Novak, Novak when will you ever learn...

You should try to attract attention with your racquet not with your mouth. Talk is cheap whereas action speaks louder than words.

Can i call him a big mouth now ??????????? Or i can say he is telling the truth ?????????? What would have been your opinion(Specially Djokers fan) if Roger had said this ????????? But what i feel he is telling the truth !!!!!!!!!! Lets see if he can beat Rafa after this !!!!!!!

spot on, jean! there is no question that djokovic is a great talent and what he says may sometimes be arguably true, but it's just not smart to always voice what you're actually thinking! whether a player is unbeatable or not time will always tell. novak has always said that his goal is to reach #1; therefore, i think he should concentrate on himself and what he needs to improve. one thing is for sure, there's no time to waste concentrating on some else.

LOL djoker sure loves speaking his mind whenever he feels like it, well to be honest he has every right to feel confident against rafa on HC since its only surface he has ever beaten rafa on, rafa owns him on clay and grass.

im looking forward to rafa vs djoker SF, hopefully it will be a good and tight match.

This is complete q/a from transcript of the interview:
Q. You just played Rafa again, and I realize it was on clay, but has he really gotten that much above the rest of the tour? What can you yourself do to just catch him?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, we're coming back again to this confidence, you know, subject. It's incredible. You know, I felt in myself, as well, when you start winning a lot of matches, then you just you just feel the ball differently on the court, so I think he's doing that incredible.
But on the other hand, the bonus for him is that he's physically the strongest player on the tour, and mentally he's he has this incredible ability to stay focused from the first to the last point. You know, even if he plays final of, you know, I don't know, Wimbledon, even if he plays first round of the 250 events, it doesn't really matter for him.
But I don't think that he's unbeatable. He deserves to be No. 1 in the world right now, but there are players that can win against him, especially on this surface.

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I don't know, I can not see much wrong with this answering. He said that Nadal is beatable on the surface, as he lost 2 (or 3 times, if you count Abu Dhabi) on this surface in last 2.5 months. He maybe thinks/hopes that he can beat Rafa himself, but he did not say it. What else he should say? Novak made a lot of verbal mistakes during past years, he is obviously trying to improve, but do not expect totally dry & boring answers: "I do not think about Rafa at the moment, I am trying to concetrate on my next match/oponent". Naaah!

I would be surprised if someone else was behind this article. This was just another consistent, deliberate shot at Novak.

Yeah, Ricky is officially being his regular self, but it seems that he is secretly using all his power and voting for Novak hundreds of times to win IW ;-). Look at the percentage: 55.4 ??!? - never happened before.

Personally, I don't think it's clever to say there are player who can win against him when Rafa is dominating, getting better on all the surfaces and still aiming to improve. The problem with Novak is that he consistently opens his mouth and often has to eat his words. A few years ago, before facing Roger in Melbourne, he said he was ready to beat him after which Roger washed him 3 sets. After a loss to Rafa he had to cheek to say he was in control of the match. Well, why didn't he win it? There may not have been a lot wrong with his latest words but you'd think he should have learnt his lesson by now about being more cautious. Getting ahead of himself, stirring the American crowd, etc, only add to his distractions. Personally, I'd prefer he just got on with business. He doesn't have to say he doesn't think about Rafa. That would be more likely a lie than a boring response. Why not just focus on the next match instead of worrying about Rafa? Is he already assuming the final's board has his name on it?

HogarTheHorrible ,

I have the same question in my mind ????? how ???????? i mean Nole had only 15 % votes when i last logged in yesterday & there were 1500 odd votes !!!!!! Afte a few hours Suddenly it raised to 3300 votes & Nole jumped to 50+ % beating Roger who was leading with 53 % atm !!it really never happened b4!!!!!! strange !!!!!!!!!!

Oh, Ricky your headline is completely taken out of context. Why are you doing this?

zikili,

Stepanek won't be playing with Roddick in the quarters as someone predicted, so that someone needed a way to create a stir and distract us from asking certain questions :)

it is so hard to say anything about Nadal now but he is right sometimes he wins just because of the fright he creats when he steps on the court.
a potential semi final is between the two,and i hope he can beat Nadal because it becomes boring one dimential player wins all the time!
boring

IMO Nothing wrong with the way he answered the question. It's the way his comments get reported causes the ruckus - similar to what happens to other players. If he doesn't believe he can beat Nadal, Fed, Murray, Roddick, how the hell is he going to even begin defending at IW? Heaven forbid - then it will look like the WTA where very few "believe" they can win. Nadal is dominating now but he is not superman - and players have their best chance against him on HC's (certainly not clay) - a truthful, respectful response.

