Novak Djokovic: 47-1, 7 titles this year, this man known as Nole to the tennis world has done the unthinkable. A feat achieved today earlier thought as impossible: For the first time since Feb 1, 2004, there is no Federer/Nadal as World No 1. His lifelong dream has come true. For me, it was simply amazing to see the majestic tennis display by Novak Djokovic who certainly won lot of hearts by his grit and determination today by defeating Tsonga in 4 sets: 7-6.6-2,6-7,6-3.
5 reasons why he won today and became number 1 (a well-deserved throne):
1) Best Returner in the Game: A lot of people had predicted Tsonga because of his serve and powerful shots. In my previous post, I had said that Djokovic will win because he is the best returner in the game and won’t give away points easily to Tsonga. If Tsonga has powerful shots, so does Nole. And that’s exactly what we saw today. He had 12 break points today. The best moment was to see Djokovic come back one serve down in the first set: 4-5, and hit the best 3 returns of the game and thus the comeback story started.
2) Never Give Up: Tsonga should have been the winner at so many times in the match if it were not for the resilient Djokovic. His never give up attitude even in points unthinkable helped him crush his opponent’s confidence. And the result was there, he got 4-1 up in the second set immediately and inspite of losing the third set, he won the fourth set comfortably. He might have been under a little bit of pressure in third set when he failed to capitalize on 6-5 up,serving for the match and two match points in the tiebreak. But that’s obvious-Dream of his life-You are bound to feel pressure. He again came back to win the match. There was no one stopping Nole today to achieve his destiny.
3) Variety: I have always said that to win on grass court, you need variety. And that’s what was shown By Nole. He was coming on to the net, playing good volleys and classical cross court tennis, had shallow spin on his returns which left Tsonga perplexed. He was not hesitant to try drop shots on occasions to keep Tsonga guessing. He had answers to every shot that Tsonga played today.
4) No Weakness: The way, Nole has played this year has been perfect.47 wins and 1 Loss. And the reason is simple: This player does not have any weakness left in his game. Grass Court was supposed to be his weakest surface and the way he played today clearly showed that it’s past now. At present, he is doing everything possible, sliding, volleying, hitting winners on backhand/forehand, good serves. Above all if one would have seen the game today, he was doing what Nadal/Federer are known for doing: Running their opponents throughout the court and dictating the play.
5) Will to Succeed: After losing to Federer in French Open, he had said he will bounce back. You could see it in his eyes today. When he was 5-3 up, 30-15, he screamed out COME ON and it was stamped then- Nole will become number 1. And that is the most important thing if a person has to achieve his dream- Will TO Succeed. Unlike Federer, he was motivated today and his body language suggested he had come prepared and was not ready to give up even after he let the third set slip away. The SIGN of a TRUE CHAMPION.
Tsonga who had defeated Nadal and Federer in his last 20 days was easily overcome by Nole by his impeccable tennis today: Something which he has shown again and again this year. He has become the new NADAL of tennis who has no weaknesses and is afraid of no one. He has become physically strong and mentally tough- learning at every step in his career. Who would have thought him as World No. 1 at the start of the year? Is this the start of new era in men’s tennis? Time will tell but one thing is for sure, tennis fans all over the world have an amazing time ahead. Time for FEDALOVIC!
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