[RetourGagnant]

Novak first tournament without Becker as his official coach since 2014. Has he recollected his passion for the game and his warrior heart to reclaim his #1 throne?

Discuss!

ps: please post his tournament pictures and related interviews and articles here please. Make Djokoland great again :lol:

 

[RetourGagnant]

Re: Doha 2017: The Rise of Serbinator

Refreshed And Reloaded, Djokovic Takes Aim At 2017 | ATP World Tour | Tennis

Novak Djokovic looks ahead to season opener in Doha


Novak Djokovic has much to look forward to in 2017. The World No. 2 relinquished his No. 1 position in the Emirates ATP Rankings after a strong 2016 finish by Andy Murray and will be keen to exact revenge on his longtime rival to open the New Year.

The top two seeds at this week's Qatar ExxonMobil Open, Djokovic and Murray last met for the ATP Finals championship - and year-end No. 1 honour - in November. They could face off once again on Saturday in the Doha final.

"Of course I would like to congratulate Andy for reaching No. 1 and crowning his season again, because he has played some tremendous tennis, especially in the last three, four months," said Djokovic. "He definitely deserves to be there."

Despite dropping to No. 2, the 29-year-old Serbian is coming off another strong season, which saw him post a 65-9 record and notch seven titles. Djokovic enters Doha as as the defending champion and says he feels refreshed after a much-needed off-season break. The key? Spending time with family at home.

"We had now five, six weeks of off-season," Djokovic added. "Not entirely rest, because in the five, six weeks you have to put in the rest together with preparations. But it is as it is. Sometimes I've had even shorter off-seasons. But nevertheless, I did take some time off with family. I didn't travel much. I wanted to stay home and stay in one place where I can recharge my batteries. I just feel that I went to my home base.

"With the lifestyle of a tennis player and all the traveling, sometimes you lose coordinates. You are all over the place. So it's great to actually be in one place for certain amount of weeks. That allows you to unpack your things and mentally just relax and stay put.

"From that perspective you're able to observe things much differently. This off-season allowed me to really look back at what I've been through in my entire career, but especially in the last 12, 15 months, and to think about what is the next step and how I want to keep going."

Djokovic is making his third straight appearance at the season-opening ATP World Tour 250 event, having reached the quarter-finals in 2015 (l. to Karlovic), followed by a 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Rafael Nadal for the 2016 title. This week, the second seed opens against Jan-Lennard Struff, with a potential quarter-final rematch against Karlovic in the cards. Murray, third seed Tomas Berdych and fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga loom in the other half of the draw.

"Now it's the third year in a row I'm in Doha and I'm really pleased to start off the year in this tournament. It is traditionally voted the best in its category. And deservedly so, because they have been really trying to make sure that every player is feeling at home.

"The facilities are great. The hotel is a very high-quality standard. You have the beach. You can bring your families in and have a nice balance between the family time. The site is very close. You have plenty of courts to practise. The matches are starting late in the day, which allows us to avoid the heat and all these things.
"So they're really doing their job very well. You can see every single year you get at least couple top players from Top 5 of the world. You have at least four, five players from Top 10. That says enough about what I personally, and we all players, feel about this tournament."

 

[RetourGagnant]

Re: Doha 2017: The Rise of Serbinator

Some excerpt from the Sun

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/2514368/andy-murray-adamant-novak-djokovic-remains-biggest-threat-to-his-world-crown-in-2017/

A year ago Djokovic, who has since split for coach Boris Becker, was dominating men’s tennis and there was talk of him winning all four Grand Slams in 2016.

He did capture the Australian and the French Open titles only for his season to tail off dramatically.

The Serb crashed out in the third round at Wimbledon and lost his US Open final to Stan Wawrinka.
But he said: “I don’t see the six months, second six months of 2016 as a failure or anything like that.

“It’s not in my mindset, I guess, in my philosophy of life to observe things in this way — that I didn’t succeed, that I failed, that I’ve fallen or something like that.

"I just feel like every experience is a blessing one way or another."

The 12-time Grand Slam winner added that he retained his hunger to win, saying:

"Without a doubt, when I'm on the court there is no other thing than to win that tennis match."

No one has ever successfully defended the Qatar Open since Murray in 2009.

 

[RetourGagnant]

Re: Doha 2017: The Rise of Serbinator

R1: def. Jan Lennard Struff 7-6(1), 6-3

I only watch the second set, my notes:
- Somehow I see Novak a bit thinner with baggy eyes. Cant really tell if my eyes playing tricks on me or if it's the real thing
- First serve percentage was good. Good number of service winners and aces. Granted I dont think Struff is a decent returner
- Novak's netgame is better than usual. I can feel he is feeling solid at the net
- His return game however is kinda off. Oh well he won the match in his return game though and with a winner nevertheless

 

[DinnerWarrior]

Re: Doha 2017: The Rise of Serbinator

R1: def. Jan Lennard Struff 7-6(1), 6-3

I only watch the second set, my notes:
- Somehow I see Novak a bit thinner with baggy eyes. Cant really tell if my eyes playing tricks on me or if it's the real thing
- First serve percentage was good. Good number of service winners and aces. Granted I dont think Struff is a decent returner
- Novak's netgame is better than usual. I can feel he is feeling solid at the net
- His return game however is kinda off. Oh well he won the match in his return game though and with a winner nevertheless

Djokovic had a terrible start when everything was off, losing 8 consecutive points on serve and trailing 0-4 as a result. Then he got better, Struffi got tight, the rest is history. But those slow starts seem to be forming a trend, which is weird. Please post here whatever explanation Djokovic provides for that, because I'm clueless.