I would agree..personally I found nothing wrong with the statement.HC is probably anyone's best chance to beat nadal..on clay he's pretty much a lock . On grass he's on an unbeaten run as of now.

Oh no, all over again, it seems to me, it never stop, anyway, no need to justify Nole, he said nothing wrong, by the way, he respects and even support Nadal a lot, so stop interfering and make nonsense all the time, I do know who's behind, no need to mention his name, finally, it's much better talking about tennis, then repeating 1000 times so far about someone's private news, such as upcoming fatherhood, even I don't like Mr. Arrogant, I congratulated him in advance, but please, give us a break with repeating all over again, he'll become father, now it's time to play tennis not to talk about someone's pregnancy, is it OK with you smart ones...

someone seems frustrated here !!!!!!!!!! never mind !!!!!!

I m just wondering what IF Djoker losses to Rafa on HC this time after loosinh in DC at CC ????????? But the truth is that he has stated the truth & he can beat Rafa on HC !!!!!!!!! But still there is a BIG if as Rafa is not an easy customer to handle at any kinda surface !!!!!!!!!

People are fed up with the news of RF is gonna be father as if he is asking people to do so on a tennis website !!!!!! lol

Gordana says: "it's much better talking about tennis, then repeating 1000 times so far about someone's private news, such as upcoming fatherhood, even I don't like Mr. Arrogant, I congratulated him in advance, but please, give us a break with repeating all over again, he'll become father, now it's time to play tennis not to talk about someone's pregnancy, is it OK with you smart ones..."

I don't get you - how do you possibly traverse from a conversation about Nole's presser comments on Nadal's vulnerabilities to Fed's upcoming parenthood???? You shoot yourself in the foot because you consistently bring up the player that you "hate" in conversations about the player you "adore" - regardless of the topic. You're comments become comical and nonsensical, to say the least. Please stick to the subject at hand and perhaps you will gain some credibility on this blog.

tomnjerry, how are you today?

tenisbebe, gain some credibility on this blog, you're completely out of your mind, I don't need any credibility, especially not from you, take it easy, don't get nervous, it's affect to your beauty...

oh noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!!!!!!! hey gordona ........r u okey ?????????????? .........excitement over !!!!!!!!!! lol

i m fine dear !!! u ?!!!!! wat abt ur Mr.Big Mouth ????????? do u think he will beat Rafa & keep his words ???????????

Seems like Djoker has a 'Rafa problem' as well, otherwise he wouldn't have to say this sort of thing. Every player is beatable on any surface, to say that the great Nadal is beatable on HC, suggests to me that he appears unbeatable because he looks so awesome.

Of course Nadal is beatable, he already lost 2 times this year. His game is based on concentration and physicality, so if he does not concentrate or have some physical problem, he can lose.

livingdoll says:
"to say that the great Nadal is beatable on HC, suggests to me that he appears unbeatable because he looks so awesome."

This seems like a bit of a stretch to me. Looking at their HC H2H, Djoko has the lead 4-3, their last MS meeting in Cincinnati being a prime example. The AO was a wonderful triumph for Rafa - but this tournament has a reputation for ne'er-do-says coming through the draw due to its placement on the calendar. Both players do well at IW so we shall see.

A LOT OF "EXPERTS" here who are saying so many things about the players... about tennis... BUT I'm pretty sure, they HAVEN"T touched a racket much more played tennis in their lives... because if they do, they won't say A single WORD about them or tennis... They would have been aware how DIFFICULT it is to play the sport.

Anti-Novak media coverage is directly linked with Albanian lobbying.

noleisthebest: "Anti-Novak media coverage is directly linked with Albanian lobbying."

Whatever the hell that means........

no one is unbeatable....rafa is close to being unbeatable on clay but on grass only federer can topple him...on hard courts its very difficult to conquer him rite nw...murray cud do it if he is fit...but these hard courts suit alot to rafa's game..he is given the time to take a relatively large backswing on the forehand here and the surface is quite conducive to topspin.Novak last beat rafa bak in august...nadal is a much better player now..novak is not in the kind of form to beat him anywhere i think.Heh hsa quality..knows how to beat nadal..so he has the rite to say that but nt here when he got dumpd by rafa on recently on clay.even tho it ws clay the margin of victory ws amazing.Nadal is going to turn their hard court h2d in his favor shortly ..m sure..btb who knows ..nole is a good player ..hez gona make it difficult for rafa....murray beat rafa in rotterdam(nadal ws dead inthe 3rd set+ the rotterdam hard court is undoubtedly the fastest hard court) so playing here in IW is of advantage to nadal...

what's so bad about calling someone beatable? It's not like he is guaranteeing victory if they play each other in the semifinals.

