Djoker Slam; pro tennis 2016
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Novak Djokovic beat Andy Murray in 4 sets to win the French Open this morning. He now holds all 4 slams at once. With Fed and Rafa on the decline and Murray unable to beat him in the big matches at the moment he has a good chance to complete a calendar GS this season
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<p>Yep, and it'll put him on 14 slams equal with Rafa and Sampras. He's 30 next year, so he can't have much time left at the top of his game, but he may have just long enough to go past Fed (17 slams). </p>
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<p>Is Rod Laver the only male tennis player to win all four in one calendar year?</p> -
<p>Yes, did it twice - 1962 (amateur) and 1969 (pro).</p>
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<p>The irony is: Laver never won a grand slam tournament after 1969.</p> -
<p>Yeah - Djok's won six of the last eight slams and (all else being equal) would have done the true Grand Slam last year if Wawrinka hadn't beaten him in the final of the French.</p>
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<p>Having banked this year's French it's hard to see who will beat him to stop him picking up the full set in 2016. Most likely himself. I thought the same about Serena last year, but the pressure got to her at the US and she lost to Roberta Vinci! </p> -
<p>Djokovic, like Federer in 2009, was lucky that the cards fell his way. In 2009, Rafa lost early in an upset and this time injury forced him out. While I acknowledge you can only beat the players in front of you, it helped that the best clay court player wasn't one of those players on either occasion. That said, Djokovic is clearly the best mens player at the moment and is a very good chance to better Federer's record. I still think Murray can win at Wimbledon or the US Open. Hopefully Fed returns soon as well as I'd love to see him win one more Wimbledon title.</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Bovidae" data-cid="585265" data-time="1465170818">
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<p>Djokovic, like Federer in 2009, was lucky that the cards fell his way. In 2009, Rafa lost early in an upset and this time injury forced him out. While I acknowledge you can only beat the players in front of you, it helped that the best clay court player wasn't one of those players on either occasion. That said, Djokovic is clearly the best mens player at the moment and is a very good chance to better Federer's record. I still think Murray can win at Wimbledon or the US Open. Hopefully Fed returns soon as well as I'd love to see him win one more Wimbledon title.</p>
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<p>Doubtless helpful to Djok that he didn't have to play Rafa, but I don't think he was anywhere near as lucky as Roger was in 2009. Rafa isn't the same player he was five years ago and Djok has pretty much had his number for the past couple of years - including on clay (and including last year's French - though admittedly Rafa's form isn't quite as dire as last year).</p>
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<p>Nonetheless, I think their recent head-to-head is something like 11-1 to Djok. I would have picked Djok to win. </p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="canefan" data-cid="585286" data-time="1465181501">
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<p>You can never rule out someone like Stanimal having another dream hardcourt fortnight or someone like Cilic going off at Wimbledon but there hasn't been this much separation between the form of the world #1 and the rest for ages</p>
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<p>Could happen - you really just need someone to play three sustained sets of superb tennis and Djok to have an off day.</p>
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<p>But in the past two (1.5) seasons Djok has lost only eight times - plus one retirement. </p>
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<p>Three times to Roger. Twice to Andy. Once to Stan.</p>
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<p>And twice to randoms - Ivo Karlic, Jiri Vesely.</p>
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<p>I reckon most likely Roger beats him quickly or Andy or Stan beat him in four. It's a long time since Djok lost a fifth set.</p> -
<p>Interesting to read that Djokovic took the longest (8 yrs) of the 8 players to achieve the career grand slam - 2008 Aust Open to 2016 French Open. In comparison, Agassi took 4 yrs, Federer 6 yrs and Nadal 5 yrs.</p>
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<p>Andy Murray's record in Grand slam finals is now 2-8. Oh to be born in another decade!</p> -
<p>What decade though</p>
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<p>In Open era</p>
<p>70's Bjorg, McEnroe, Connors</p>
<p>80's McEnroe, Lendl, Becker, Edberg</p>
<p>90's Sampras, Agassi</p>
<p>00's Federer, Nadal</p>
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<p>Murray is basically an OK player just like Hewitt, Wilander, Vilas - all multiple slam winners who were born in the same era</p>
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<p>Was Fed born in the wrong decade? Runner up to Nadal at Paris four times in a row and also lost to him at Wimbledon and Melbourne....</p> -
<p>Murray really needs to win some grand slams in the next couple of years before he gets too old. He's on 2 which is level with Wawrinka which doesn't really set him out as the consistent top 4 player that he has been. I still think his natural game is to retreat behind the baseline and retrieve and that only works when Djokovic is making mistakes and is less likely to work over 5 sets than 3.</p>
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<p>On Laver, tennis was very different at the start of the Open era. Laver missed a lot of Grand Slam events because they weren't automatically the events you entered if there were higher paying tournaments at the same time. For example, Laver won the French in 1969 but never played in it again. And from 63 to 67 he didn't play a single slam (aged 24-29 so in his prime) as he was a pro and the slams were still amateur. But he still won 11 slams ......</p> -
<p>It's been said Djokovic lost confidence on his second serve which resulted in a slowdown for both first and second serve.</p>
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