Roger Federer's Farewell Match at Laver Cup

 

This match and his speech after it broke me.  Thank you Roger Federer.

Roger Federer's last tournament Laver Cup

Novak Djokovic disqualified from U.S. Open 4th round for hitting lines person in the throat with a tennis ball

Well, now we know the answer to the most discussed tennis question in 2020. Who can beat Novak Djokovic, who entered today’s fourth round U.S. Open match, 26-0 on the year?


The answer: Novak Djokovic.

An absolutely stunning unforced error, Djokovic was defaulted this afternoon late in the first set of his match against Spain's Pablo Carreño Busta. While Djokovic’s anger was self-directed, he fired off ball that struck a lineswoman in the throat. In accordance with the Grand Slam rulebook, this “negligent disregard” triggers an automatic default. In legal terms, this is a strict liability crime.

Djokovic left the grounds without speaking to the media, but this may mark a massive pivot point—not just of this unusual tournament but of tennis history. With 17 career major singles titles, Djokovic trails Rafael Nadal (19) and Roger Federer (20), the lead criteria in tennis’ GOAT debate. As the only member of the Big Three to attend this event — he took the court today as the only male player in the draw to have ever won a major — he was the odds-on favorite to win in New York and narrow the gap.

Not only will that not happen, but one wonders about the long-term impact of this gaffe. In an extraordinarily harshly worded statement, the USTA noted that Djokovic will lose all of his ranking points and prize money from this tournament, and will likely be fined additionally. How Djokovic will handle the splashback from this catastrophe will be a prominent theme going forward.

As for the tournament itself, it, too, was jolted. For the first time in four years, a player outside the Big Three will walk away with the title. Austria’s Dominic Thiem is the highest remaining seed and Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, who reached the final last year, is still in the draw as well. And let’s devote a few lines to Carreño Busta, the opponent today. While Djokovic authored his own demise, the Spaniard’s play was a contributing factor, causing, as it did, such frustration and agitation. Rightly stunned, as so many others were, Carreño Busta said afterwards, “I never expected this moment.”

Neither did the tournament. Part of what makes this incident still more remarkable: the context. This “closed open,” the first tennis major staged post-COVID, featured no fans and a bubble-type of atmosphere. Officials planned for hundreds of scenarios and eventualities and controversies. The top seed defaulted mid-match for hitting a line judge with a ball was not among them.

The popular discussion topic before this tournament: would the title come adorned with an asterisk, given the absence of fans and a moth-eaten field. The view here was that it would possibly be quite the opposite: the players who won the event would not have a diluted title, but one freighted with extra meaning, able, as they were to compartmentalize the chaos and persevere. It is beyond shocking that the world’s number one player in the world wasn’t up to that. And took himself out of contention.


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2020 continues it's track record of bizzare events. Of all the opponents I thought would knock Djokovic out of the tournaments, I never could have figured it would be himself.

He has made a statement on his Instagram and Twitter, where he apologizes several times but that's something that should have been done right off the bat not 2 hours later. So damage is done there. It's a bit of karma for Djokovic really. 

He handled the pandemic thing with the Adria Tour atrociously and he's been getting away with these out bursts recently so it was bound to catch up to him eventually. Hopefully he'll learn and grow from it. 

But I'll be honest it's not going to make me dislike him less. He may get more titles than Roger and Rafa in the end. 

But he'll never be in the same league in terms of class, and he'll never have the same respect in that regard.

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Roger Federer looking forward to Djokovic match at Nitto ATP finals

Roger Federer isn't shying away from the opportunity to avenge his Wimbledon final loss against Novak Djokovic. The Swiss held two match points on his serve but fell 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 13-12(3), marking the first time in Wimbledon history that a fifth-set tie-break decided the final.

Federer, who beat Italy's Matteo Berrettini on Tuesday to move to 1-1 at this year's Nitto ATP Finals, will face Djokovic again on Thursday with semi-final implications on the line.

“We have played a lot of matches since, and I think we both look back at a great match. I think we both can take away some confidence from the match. Him, obviously a lot. Me, maybe a tad bit less,” Federer said.

“But at the end of the day, I wasn't hoping [for] him not to be in my section or in my draw. I didn't hope I was never going to play him again.

“Actually, it's good for me to play him again, and maybe that all helps to get a chance to get him back or whatever it is... I'm personally excited to play against Novak on Thursday.”

Their Group Bjorn Borg meeting will be their first matchup since they played in the longest Wimbledon final in history (four hours and 57 minutes). Djokovic became the first Wimbledon champion to save match points in the final in 71 years.

The Serbian, who faces fifth seed Dominic Thiem on Tuesday night, leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Federer 26-22 and has won their past four matchups. Djokovic is also 3-2 against Federer at the Nitto ATP Finals.

“I think indoors you've got to go with what you can do best. At the end of the day, maybe it took me a few days, couple weeks at most, to get over the Wimbledon loss,” Federer said. “I still thought I played a great final and a great tournament, beating Rafa there along the way.

“I'm excited [to be] playing against him. I'm excited to see how he's going to play tonight, as well. It's definitely going to give me some more information about what to expect.

“But other than that, I think I need to focus on my game, what I do best. And regardless of what I need to do, I just hope I play well.”

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The top 8 ready for 2019 Nitto ATP Finals

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