How Novak Djokovic mastered his few faults to become the GOAT

Published

3 years ago

August 30, 2021

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7:21 AM ET

By winning the 2021 US Open, Novak Djokovic would both lock up the first calendar Grand Slam on the men’s tour in more than 50 years and become the first man to ever win 21 Slams in his career.

With his natural athleticism and defensive abilities, Djokovic was destined to become a top-flight tennis player. But he has become perhaps the greatest men’s player ever because of his ability to turn the few relative weaknesses in his game into outright strengths.

Here’s a look at three areas where Djokovic turned the tables.

The forehand

Nov. 14, 2009: Paris Masters semifinals

The 2009 season has been a tricky one for Djokovic. After winning the Australian Open and two Masters-level tournaments in 2008, he has yet to reach another Slam final. He’s still performing well in the Masters events, reaching four finals in eight 2009 events, but he lost all four — two to Rafael Nadal, one to Roger Federer, one to the rising Andy Murray — and took only one set in the process. He is still one of the world’s best players, but he appears to have hit his head on a Federer/Nadal ceiling.

The indoor courts in Paris, however, present the perfect climate for showing off his evolving game. Having outlasted big-hitting Robin Soderling in the quarterfinals, he wallops Nadal in the semis 6-2, 6-3. He had won only one of their previous six meetings, but according to Tennis Abstract’s match charting, he’s given credit for 18 forehand winners to Nadal’s three, committing only four forehand errors in the process. He outlasts a game Gael Monfils in a three-set final to win his first Masters event in a year and a half.

In 17 previous meetings with Nadal that were charted by Tennis Abstract, Nadal had hit 254 forehand winners to Djokovic’s 221, and with 27% fewer errors. Beginning with this match in Paris, however, Djokovic flipped that completely around. In their next 30 charted matches, Djokovic hit 506 forehand winners to Nadal’s 365, and with only 10% more errors.

Djokovic had long been known as one of the game’s best returners and most agile defenders. His backhand was rarely in question. The evolution of Djokovic’s forehand was perhaps most notable against Nadal, but the most famous forehand he ever struck came against another great.

The fitness

Sept. 10, 2011: US Open semifinals

After blowing match points in a five-set loss to Djokovic in the semifinals the year before, Federer, in pursuit of his 17th Slam title, jumps out to a two-set lead over the Serb, 7-6, 6-4.

Djokovic, seeking his third Slam title in an all-time great year, fights back as he is known to do. He takes the third and fourth sets with relative ease, 6-3, 6-2, but Federer breaks to go up 5-3 in the fifth. Serving for a spot in the finals against Nadal, he creates two match points with an ace and a pair of quality second serves. He serves wide to Djokovic’s forehand, and Djokovic does something we have probably all done at some point in our amateur careers: Assuming the match is pretty much over, he swings at the ball as hard as he possibly can.

It becomes known informally as the Return Heard ‘Round the World. Djokovic’s exaggerated forehand paints the line and stuns Federer, who nets a forehand on his second match point and eventually double faults on break point. Djokovic wins 17 of the last 21 points, takes the fifth set 7-5, and powers through Nadal in a four-set final.

Djokovic finished the 2011 campaign with a 70-6 record. In Slams and Masters-level events, he went 58-2 with eight titles. (He would one-up himself in this regard four years later, winning nine such titles and the ATP Tour Finals in 2015.)

Perhaps no match signified how Djokovic’s game was so brilliantly coming together more than that semifinal in New York. He demonstrated incredible fitness by winning three straight sets against a player who, at the time, was already considered by many to be the greatest to ever live.

Djokovic hit 22 forehand winners to just 16 unforced errors, further confirming a once-flaky stroke as one of the sport’s better weapons. And he out-served one of the game’s greatest servers, winning a higher percentage of service points than Federer (71% to 63%) and creating more than twice as many break points (12 to 5).

The year before that match against Federer, Djokovic began to learn how to clear the biggest hurdle in his path. He had by that point already accomplished quite a bit and, as evidenced by a pair of five-set wins at the 2010 US Open, he could hold his own in long matches. But his body was randomly betraying him.

He had suffered eight match retirements from 2005 to 2010, including four in Slams: the 2005 and 2006 French Open, 2007 Wimbledon and 2009 Australian Open. And in other matches, his body quit even if he didn’t; after taking two of the first three sets in the 2010 Australian Open quarterfinals against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, for instance, he had broken down and lost 6-3, 6-1.

With help from a Serbian doctor watching his struggles on television, however, Djokovic found out that he was gluten intolerant. As he wrote in his book, “Serve to Win,” a significant change to his diet almost entirely eliminated these mid-match breakdowns and allowed him to take his fitness levels to a place few have seen.

He has suffered only five match retirements in the past 11 years, three in the past nine. And his performance in long matches has gone from excellent to nearly untouchable.

