Yesterday certainly has'nt been novak's day. He did good but federer was better, probably cuz it was nerve wrecking for novak as it was his first grandslam final. Federer had been through this too many times..he was DEAD CALM. Novak had a lead on the 1st set but double faulted a couple of times in the end and handed off the first set to roger. Novak told the press that he was mentally weaker than roger and that's why he lost this time. Yah its understandable, give this kid some time and he will beat the hell outta federer one day. Federer narrowly won the first 2 sets both with tie breakers. Federer won by 7-6, 7-6, 6-4. It was a pretty tight match, Novak has certainly shown the world that he is capable of beating federer one day.
What an impressive crowd that showed up. The US open is now the highest attended sporting event in the world. Among the celebs spotted in the stadium that day were robin williams, Robert de niro....and surprise surprise maria sharapova was sitting in the novak's box cheering for him. I was watching the entire match and the camera just turned to maria a couple of times. Give that woman a break she's just cheering for her homecountry friend. People might think sharapova and nadal might be furious after novak's live impersonation on court a few days ago, but clearly sharapova is not. She was cheering and that makes people suspicious. Hrm... is there a little crush going on and the fact that novak did a pretty good impersonation of maria that means he has been watching her play moves quite a lot. Yeah well, if there is something going on, good for them they make a pretty cute couple.
No doubt Roger is the greatest tennis player, with 12 grandslams to his name now, he is looking forward to break the record of the legendary pete sampras with 14 grandslams. With the consistent performance he delivers, there is a very high probability that by next year's US open he might be in the running to break sampras's record. With his win yesterday, Federer became the only man to have won three of four Grand Slam singles tournaments in the same year three times, repeating his achievements of 2004, 2006 and 2007 . He achieved all 12 grandslams only at the age of 26 and took only 5 years to achieve it. He's NOT HUMAN.........
Grand Slam results (Federer)
Australian Open (W ) Year: 2004, 2006, 2007
French Open (F) Year: 2006, 2007
Wimbledon (W) Year: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
U.S. Open (W) Year: (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007)
I read the interview below and I find it soo true that Roger Federer plays GREAT tennis but he plays it with no personality . Novak has a lot of CHARISMA !! charisma YAH thats the right word. Like i said in my previous posting there are two kinds of players: (1)those that play for themselves and (2)those that play for the crowd. Federer, henin and kuznetsova falls in category 1 and novak just has the balance. He plays good tennis with some personality and charisma to it. What a character Novak is on and off court. He was just smilling even though he loss the title , unlike kuznetsova, her face was sour like a soursop . Even when he was on the verge of losing the title he just smiles and shakes his head most of the time. The president of USTA said to him "Novak you may not have won the tournament, but you have won our hearts". Yes, he did.
After he did the sharapova-nadal impersonation on US open Live he said:
"They made me do it," a smiling Djokovic said in the interview room. "
I'm really happy the people accepted it in a positive way. I'm not trying to make fun of the players, just to make the people laugh and have a good time." Djokovic said he's been doing impersonations for years, always in private, "
but now that I'm the No. 3 player in the world, people see these things on the practice court or wherever. I think tennis needs players with a lot of emotions, temperament and personality. I'm happy that people are looking at me in this way." -Djokovic-
Very well said indeed Novak. Watch Novak's impersonation on other tennis players.....he killed everyone's reputation. I laughed my tears out. The interview below had federer commenting about what novak did in the locker room. I posted the video below on what he did hahaha...he killed federer's coolness right there. Novak made him look like a weird sissy. HAHAHAHA!!!
September 9, 2007, 9:25 pm
Novak on Maria, De Niro and Set Points; Roger on Novak, Yellow and Playing Pete
By Kathleen McElroy
Tags: Maria Sharapova, novak djokovic, Roger Federer
Novak Djokovic is so funny in English, he must be a riot in Serbian. Here are the highlights of his and Federer’s post-match news conferences. Federer responds to a question about Djokovic’s personality, and announces an exhibition with Pete Sampras at Madison Square Garden on March 10, 2008.
Questions to Djokovic:
Q. How long will those seven set points haunt you?
A. My next book is going to be called, “7 Set Points.” I’m joking. …
Q. Maria Sharapova was in your box and also Robert De Niro. What are those two relationships with you? [Novak smiles] Somebody had to ask.
A. Yeah, I was expecting that question in the first place. No, let’s not go too much with Maria. It’s just a friendship we have. It was nice for her to come and support me. as well, Robert, he was yesterday on the match, and today. I mean, it’s amazing feeling to see such successful people, you know, in my box supporting me, playing with me I can say, living every emotional moment. It’s great. It’s great.
Q. What does she think of your imitation?
A. She said she’s going to kill me. Of course, she accepted it in the right way. Of course, she found it funny, not offended.