 

[RetourGagnant]

Re: Doha 2017: The Rise of Serbinator

He basically said that the anticipation of serve was rusty and he needed time to adjust to that.

"I guess I had to get more time to get the engine started," Djokovic said. "It's first match of the year. You never know how you're going to start. I was a bit flat on my feet, and Struff, credit to him for playing aggressive, hitting the serves well, and ripping the ball from the baseline."

The second-ranked Serb broke serve in the first and last games of the second set to close out the match.

"I stayed composed because I knew, I believed that I could find the rhythm, start reading his serve better, and that's what happened," Djokovic said.

"Certainly I can play better. But, again, it's first match of the year. I know that I can't be at my top the very first match, but I believe that the process is right."

 

[Djoker]

Re: Doha 2017: The Rise of Serbinator

Novak played much better against Zeballos today.

Then again, Stepanek and possibly Karlovic are ahead. Not exactly the easiest matchups, still gotta be tested before getting into the final.

 

[Pan's Labyrinth]

Re: Doha 2017: The Rise of Serbinator

 

[Yolita]

Re: Doha 2017: The Rise of Serbinator

CONGRATULATIONS, NOVAK!!!

:yippee: :yippee: :yippee: :yippee: :yippee: :yippee:

i'M about to go and watch the final, which I had to miss because I had a doctor appointment.

I saw all the other matches, though, and I think Novak still has to work on a few things, but all in all I'm very hopeful. The Nole we saw in London at the WTFs final is gone, thankfully.

I am so happy.

Big kiss to all my fellow Nole fans.

Here we go on another season.

 

[Shinoj]

Looks like the Champ is back..Now please stay off the Vegan diet and god,no philosophical Roller coaster for him this year..

@Yolita,A big Kiss to you as well..

 

[RetourGagnant]

The last two matches were really an emotional torture for me. Having to save 5 MP in one day and choking 3 MP in the next one, was really too much to me. But after having a decent sleep, in a hindsight, I think these may give Novak what he really needs: the confidence that he can turnover the match to his side and the confidence that he can overcome his mental block closing the match. Especially the latter, because it's been a worrying pattern, pretty much like the RG final when he just couldnt end Murray having 2 breaks lead.

Novak played pretty bad vs. Ferdasco, but he kept his cool in that thrilling tiebreak and did enough to secure push his opponent making the error. In the match vs world no.1, it was one of the best match since 3-4 months ago. His glorious forehand was there, and his DTL shots connected most of the time. Hey, even his Djokosmash made something like 10-11 winners if im not mistaken. Great stuff.

I'm so happy that he finally ended this title "drought". His last glory was Toronto last year :sad:, i just cant believe it. We used to have Novak winning back-to-back tournaments, and I was really desperate for another victory, and boy he delivered, over world no.1 nevertheless. In my personal note, I'm hoping he gets his revenge and his mojo back against Stanislas Wawrinka this year. The Swiss has the mental edge against Novak lately, which really shouldnt ever happen in the first place.

 

[RetourGagnant]

Let's hope the below scenario will happen again in Melbourne this year :lol:

Zeballos should be nominated to be a member of Player Council Great selfie

 

[Yolita]

I'm hoping he gets his revenge and his mojo back against Stanislas Wawrinka this year. The Swiss has the mental edge against Novak lately, which really shouldnt ever happen in the first place.

This, a million times.

I feel that Novak approaches Wawrinka with fear, when it's a grand slam. That needs to change.

I'm going to be on holiday for a few days and I will miss the AO draw. I will not even look it up until I come back. :lol:

Good luck to our man! :cheerleader:

 

[RetourGagnant]

Bonnes vacances @Yolita :hug:

 

[RetourGagnant]

Calling my fellow Nolefam to open his AO thread this year? Maybe @Sportsperson000 or @RU90
Otherwise I will open it Sunday?

 

[Sportsperson000]

Calling my fellow Nolefam to open his AO thread this year? Maybe @Sportsperson000 or @RU90
Otherwise I will open it Sunday?

I can do it later today or tomorrow if you want, though my USO thread was not successful and the post USO tournaments thread even less :sobbing: .

 

[RetourGagnant]

I can do it later today or tomorrow if you want, though my USO thread was not successful and the post USO tournaments thread even less :sobbing: .

Please do!
2016 was behind us, now it's a brand new motivated Nole we have