Nole is a big mouth, granted... But give him a break he was RESPONDING to a question and the guy is not Mr Diplomatic which is refreshing. Anyway I'm rooting for him to regain his early 2008 form. Agf25, what makes tennis different from other sports? Sure we can appreciate the sport even though we never played it. Should we just support it and follow it and not voice our opinions about players? Does voicing our opinions diminish our appreciation of the talent required to play? Sounds rather silly to me.

If only people who have played the game were allowed to comment or be interested, I think the sport would come to a grinding halt, because there aren't many of those.

I actually don't think Novak meant any harm, what he says is fact, everyone is beatable on any surface. I was just pointing out that he must have a lot of respect for Rafa to feel the need to say it.

nuthing much wrong wid what novak has said here..so there is no need to attack him this time around..

The title could have easily been: "Djokovic: Rafa is doing incredible tennis" but author chose to underline something that he assumed was going to cause a stir among Rafa's fans. I'm sure he was surprised that majority of them didn't find it insulting at all! And finally, he treats us with the comment he doesn't believe a single word in!

i'm not suggesting that djokovic can't and won't beat rafa on hardcourt. anyway, who is it among the living that thinks any player is unbeatable? i'm stating what has already proven to be true, and that is, "the mouth can sometimes be your worst enemy." especially when you are in the public's eye. the way i see it, if a player can beat another player, why not just go on, do it, prove it, and let the beat down speak for itself! that applies not only to djokovic, but every player!

Kiki-- you got me WRONG there. I'm not saying you don't have the right to voice out what's in your mind. My point is that SOME people make it sound like tennis is a very easy sport to play... slice that, approach shot here,make a passing shot there, Fed should do this, Nadal must do that... easier said than done!

agf, thanks for stating the obvious. If you don't have any good opinion, why don't you don't comment.

That's why you call it OPINION!...sometimes it's taken not the way we mean it.

torres9: What constitutes a good opinion and who decides if it is a good opinion or not?

Are we under dictatorship here?
Like Novak, he CAN say what he wants... it's his piece of mind. If that piece is spoiled and rotten, its his problem. If you want to make it yours, you're the one who has a problem!....this is just my OPINION!!!!

Well, yes everyone is beatable, that is obvious. But if you have to say that someone is beatable, then you are saying a lot about that person. Namely, that it isn't so obvious right now. Rafa, after the AO and Davis Cup is on an impressive run. I believe that the most recent matches have a far greater effect on a player's confidence than whatever their result was last year on the on-going tournament, or what the HTH is with their opponent. Commentators like to bring up all those stats as if they mattered, and journalists love to as questions which may return controversial answers. To me the main significant facts right now are that Rafa is on a roll, playing fantastic, constantly improving on HC, just like he did on grass last season and I see him as the clear favorite. Last year it was the Opposite, with Nole fresh from winning the AO and on a roll, and he won the whale. I'd bet this year the trophy will end up between Rafa's jaws.

How many times have we heard the phrase "especially on this surface" with regard to Nadal? No one even tries to suggest that he's easily beatable on "his beloved clay" (another overused phrase). You've got to say that getting to those Wimby finals and eventually winning that title in such a short period of time necessitated reevaluation of his "King of (only) Clay" status, (i.e., guess he CAN play on grass, too!). But the hard courts seem to be different. Taking the AO title just isn't cutting it - just not enough to get a guy that "all-around status." Maybe winning the US Open will take care of that need to qualify Nadal's absolute greatness.

To me, Djokovic's comments about Nadal were nothing out of the usual and ordinary, and in fact (unless taken out of context) complimentary: He noted Nadal's many strengths (physical and mental) and he did not for one second bring up Federer's often-used "reasoning" for Nadal's supremacy - the "lefty factor."

I am just suggesting that people who do not have a good opinion should just stop commenting but if they want to carry on, I do not have the authority to ban these people so they can make noise all they want. Like agf suggested that we can't give any views on the tennis the players play. So, what is agf suggesting? Just write, 'Rafa is the best' or 'Roger is the best'?

agf25agf, sometimes we are under a dictatorship and sometimes a democracy. it depends on what the topic is!

So much talk about nothing, we all know that Novak respects Nadals game and more imortant he respect Rafa as a person.

So I dont see any problem with Novaks "choise of words".

He was asked ,and he was answaring honestly.

If Novak was say oposite thing like "Nadal is unbeatable" , that would be funny, becouse nobody is unbeatable, this is sport.