Q. How did you meet Robert De Niro? Did he just show up in your box?
A. I met him randomly on the street. I was sitting in a bar. He was coming, smoking a cigarette [smiling]. No, no. We were invited — I went with a couple of players, Ana Ivanovic, we got invited from he and his wife to dinner. …
Q. While it’s true that how you play physically depends on how you play mentally, if for the sake of examining your game, you could separate the physical from the mental part, do you feel your game is right there with Roger physically right now?
A. You’re getting into really deep, philsophic questions.
Q. You’re a deep guy.
A. I am deep. [Pause.] Let me think. …
Q. You came into this tournament not well-known by the American tennis fans except as the guy you beat Rafa, Roddick and Federer in Montreal. As they said in the awards ceremony, you stole our hearts. Do you have a sense of really what you’ve done? You said you’re very happy with what you’ve done on and off the court.
A. Yeah, well, as you’re saying, I mean I’m listening to you and I’m sweating because I feel really flattered and emotional in that moment when I heard that at the ceremony when they told me that I stole their hearts. Even when I didn’t win that match, for me, it was very, very emotional.
To get, you know, American people behind you, especially a crowd here in U.S. Open, is not so easy. Obviously they like my character on and off the court. So I get a lot of compliments on my impersonation, more than I get on tennis. I was a bit worried if the people look at me as, you know, imitator more than a tennis player.
But it was all nice. You know, I made a lot of friends here in the States. It’s gonna be a big pleasure coming next year for sure. Really looking forward to it.
Q. You said throughout this you take positives, you learn from matches. Tangibly what did you take from this match, learn about your game or yourself?
A. Well, I learned that I need to win the set points, obviously [smiling], that I shouldn’t play it safe or risk too much.
But, you know, it’s a part of tennis, of course. As I was saying, I always learn something. I have to look in a positive way. I’ll try, of course — with my coach, in the first place, all the people around me — to do everything I can to improve my game and to, of course, see this match again and see what I did bad and what I need to practice so I can make a better success next time.
Questions to Federer:
Q. … I see you’re wearing your black [outfit] tonight, an afternoon match. Also walking in to the Darth Vader theme song. How much of that is you? How much of that is other people? What do you think of all of that.
A. Look, in the end I call the shots on what I want to wear. If they want to put me out in yellow, I don’t do it [laughter]. I’ve done those mistakes in the past. I don’t want to do it again. But I thought all black is kind of a cool thing. I can only pull it off in New York. I started wearing the jacket at Wimbledon, kind of bringing something new to the Open, because I see many shirts out there I don’t like. I just want to make sure that one guy dresses kind of normal out there.
… I kind of like the idea of having a day-session, a night-session outfit. They’re really nice and classical shirts. I just thought, you know, even the black shoes and black socks, I’m not the biggest fans of them, but you have to complete the outfit.
Q. When you were down in the first set, what did you try to focus on? What went through your mind at that moment, down 40-love?
A. I thought he was going to serve another big serve and I would be out of a set, really. At this point, you have no hope. It’s obvious, you know.
Q. Do you see the potential for a rivalry with Djokovic along with Nadal?
A. Very possible, you know. Honestly, I’ve enjoyed the challenge of young guys challenging me. This is probably my biggest motivation out there. You know, seeing them challenge me, beating them in the final, it’s really for me the best feeling, to be honest [smiles].
Q. Novak obviously has a lot of charisma off the court. He sort of won over the fans, and here in the media room, he’s very funny and [a] quick wit. What do the players think of him? What’s his reputation among the players on tour? What do you think of his personality?
A. Well, we don’t talk too much about different players.
Q. What do you think of his personality?
A. Well, in the locker room, he’s always very respectful toward me, you know. He’s pretty quiet. I only hear stuff. I didn’t see the stuff he did on court the other day. I didn’t see what apparently he did on the locker room either [that’s the YouTube skit mentioned in the game story; it took place in the Open men’s locker room].
For me, these things, you know, I only hear. But people don’t really talk about it. I know some guys weren’t happy. I know some guys might think it’s funny.
He’s walking a tightrope, for sure. If fans like it, it’s good for tennis, to be honest. It’s good to have a character like him out there, there’s no doubt. [All of this said with no expression on his face.] ****
Q. This morning I heard a suggestion that you could be playing an exhibition early next year against Pete Sampras in the U.S. What’s the story on that?
A. Yeah, well, we gonna play exo’s obviously in Seoul, Korea, Kuala Lumpur and also Macau at the end of the year after Shanghai [ the season-ending championships], three of them in a row.
The idea came along obviously to do it in the States as well. We’re going to play March 10 at Madison Square Garden here. I’m really looking forward to that. We’ll see how the first three matches go. Hopefully, I don’t have to come from behind, huh [smile]?
