WILL THE DJOKE DELIVER?
Sticking to
the positive and the possible, I would like to believe that Serbia’s Novak Djokovic already has an important tool in place to hold his own when he treads Federerdom at his own risk this evening at the Rod Laver Arena.
The 19-year old is on a mission with a 50-50 chance of making it. He has the confidence of a president despite coming from a tiny country. He will face Federer to win and not just to play his best tennis, he said. This young man is not ready to play a supportive role to the protagonist. He wanted a huge stage of his own. Co-existence is not in his current goal, it seems.
Last year, he was a joke in the circuit due to his range of “injuries” from breathing to eye problems during matches. This was the young man who lost two sets before he retired with a back injury during the quarterfinals against world no. 2 Rafael Nadal in Roland Garros. At the post-match press conference he had the temerity to analyze that he “dominated” the match. Hopefully we will not see any of his antics in this anticipated meeting. This will also be Roger’s significant test despite having a 2-0 record against the 14th-ranked Djokovic. After all, he once anointed this man to be the future number one in the world.
I do not brand the Serbian’s confidence as too lofty or delusional. In fact, I truly admire his self-belief. Self-belief is something that most people ought to have in their pursuit of excellence may it be in sports or in daily life.
Against the entrancing Roger Federer though, he has to show some enormous fortitude to avoid being decimated.
January 22nd, 2007 at 4:51 pm
I’d really like to see someone step up and give Federer a challenge. I think it was Nadal who last put a wupping on him at Roland Garos, that is if my faulty memory serves correctly.
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:06 pm
Nadal is a far second to Federer except on clay. However, he will be on a mission in Roland Garros this year so it will be an interesting part of the season.
Watch out for Scot Andy Murray. He just survived (no shame in the loss) his first titanic 5-setter against Nadal (article coming up). He has a superb court sense among the rising players and his stars are aligning right. He was the last man to beat Federer in 2006 during the Cincinnati Masters straight sets.
April 5th, 2007 at 3:02 am
Excuse, and what you think concerning forthcoming elections?
April 18th, 2007 at 2:12 am
nice photos of this blog