With his fitness totally in check, other developments in his game became even more noticeable.

The serve

July 12, 2015: Wimbledon finals

In front of a rapt audience almost unanimously rooting for his opponent, Djokovic has, over the course of almost three hours, slowly wrung all suspense out of his fourth Wimbledon finals appearance in five years. His opponent, the Wimbledon record champion Federer, had broken his serve midway through the first set — the only time he would do so — but Djokovic broke back to force a tiebreaker he won 7-1.

Federer saved five set points in a thrilling second-set tiebreaker and took the set 12-10. But that was just about the last reason the crowd had to cheer. Djokovic broke Federer early in the third set and cruised, saving the only break point Federer created; in the fourth, he broke early again and didn’t allow Federer a single break point.

On match point, he hit an inside-out forehand winner to break one last time. Final score: 7-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3.

For the match, Djokovic matched Federer’s 14 aces with 14 of his own, and while their first serves were equally effective (Federer won 75% of his first-serve points to Djokovic’s 74%), Djokovic constantly neutralized Federer’s attacking chances with a brilliant second serve. While Federer won 49% of his second-serve points — not a bad average against the best returner in the game — Djokovic won 60% of his.

At this point, you could easily make a case that he had not only matched Federer’s serving prowess, but surpassed it.

Since returning from his 2017 elbow issues, his serve hasn’t quite reestablished the same level of dominance. But he has still won 69% of his service points in 2021, seventh on the men’s tour. When you do that and win 43% of your return points (second to Diego Schwartzman by only 0.5 percentage points), your opponent has little hope.

The future

Today: US Open

Djokovic takes the court on Tuesday seven wins from his ultimate piece of history. His odds of finishing with the most career Slam titles are high regardless of what happens in New York over the next fortnight.

But if he were to not only win a full-season Grand Slam of sorts, but do so at age 34, in the third distinct peak of his storied career, that would be something to which nothing in men’s tennis history could compare.

Pulling it off won’t be easy, however. For starters, the level of competition will be high. He needed five sets to get past Stefanos Tsitsipas in the French Open finals — he twice fell behind by two sets in that eventually triumphant fortnight — and four to take down Matteo Berrettini at Wimbledon. Both players have seen success in hard-court Slams: Berrettini reached the US Open semis in 2019, while Tsitsipas has reached the Australian Open semis twice in the past three years.

Two other members of the ATP top five, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev, have reached US Open finals within the past two years as well; Zverev won gold on hard courts at the Tokyo Olympics, and Medvedev’s torrid recent form — he has won 36 of his past 40 hard-court matches and took the Toronto title earlier in August — has moved him to the top of Tennis Abstract’s hard-court Elo rankings.

Djokovic’s fitness levels and dogged mentality have kept him ahead of the pack in the best-of-five Slam environments, but the next generation remains in hot pursuit, and he might need his best tournament performance of the year to win it.

To make things even more interesting, it was indeed Zverev who prevented Djokovic from a potential Golden Slam, taking him down in three sets in the Olympic semifinals. The match featured breakdowns from Djokovic in all of his primary areas of evolution.

Djokovic struggled to close things out, winning nine of the first 12 games but only one of the last 11. His serve faltered — he was broken twice in the second set and three times in the third. He managed only seven forehand winners to Zverev’s 19. And then he lost his composure in a bronze-medal match against Pablo Carreno Busta as well.

This was everything Djokovic hasn’t been in a while. Was it a momentary glitch? A crack in the aura of invincibility? We’ll find out over the next two weeks.

Sports

Penn State QB Allar off injury report vs. Buckeyes

Published

5 hours ago

November 2, 2024

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Penn State QB Allar off injury report vs. Buckeyes

Nov 2, 2024, 10:25 AM ET

Penn State quarterback Drew Allar is set to play in Saturday’s key Big Ten matchup against No. 4 Ohio State.

Allar missed the second half of last week’s win over Wisconsin after suffering a left knee injury, but he was not listed on the injury report for the No. 3 Nittany Lions on Saturday morning.

Penn State coach James Franklin said earlier this week that Allar could be a game-time decision and that backup Beau Pribula would take snaps with Allar in practice.

Allar ranks 10th nationally with a QBR of 83.6. He has completed 71.3% of his passes for 1,640 yards and totaled 15 touchdowns with four interceptions.

Penn State starting defensive lineman Dani Dennis-Sutton will be a game-time decision, a source told ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Dennis-Sutton, who is listed as questionable, is expected to warm up and try to play.

Information from ESPN’s Jake Trotter was used in this report.

