Is Djoko going to repeat 2011? Very strong chance but Murray will have a lot to say in IW and Miami

18 straight. I still think I'll wait for IW before bringing up the S-word.

Djoker looking strong but I don't think there will be a long STREAK of wins like 2011. IW/Miami is a hard b2b. I think he'll be satisfied with winning 1 of them and not go too hard with RG on his mind.

I don't think he's going to repeat his 2011. He doesn't look that dominant this year compared to 2011. He's not beating up Fed on a fast hard court but Bird Brain. He beat a Delpo but that Delpo had already played for three weeks nonstop. He's simply not as good as his 2011 to put it simply. It's more of Tomas Bird Brain's own undoing in the final more than anything else, IMO. Nole simply capitalize on his errors (and nerves).

Nole is a big match player and even if he's not playing that well, he still could edge out a win, especially against non top four guys. I think Murray will challenge him on hard courts, Rafa will beat him on clay; the trio of Fed/Nole/Rafa will beat him on grass if they meet; and Fed will beat Nole at Cincy should they meet again.

As for the rest of the top ten guys, no chance of them beating Nole, maybe only on grass if they can brine their A game and minus the fear they've for Nole.

I think nole is going to have a BETTER season than he did last year(last year,he went through a minor form slump from Dubai all the way to the end of the Olympics) but I doubt he will repeat his unbelieveable 2011 season.

Nole was bellow par today and still won in straights. I am not sure Rafa will always beat him on clay, or that Roger/Andy/Rafa will beat him on grass. In all those matches, Nole has at least 50% of chance to win. He may not have the long streak he had in 2011. but I am betting on him having a better year than 2011.

Well he'll at leasrt have a better second half of the season than his 2011! It's 80/20 to Rafa vs nole on clay, and 60/40 Fed/Murray/Rafa vs Nole on grass. It's 50/50 Murray/Nole on hard courts. He's below par yesterday but note who's the other finalist yesterday. I'm not surprised that if it's Murray/Tsonga or even Delpo playing against Nole yesterday, they'll most likely beat Nole or at least extend him to a third set.

"60/40 Fed/Murray/Rafa vs Nole on grass"

provided nadal doesn't get rosoled.

vamos.

If Nadal get 'rosolled', so does Nole too! Nole was fortunate not to meet Rosol last year at Wimbledon! Nole can't even beat Delpo on grass, and that was after Delpo's long match with Fed! To me, that said alot about Nole on grass, and Nole wasn't even having bad knee like Rafa!

@rfzr , 3/3/13 4:45 AM

Some people are in for a big surprise!

Sanju, if Murray has something to say, he's going to have to say it, right? LOL
Chr8, yes, one will be fine. He gets extra points for dubai.
luckystar, he beat Fed at WTF which was hard the lats time I looked and Murray at Shanghai with Murray having 5 championship points. Nole will win cincy this year if he's in the final. Nole isn't worried about grass anymore. He has Wimbledon.

Ahem, but who won Wimbledon and Cincy last year, beating Nole along the way? Who won Olympics on grass and the USO last year beating Nole along the way? Who won the FO last year beating Nole along the way?

The fact that Murray had five MPs at Shanghai meant that Murray almost beat Nole then. I could see for myself that Murray was the better player for most part of that match, there's no guarantee that the next time they meet there Nole would have the upperhand.

I could see for myself that Murray was the better player -

Lucky star, I am sure you see what you want to see. Good for you.

Yeah, if he's not the better player FOR MOST PART OF THE MATCH, he won't have five MPs against Nole, simple as that! You see what you want to see too!

it is about who can close the match, always been, always will. no amount of of impartiality can change that.

vamos.

non-impartiality wanted to say.

vamos.

@nadline (aka cerrie), 3/3/13 6:16 AM

vamos.

Ahem, we're talking about their future meetings, aren't we? See second paragraph of my post at 6.30am.

Lucky, we can apply the same argument regarding the USO final. Nole was the better player but lost. Matches like that are played all the time. Recently, I heard Gulbis wasn't supposed to win against Querry. Anyhow, none of those matches were easy to either of them. You win some, you lose some. There is no way, I think, you can say that Andy has the upper hand over Nole on ANY surface. As for the Olympics on grass, somehow, I don't see it as a reliable enough proof that DelPo is a better grass player. You can't say Rosol is better than Rafa just because he had one win over him on grass. Nole had an out of sorts day in which DelPo was better and that's it. Maybe the result wouldn't be the same had it been played in the best of five format the way GS is played.

Er, for those matches that I mentioned, did Fed or Murray or Rafa faced match points before coming back to win? That's the difference there! You miss the gist about Delpo on grass, he beat Nole the Wimbledon champ, after Delpo's grueling match against Fed the previous day! To me that speaks more about Nole on grass than about Delpo; I didn't say that Delpo will beat Nole on grass from now on! Just like I don't think Rosol would beat Rafa from now on!

A lot of Nole's match point down situations has been about him phunking about when he could have previously put the match away. The fact that he is able to hit his way out of it on a consistent basis doesn't mean you can simply say he wasn't the better player all the time.

Right, but there were times he wasn't the better player for most part of the match, like that Shanghai match vs Murray, or that USO 2011 match vs Fed.

Djokovic struggled to beat the world #6 and Rafa demolished the world #4.

^^LOL. I have no words. Vamos.

yep, nole won the title without dropping a set. epic struggle.

vamos.

if he's not the better player FOR MOST PART OF THE MATCH, he won't have five MPs against Nole, simple as that

He simply choked. At AO Novak was superior.

I don't know, saving numerous match points tells me more about that player than the other (who had them). In the end, the result is what matters.

Tennis is about big points.

Having said that, I'm a little fed up seeing Nole phunk about losing points unnecessarily by suddenly playing extra passive or making really stupid errors. A case in point for me was the AO first set tiebreak - Nole was superior through that set and went on to play an utterly disastrous tiebreak. Ironically enough, he played a very good tiebreak when Murray was by far the better player in the second set.

At the USO2011, he should never have lost the game down 3 4 in the fifth but let the crowd get to him and blew away four straight points. So I don't necessarily think Nole was a lousier player through the match - just that he managed to get himself out of situations that he had a significant hand at constructing.

In 2012, I sometimes felt like he had a need to get under pressure before playing freely but that really isn't a winners attitude. And yes, looking back at Shanghai, Murray was more solid through the match but severely lacking on the big points. Nole however, was spectacular - you can't really sit back against a guy who will give it his all on a match point.

^^^ Well, you're fair about your assessment of that Shanghai match. Murray played better than Nole for two sets, even if he choked away the match in three doesn't change that fact. Would Murray make the same mistakes the next time they meet? Well there's no guarantee that he'll do that again and there's no guarantee that Nole will be able to escape again, and that's all I'm saying. If Murray took one of the MPs and won, he would be 3-3 vs Nole last year I/o of 2-4 on the hard courts. Given how close they are on the hard courts, I therefore form the opinion that they're 50:50 on the hard courts!

Many congrats to Nole and his NICE fans :)