On the first Wednesday of Wimbledon, tennis’ most prestigious tournament saw its biggest upset of 2008 occur.
The third seed, and third ranked player in the world, Novak Djokovic fell to unseeded, and world No. 75, Marat Safin in the second round, 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-2.
As a result, the major storyline was that Safin, who has two majors under his belt, might be returning to championship form.
I’ve always liked Safin and enjoyed watching him play, so I loved seeing him pull off such an upset. I think he deserves to bask in the glory of this win.
But, there is another storyline being overlooked here, and that is Novak Djokovic’s inability to walk the walk after already talking the talk.
After Rafael Nadal demolished Roger Federer in the final of the French Open just a few weeks ago, Djokovic made some statements to the media in which he expressed his belief that Federer is more vulnerable than ever.
“Some things are changing. I think he’s a little bit shaken with that [French Open final] loss and mentally he has been struggling in the last couple of months. New names are coming, fresh talented players who believe more they can win against him and I am one of them. Suddenly he is worried a little bit.”
Apparently, Djokovic should have been worrying a little bit more about his own game.
No one is going to argue with him that Federer looks more beatable now than he ever has since reaching the top ranking in the world. But, is it really necessary for Djokovic to come out and say that?
First of all, Djokovic is 2-6 against Federer. With that head-to-head record, he has no reason to be talking negatively about Federer’s game. Sure, Djokovic took out Federer at the Australian Open in straight sets early on this year. But, Federer had just recovered from mononucleosis in January, and was playing in his first tournament of the year.
Plus, of all the places for Djokovic to come out and make these comments, he should have chosen a better venue. One would assume that he is fully aware that Federer has won Wimbledon five straight years, and hasn’t lost on grass in 61 matches. So, to say that Federer is “worried a little bit” right before you begin a tournament that he has owned is not such a good idea.
If Djokovic wanted his statements to have any real meaning behind them, he should have waited until Wimbledon ended. If Federer left London without a sixth consecutive crown, then maybe Djokovic’s words would have carried some weight.
Instead, the young Serb made himself look like a fool, losing in straight sets in the second round, hardly a week after making those comments, while Federer rolled into the third round with another straight set victory.
Honestly, if you’re going to call out the No. 1 player in the world, make sure you can take care of the 75th-ranked player first.
Novak Djokovic Needs to Either Put Up or Shut Up
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11 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Ricky Rostan about 1 year ago
Mate, you are not qualified enough or in other words "not competent" to be able to judge Djokovic. You'll be more useful if you donate your writing tools than use it to manufacture the s**t!
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Matthew Schiffman about 1 year ago
Thanks for reading, Ricky. I don't exactly know what you mean about being qualified enough or competent enough to be able to judge Djokovic though. This is merely a blog and it's my personal opinion. Having played tennis for a number of years, I feel that Djokovic needs to worry about taking care of his own business before calling out Federer publicly.
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Peter Fleischer about 1 year ago
Mate, you are not qualified enough or in other words "not competent" to be able to judge Matt's writing as shit. You have contributed nothing to Bleacher Report, so who are you to talk trash like that?
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Madame Cynne about 1 year ago
To the owner of this blog - I couldn't agree more...the first poster seems a bit out of line.
Main point is that Djokovic embarrassed himself - period. It would be different if he had a more comprehensive record against FedEx, but he doesn't. A young guy made a foolish unforced error of the mouth. Maybe he and Sharapova can sip champers while watching the rest of the tournament.
Thanks for the blog - C~~
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Matthew Schiffman about 1 year ago
Haha. Thanks, Madame. And I totally agree. Djokovic has no right to talk when he's 2-6 against Federer, including losing the most recent match they played. If he really wants to threaten Federer for the No. 1 ranking then he needs to focus on his own game.
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Peter Fleischer about 1 year ago
Matt, I thought you liked Djokovic? Was it just this one anti-Fed comment that annoyed you? I gotta agree, he looks stupid now. Lastly, I thought Marat Safin was better then number 75? Has he been up and down in the rankings? Just my tennis ignorance out loud I guess.
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Matthew Schiffman about 1 year ago
First of all, thanks for first comment above. But yeah I do like Djokovic. He's a lot of fun to watch and has a great personality. But you're right, the anti-Fed comment really bugged me. He's been known to speak his mind, but I just think that considering how mature he acts on the court, he really needs to wise up off the court. To me, it was just really stupid and completely unnecessary on his part to come out and say that stuff publicly because liked you said, now he just looks stupid. As for Safin, I couldn't even believe that he's 75 when I heard that, so that's no ignorance on your part. For how talented the guy is and with some of the wins he's produced, there's no reason for him to be ranked that low...except for being a mental case I guess. But yeah he's been up and down. Who knows, if he goes far in this tournament he could end up being right back up there in the rankings. Either way, he's definitely a guy that no one wants to play, no matter what his ranking is. But grass is Safin's worst surface, so that makes Djokovic's loss look even worse.
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Leon Horne about 1 year ago
Djokovic is and over-confident number 3 who is proud of beating a sick Roger Federer in the 2008 AO. The fact is Marat Safin who's best days have passed him by took Novak to the wood shed. Novak is a good player, but he needed a humbling experience to quiet his mouth and shut up his crazy mother. I don't blame him for the way he is, I mean when your father walks out on your match in the second set because you are losing, I think that pretty much sums everything up.
Anyways I hope Marat continues his march towards a semi-final match up versus the heralding champion Roger Feder.
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Matthew Schiffman about 1 year ago
I agree, Leon. You definitely have to feel for Djokovic because of the family pressure. There's no doubt that he is the 3rd best players in the world (and the 2nd best on hard courts) but it was completely unnecessary for him to run his mouth about Federer. I agree with you, hopefully this is the humbling experience that he so desperately needed. I love watching him play and seeing his fun and goofy impersonations. But he doesn't need to be saying that the world's No. 1 is so vulnerable.
I'm with you...another Safin-Federer matchup could be a classic. I hope it happens.
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Nikil Ramanathan about 1 year ago
Novak Djokovic can put up, only if he learns to shut up. He is a great talent, but if he becomes an arrogant, overconfident player, then he is not going to be going far in tournaments. He is a solid player on all surfaces and his performance on grass this year was obviously disappointing though Marat looks to be making a nice run on the grass courts he claims to hate.
That being said, you are exactly right. He has no right to talk to Federer like that. Nadal completely dispatched him on the clay and had nothing but kind words for Roger. If Novak wants to become a likeable character and a true tennis star, he needs to raise his game to the level where Nadal and Federer currently reside, which is a couple of notches above Novak and it wouldn't hurt for him to learn some class from these guys, who are hard not to like because of their selfless attitudes. After the French, it appeared Nadal was taking the beating worse than Federer... and he was the one who WON.
In any case, great article Matt and it was a great read.
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Matthew Schiffman about 1 year ago
Thanks, Nikil, and thanks for reading.
But you're right, Novak is definitely a special talent. Losing to Marat isn't too horrible because when Marat is on he can beat anybody in the world; the guy simply has it all. I think Djokovic is on the same level as Federer and Nadal on hard courts (probably better than Nadal on hard courts), but his overall game isn't quite up to theirs. Either way, like you said, Djokovic could learn a lot from those two concerning class. I'm not a Nadal fan simply because I'm such a huge Federer fan, and Nadal's his kryptonite. But I can't help but like the guy, he's such a great talent and such a class act. Hopefully Djokovic grows up a little more and finally realizes what he needs to do.
Should be an entertaining second half of the tennis season!
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