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Army star QB Daily to miss game vs. Air Force

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5 hours ago

November 2, 2024

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Army star QB Daily to miss game vs. Air Force

Chris Low, ESPN Senior WriterNov 2, 2024, 10:33 AM ET
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- College football reporter
- Joined ESPN.com in 2007
- Graduate of the University of Tennessee

WEST POINT, N.Y. — Army star quarterback Bryson Daily will miss Saturday’s game against Air Force with an undisclosed injury/illness, Army officials told ESPN.

Daily leads the country with 19 rushing touchdowns and leads all FBS quarterbacks with 909 rushing yards. He was unable to practice this week. The No. 21 Black Knights had a bye last weekend after beating East Carolina 45-28 on Oct. 19 to win their seventh straight game this season.

In the win over ECU, Daily carried the ball 31 times for a career-high 171 yards and accounted for six touchdowns, five rushing and one passing. The 6-foot, 221-pound senior has already set Army single-season records for touchdowns responsible for (26) and rushing touchdowns (19) in seven games.

With Daily sidelined, junior Dewayne Coleman will fill in at quarterback and make his first career start. Daily, one of four team captains, has been Army’s starting quarterback over the past two seasons and the main cog in a Black Knights offense that has eclipsed 400 yards of total offense in all seven games this season.

Army (7-0, 6-0) travels to North Texas next week for an AAC contest. They get a bye week on Nov. 16 and then face Notre Dame on Nov. 23 at Yankee Stadium.

There’s no timetable at this point on how long Daily might be out of the lineup, but Army officials don’t think it’s a season-ending setback.

Army, off to its best start in nearly 30 years, will be one of the top contenders for the Group of 5’s spot in the College Football Playoff if the Black Knights can win the American Athletic Conference championship.

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MLB All-October team: The stars who ruled the 2024 playoffs

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5 hours ago

November 2, 2024

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MLB All-October team: The stars who ruled the 2024 playoffs

Nov 1, 2024, 07:00 AM ET

The 2024 World Series ended with the Los Angeles Dodgers winning the championship in a stunning comeback in Game 5, with Walker Buehler the unlikely pitcher to close out the 7-6 win over the New York Yankees. First baseman Freddie Freeman was handed the World Series MVP award for his record-tying 12-RBI performance.

But that doesn’t tell the full story of everyone who played a starring role in October — a postseason that featured a record six grand slams, among other wildness. So, to honor the best of the entire postseason, we’ve created our first MLB All-October Team.

From wild-card-round sensations to World Series standouts, here are the players our ESPN MLB panel of experts voted as the best of the best at every position along with some award hardware for the brightest stars of October.

2024 All-October Team

Catcher: Kyle Higashioka, San Diego Padres

Why he’s here: To be honest, it wasn’t a great playoffs for catchers — they hit just .184/.254/.310. Higashioka is the one catcher who did hit, belting three home runs and driving in five runs in the seven games the Padres played.

Honorable mention: Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers

1B: Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers

Why he’s here: Freeman didn’t have an extra-base hit and drove in just one run in the first two rounds of the playoffs as he tried to play through the severely sprained ankle he suffered at the end of the regular season. He didn’t even play in two games of the NLCS and required hours of physical therapy before each game just to get on the field. But the five days off before the World Series clearly helped, and he homered in the first four games, including his dramatic walk-off grand slam in Game 1 that will go down as not only the signature World Series moment of 2024 — but a World Series moment for the ages.

Honorable mention: Pete Alonso, New York Mets

2B: Gleyber Torres, New York Yankees

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Why he’s here: Torres had a solid October as he heads into free agency, although he had little competition here. Indeed, second basemen collectively hit just .219 with three home runs the entire playoffs — two of those from Torres — and drove in 24 runs, with Torres driving in eight himself. He had three multihit games and scored five runs in five games in the ALCS, while also taking walks to help set the table for Juan Soto.

Honorable mention: Brice Turang, Milwaukee Brewers

3B: Mark Vientos, New York Mets

Why he’s here: Max Muncy set a record when he reached base 17 times in the NLCS, including a single-postseason-record 12 times in a row, but he went hitless in the World Series. Vientos, meanwhile, had a stellar first trip to the postseason, hitting .327/.362/.636 with five home runs and 14 RBIs in 13 games. That followed a breakout regular season in which he posted an .837 OPS with 27 home runs in just 111 games. He looks like he’ll be a fixture in the middle of the Mets’ lineup for years to come.

Honorable mention: Muncy, Los Angeles Dodgers

SS: Tommy Edman, Los Angeles Dodgers

Why he’s here: Edman was an under-the-radar pickup at the trade deadline, in part because he was still injured and hadn’t yet played for the St. Louis Cardinals. Most of Edman’s starts came at shortstop, especially after Miguel Rojas was injured in the NLDS, but his bat got him here. Edman was the NLCS MVP after hitting .407 with a record-tying 11 RBIs in the series. He had started at cleanup just twice in his career but was slotted there twice against the Mets, driving in seven runs in those two games. Then he went 2-for-4 in each of the first two games of the World Series, including a home run in Game 2, and finished the Fall Classic hitting .294/.400/.588 with six runs.

