I can think of a lot of people (Juan Jose?) who are cringing right about now, if they watched Rafael Nadal clean Novak Djokovic’s clock(tower). Djokovic’s behavior during the match, as he nursed his sore back, was sufficiently irritating to throw Nadal off and cause him to lose concentration. And Dirty Boy Rafa wouldn’t lie about something like that, I don’t think.
As Nadal said:
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Yes, it (The Djoker’s high level of play late in the second set and early in the third) It surprised me. He was showing that he wasn't feeling very well, but he was signing to his back every time he lost a point.
So after that - but anyway, it's my fault. I was losing my concentration at 30 Love. But he continued to play. Obviously, he was playing. He was serving at 105, so it surprised me in 15 30 that he retired.
But I suppose he was not feeling well, because you don't retire from a quarterfinals in a Grand Slam unless you're not feeling well.
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Now here’s the truly weird thing:
In his presser following the win over James Blake, Gael Monfils looked forward – and back – as he contemplated his next round, against the Djoker. The backstory is that Monfils and Djokovic played a tight five-setter at the U.S. Open, which the Djoker won after stalling and taking injury time outs because of an alleged “breathing problem.”
(In Djokovic’s defense, he did have surgery at the end of last year to relieve blockage in his nose – the way he described it, it sounds like he had a badly deviated septum).
Here’s what Monfils said as he contemplated the Grand Slam rematch:
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Djokovic, let me think. I had problems with him at the US Open, 7 5 at the end. We're at home. This is going to be very different.
He's a very good player. He's a very good player. It's going to be a big match again, I know. I hope that it might be a bit more fair play than last time. But I expect a big match. . .
. . .Well, he couldn't breathe and he had a problem in the calf of his leg, then he had pain somewhere else. I can do the same and pretend I have blisters.
I don't think it was a very good way of playing. But I think he's more mature now. He has more experience. He's not going to repeat that, I think, in France. He's clever enough not to do that.
In the meantime, we got very friendly. We're both young players. It's good we should meet. I'm sure it's going to be very fair play tomorrow.
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As if all this isn’t bad enough, The Djoker made a Sesil Kratancheva-grade public relations faux pas – actually, it was more than that, it was a delusional faux pas – when he kept insisting that he was “in control” of the match with Dirty Boy Rafa. If you read the transcript, you’ll see that his original reference to this issue could be taken various ways, but by his last reiteration, it was clear. The guy thought he had Nadal’s number, despite the inconvenient reality of the 6-4,6-4 scores.
There are only two ways in which this isn’t simple, youthful hauteur and delusion: if the Djoker really meant something different with the word “control”, as if he was saying something like, “I wasn’t letting him get out ahead, I was sticking with him.” That’s a real possibility,
The other possibility is that Djokovic is like the proverbial young fighter who, bathed in blood and seeing triple, is begging his corner man to let him off the stool to resume a fight that has been stopped out of fear for the kid’s. “I got him now, Herbie, just let me at him!”
In any event, this made for great bear-baiting in the press room, and for quite a while DRB resisted quite nicely, but he finally broke down and said:
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I don't know. If he say that, it's okay. I don't need to answer that, no? But he had the problem in the first game or what? Because I don't remember, no? I have break, break, all time up in the score, no?
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Speaking of Monfils/Djokovic, though, I never got to post some second thoughts I had about Monfils, following his win over Blake. He did a few things here at Roland Garros that makes me wonder what he's going to be like if he ever really gets good.
On match point, when Blake’s shot landed long, Monfils did this quick routine, kind of like a cross between an NFL end zone dance and a frame from a gangsta rap video. He went very still (instead of jumping for joy), put his hands on his hips, and nodded at the mark.
Wow. Word up. I’m surprised he didn’t follow it up by folding his arms and giving a peace sign, or doing one of those infantile Sammy Sosa “from the heart” gestures. So what do you think, are we ready for NFL-grade celebrations in tennis? I could go either way on it. But I did fall to my knees in thanks as we came to the end of the era when guys like John McEnroe and Mats Wilander began to confuse themselves with rocks stars and guitar wizards. That all was kind of pathetic.
The other thing that struck me as dodgy was a comment Monfils made in the French portion of his presser, to which he showed up in a Nike ski cap and a zip-front sweatshirt with the NY (New York) logo on the left breast.
Somebody said he showed a “different attitude” toward Blake than Andy Murray or Dick Norman. Monfils said:
So is Monfils saying he doesn’t respect Murray or Norman enough to contain his expressive outbursts?
All in, it looks like he’s got JP (Jerk Potential). But he’s just a kid, so we’ll cut him a break and wait and see.
I’m sorry I couldn’t watch the Nadal/Djokovic match very closely. I missed my opportunity to take a good long look and write a post on Djokovic. That one will have to wait. But I did catch a few games here and there; did you all happen to catch that leaping, backhand overhead drop shot that Nadal pulled out? How cool was that?
And there was another exchange in the press room, later, that left Nadal in a nice light. He was asked if, given his winning record against The Mighty Federer on different surfaces, he felt that he was the real No. 1, DRB answered:
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Well, it's a strange question. He's No. 1. I'm No. 2. I feel I'm No. 2, which is what I am. How many points does he have? 7,000. Nobody else in the history of tennis has ever had that. Nobody has had such a high ranking No. 1, if you like. So, yeah, he's No. 1.
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Then, to an inaudible follow-up, he replied:
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Yes. Maybe Blake will win over me. It doesn't mean he feels like he's a No. 2 if he's No. 7.
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