudos .... hmmmm no thumbs up emoji here so ... ╭( ⌒_⌒)و

Great post, so much good stuff. All this is true at Novak's current age, but if Novak as 19 or 20 again, I like his chances for a good run.

[jimlosaltos]

Great post, so much good stuff. All this is true at Novak's current age, but if Novak as 19 or 20 again, I like his chances for a good run.

Thanks! Glad it was useful.

Not sure about 19 yo Novak but yes at his peak. He's number one nowwithout being at his peak, which is a great accomplishment (by each of the Big 3) ... Tangentially, Which do you think was Djokovic's peak year 2011 or 2015?

[don_budge]

Novak didn't look like his heart was in it. Bad news for the Russiaphobes...THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!!!

Both finalists playing under the stigma of having their flags being censored from their association. Playing politics. Not allowed to discuss on the forum. When the narrative is not controlled ideas might escape that do not fit in with conventional wisdom. So, I am rooting for a Russian to win this tournament. But that in itself might not be legal because it goes against the narrative. All things Russian are evil. Thus the omission of the flag. Which makes it alright. I cannot imagine what it feels to these players to play under the circumstances. The negative energy being shot their way. Novak is a known Russian simpathizer. Serbia typically does. Maybe he played it soft against Daniil.

But I can say for certain that Novak's heart was not in that match. For whatever reason. At the beginning he was serving and volleying...ostentatiously supposedly according to the "commentatoes" because Medvedev was receiving so deeply. What a wayward observation. Like most of the comments served to boister a losing proposition on the court. One even had the audacity to suggest that Novak was one of the most complete players of all time. What nonsense. Novak cannot volley his way out of a paper bag. He can come in and do mop up duty with the best of them. Nadal is another good example of this. Coming in on a near winner and just having to bunt the ball short or something to that effect. But to come in and volley under pressure relentlessly...no fucking way.

Even the way Novak closed out the match and his journey to the net in the loser capacity betrayed the fact...his heart was not in it.

[don_budge]

Hahaha...one of the "commentatoes" just said that Medvedev is built like a pencil...very wiry. Previously he mentioned how intelligent he was at designing points. For just a split second I wanted to give this guy some credit...he gets it. Daniil "Mr. Pencil" Medvedev. Much more imaginative than "Meddy" or whatever the chorus is calling him on the forum.

[stroke]

I like the Wall of Med, I guess because I came up with it ha.

[stroke]

Wall of Med looking like only he can. It is going to take some massive effort for The Goblin to get to a 3rd set.

[don_budge]

I like the Wall of Med, I guess because I came up with it ha.

Wall of Med* = No Lockdown Mode.

P.P.S. * Did don-budge coin the "Wall of Med"? If so, kudos .... hmmmm no thumbs up emoji here so ... ╭( ⌒_⌒)و

That makes two of you...give yourselves a like. You deserve it for crying out loud.

[stroke]

That makes two of you...give yourselves a like. You deserve it for crying out loud.

Hey, 2 "likes" is one more than I usually get.

[stroke]

Another thing I like is the Wall of Med's victory celebrations.

[jimlosaltos]

I like the Wall of Med, I guess because I came up with it ha.

Then I owe you thanks, credit AND an apology.

Great nickname

[glacierguy]

I was hoping Andy Murray was going to beat Medvedev in Doha, because then I was going to post something witty about the Wall of Med losing to le mur de Murray.

[jimlosaltos]

I was hoping Andy Murray was going to beat Medvedev in Doha, because then I was going to post something witty about the Wall of Med losing to le mur de Murray.

You just did. And it is quite good.

Now you've raised the level of expectation on TPN's forum. We need clever nicknames for every player <g>.

[don_budge]

Hahaha...one of the "commentatoes" just said that Medvedev is built like a pencil...very wiry. Previously he mentioned how intelligent he was at designing points. For just a split second I wanted to give this guy some credit...he gets it. Daniil "Mr. Pencil" Medvedev. Much more imaginative than "Meddy" or whatever the chorus is calling him on the forum.

Wall of Med.

Both finalists playing under the stigma of having their flags being censored from their association. Playing politics. Not allowed to discuss on the forum. When the narrative is not controlled ideas might escape that do not fit in with conventional wisdom. So, I am rooting for a Russian to win this tournament. But that in itself might not be legal because it goes against the narrative. All things Russian are evil. Thus the omission of the flag. Which makes it alright. I cannot imagine what it feels to these players to play under the circumstances. The negative energy being shot their way. Novak is a known Russian simpathizer. Serbia typically does. Maybe he played it soft against Daniil.

I watched a decent amount of the final between the unknown Russians. Or rather Russians with unknown origins. You know...the players without flags attached to their names. Even though the majority of the world doesn't go along with the narrative. What a world. Whoever controls the information controls the world. Who has the power to do this? It's unbelievable. Literally unbelievable. Look what they have done to the United States of America. Speaking of walls.

Medvedev was awesome. He just had too much artillery for his patriotic comrade. This was a wall? That is amusing. You guys are amusing. Nothing about the Medvedev game resembles a wall...but now all players in the ATP are going to have "Wall" attached to their nicknames. It isn't difficult to figure out why. There is safety in numbers. I remember when I first started posting on the forum. It reminded me of grade school on my first day at a new school and a lot of the kids came out to recess to call me names. They ganged up on me. This sort of behavior continued for some years. It didn't matter that I proved myself over and over. The more things change the more they stay the same. There is no safety in numbers. Only ignorance...more of it. Only stupidity...more of it. But please continue. There is nobody left. Just the remainders of a once thriving community with a bunch of different voices. Wall of Med it is...wall of Djokovic and Murray as well. Everyone is a wall. It's like it use to be "Mister" now it is "Wall Medvedev". "Wall Djokovic". "Wall Murray". You can have it. Alas...it is only human nature.

Daniil "Mr. Pencil" Medvedev showed a rare display of efficiency and laser like precision in annihilating Herr Rublev. Rublev early on felt the effects of the heat that Medvedev was bringing to the Dubai tennis court. He was completely overwhelmed. Somehow I didn't think that Novak Djokovic was one hundred percent against Medvedev in the semifinals. But Novak himself admitted that he lost to the better player. Medvedev hit a stride in his form that he would like to carry over for the next couple of weeks. The next month. I think that Novak has reached a point in his career where he simply cannot summon the dragon night in and night out. Week in and week out. He is going to have to pick and choose a bit.

Carefully measuring his steps as we watched Roger Federer do in the final years of his career. He used his time wisely. He used his time brilliantly. Learing how to eek every last bit of energy out of his waning body. Using every ounce of experience and mental strength to take out younger opponents. This is where his serving brilliance really shined as he had the ability to take his service game in a minute or thereabouts consistently over and over. That is an advantage. I don't know if Novak has that advantage but he has shown signs of amping up the groundstrokes to conclude things a bit quicker than he used to. He is going to have to. He cannot grind out there with the younger legs. Ironic...isn't it? The last years of Federer's career he was battling the same conundrum with the younger legs. Now the shoe is on the other foot.