Honorable mention: Francisco Lindor, New York Mets

OF: Mookie Betts, Los Angeles Dodgers
OF: Juan Soto, New York Yankees
OF: Enrique Hernandez, Los Angeles Dodgers

Why they’re here: Betts entered this postseason in a 3-for-38 postseason slump going back to the end of the 2021 NLCS — and it initially looked like it would be more of the same when he went 0-for-6 the first two games of the NLDS, including being robbed of a home run courtesy of Jurickson Profar. Everything turned in Game 3 when Profar almost robbed him of another home run — but didn’t. After that, Betts was in the middle of most of the Dodgers’ big rallies, hitting .321/.394/.625 with four home runs and 16 RBIs over the Dodgers’ final 14 playoff games.

Soto’s at-bats spoke for themselves: He never seemed to have a bad one. His big at-bat was the three-run home run in the 10th inning of Game 5 of the ALCS to send the Yankees to the World Series. Getting intentionally walked twice while batting in front of Aaron Judge speaks to Judge’s struggles, yes — but also to how locked in Soto was all postseason. He finished the postseason slashing .327/.469/.633 with 4 home runs, 9 RBIs and 14 walks in 14 games.

Hernandez actually began October on the bench, but we’ve seen him perform big in the postseason before, and he stepped up when Rojas was injured in the NLDS. Hernandez homered in the Dodgers’ 2-0 victory to close out the Padres in the NLDS, had a big two-run home run against the Mets in Game 3 of the NLCS and got the series-turning five-run rally against the Yankees in Game 5 started with a leadoff single in the fifth as well as the series-winning rally in the eighth with another leadoff base hit. Overall, he hit .294/.357/.451 with 11 runs and six RBIs.

Honorable mentions: Steven Kwan, Cleveland Guardians; Teoscar Hernandez, Los Angeles Dodgers; Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres

DH: Giancarlo Stanton, New York Yankees

Why he’s here: The Yankees were often a two-man show in the postseason, just like they were in the regular season — except it was Soto and Stanton, not Soto and Judge. Stanton blasted seven home runs in the playoffs, including in the final three games of the ALCS (earning MVP honors) and in Games 1 and 5 of the World Series. He finished the playoffs hitting .273/.339/.709, and those seven homers are the most in a single postseason in Yankees history.

Honorable mention: Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers; David Fry, Cleveland Guardians

SP: Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees
SP: Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers

Why they’re here: Certainly, it seems as if the status of the starting pitcher in the postseason continues to decline — although, that doesn’t mean they’re not important. There were certainly some stellar individual outings along the way: Corbin Burnes allowed one run in eight innings (but lost 1-0) for the Baltimore Orioles; Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler allowed one hit in seven scoreless innings (but that would be his only start); and the Padres’ Michael King fanned 12 to beat the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS. Skubal had two scoreless starts against the Houston Astros in the wild-card series and Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS, confirming his status as one of the best in the game — or maybe the best, as his soon-to-be AL Cy Young Award will attest.

Cole was really the one consistent starter throughout the postseason, making five starts with a 2.17 ERA. Unfortunately, that ERA doesn’t register the five unearned runs from the final game of the World Series when the Yankees’ defense turned into a comedy of errors — including Cole himself opening up the floodgates by failing to cover first base to get what would have been the inning-ending out.

Honorable mention: Walker Buehler, Los Angeles Dodgers; Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers; Sean Manaea, New York Mets; Seth Lugo, Kansas City Royals

RP: Luke Weaver, New York Yankees
RP: Blake Treinen, Los Angeles Dodgers

Why they’re here: It also wasn’t the best of postseasons for closers — not even great ones. The Guardians’ Emmanuel Clase allowed five earned runs all regular season — and then eight in the playoffs. Milwaukee Brewers closer Devin Williams blew that wild-card game against the Mets. All-Star Jeff Hoffman lost two games for the Phillies. Weaver, however, was the one consistent late-game performer and was great while often pitching more than one inning. He posted a 1.76 ERA across 15⅓ innings. Who knows how the World Series ends if Yankees manager Aaron Boone keeps Weaver in the game in the 10th inning of Game 1. (Weaver had thrown just 19 pitches.)

Treinen, meanwhile, capped his comeback season — he had missed almost all of 2022 and then all of 2023 — with a 2.19 ERA across 12⅓ innings, winning two games and saving three others. In the World Series clincher, he recorded seven outs and got out of a two-on, no-out jam in the eighth inning to preserve the Dodgers’ 7-6 lead before handing the ball to Buehler to close out the ninth.

Honorable mention: Cade Smith, Cleveland Guardians; Michael Kopech, Los Angeles Dodgers; Beau Brieske, Detroit Tigers