Djokovic Loses in a Grand Slam!

Well, there ya go. It had to happen eventually. They say hindsight is always 20/20 and although I thought Djokovic’s break after the French Open would be long enough I think the mental effort that went into completing the Djoker slam took its toll on Djokovic.

He was clearly a burnt out and spent force against Querrey. Not that Querrey didn’t play his part. He played the match of his life and I want to congratulate him. His serving, in particular, was superb.

He kept pounding down aces which didn’t help Djokovic’s cause. But in the end, there is no doubt whatsoever that Djokovic was way off his best and burnt out. In the fourth set, despite more rain interruptions and a couple of bad calls when he was serving for the set he bravely fought on.

It was like a man refusing to accept his fate. As a fan, it was a brutal set to watch because Djokovic kept finding a way to escape his fate and yet couldn’t ultimately escape it. Definitely one of the toughest sets I’ve watched as a fan.

The players came back today and Djokovic did exactly what was needed which was to get the early break and then he got the double break as well to take a 4-0 lead after which the rain started again.

Djokovic eventually wrapped up the third set 6-3 after losing one of the breaks. At the beginning of the fourth set, he had several break chances in Querrey’s first two service games which he uncharacteristically squandered.

He then faced break points on his own serve which he somehow saved. At times the tennis was just shocking. Djokovic was playing some of the worst tennis I have seen from him in ages but Querrey was too nervous to take advantage.

After a monumental struggle, Djokovic eventually took advantage of a break opportunity and served for the fourth set at 5-4. On the first two points, he then got wrong calls but he had no more challenges left.

You have to say that was very unlucky to not get one but two consecutive bad calls on two very important points. If Djokovic holds serve there and it goes to a fifth set Querrey would have gotten even more nervous.

You would think Djokovic wins from there on but eventually, your luck runs out I suppose. Earlier in the fourth set, there was another rain break and then at 5-6 when Djokovic must serve to stay in the match there comes yet another rain break.

I really wish they would have completed this match on the center court because the match had already been postponed a day due to rain. What a fucking mess. It was one of those matches that as a player you want to forget as soon as possible.

Everything seemed to be against Djokovic. When they came back on court Djokovic held serve to force the tiebreak. He got the mini break in the tiebreak as well but eventually he just couldn’t thwart his fate anymore.

He made a real mess of things there towards the end of the tiebreak and eventually pulled a forehand wide to lose 6-7(6), 1-6, 6-3, 6-7(5). It was a very frustrating and difficult match to watch as a fan and in the end, I was just glad it was over.

I’m irritated that they didn’t move the match to center court where Djokovic probably would have won, with the bad calls when Djokovic was serving for the fourth set, and with the countless number of rain breaks.

It feels like there was some kind of conspiracy going on but he will be back to win this title again. Of that, you can be 100% certain. He wouldn’t have liked the way this whole thing played out which will make him even more determined.

Let Murray or Federer have their day in the sun again. It is not going to be particularly satisfying for either of them knowing that neither of them could beat Djokovic in their last four slams meetings(five in the case of Murray).

In the end, as I said in my last post it was all about the French Open this year. That was the one Djokovic wanted more than anything and he proved legions of critics wrong by winning it. Everything after that was just a bonus.

The fact that he won two matches at Wimbledon and surpassed Laver’s open era record of 29 consecutive slam match wins is a big bonus. Even before Djokovic won the French Open I knew that if he did, it might cost him at Wimbledon.

But that was always going to be a price I was willing to pay as a fan as long as he could finally put the French Open burden to bed. That was a huge one to tick off and will only help him to play with more freedom in the future.

Djokovic has also made it public that he won’t be playing the next round of Davis Cup. There is no doubt now that finally putting the French Open to bed took a big emotional toll on him and that is fully understandable.

He is now going to take some more time off to make sure he comes back strong and finish the year on a high. He still has an opportunity to make this a third three-slam year and win a third US Open.

Some people have suggested that this is now a Djokovic blog which I am fine with since the biased western media has been ignoring Djokovic’s achievements to a large extent. Djokovic comes from an eastern European country which means they view him as an outsider and tend to ignore him.

And the more they ignore him the more I will hype him. So if you don’t like it then blame westerners for ignoring Djokovic or blame yourself. Djokovic deserves immense praise for what he is achieving in tennis on merit alone and therefore I will give it to him.

I don’t care if that means there isn’t a single person commenting or reading my blog. Djokovic has done something neither Federer nor Nadal could ever do by winning four consecutive slams and that is now something which will never change.

In the last year or so Djokovic has played himself firmly into the record books and the GOAT debate and I can’t wait to see it continue. This loss is just a natural consequence of constant winning and overcoming challenges.

He will resume soon where he left off. This kind of mistreatment from the west is something Djokovic is used to which he uses to motivate himself. He will only be more determined to dominate now.

Djokovic can’t win the calendar slam anymore this year but winning six slams in a row is just ridiculous if you think about it. The fact that he won four in a row is an astonishing achievement and the fact that he won the most consecutive slam matches in the open era is another astonishing achievement.

He doesn’t have to take a back seat when it comes to Federer and Nadal. He now has records of his own which Federer and Nadal will never accomplish. And there is still plenty of time left to set more records.

Like I said, this is just a rest stop. I expect a big onslaught from him toward the end of the year. The Djoker slam was a stunning achievement but the downside of it(if something like that has a downside) is that it had to end.

And since the French Open had been such a cursed slam for Djokovic winning it was always going to take an emotional toll. Especially since it would mean completing the very impressive Djoker slam at the same time.

So from a fan’s perspective, I have no regrets whatsoever. I was more upset about the circumstances surrounding this loss and just because I didn’t want to see such an extraordinary run end. That is just natural.

But since the French Open/Wimbledon last year when I became a serious Djokovic fan it has been a dream run. Certainly the most rewarding time as a tennis fan I have ever experienced.

Back in 1999/2000 when I was an Agassi fan Agassi was denied the Agassi slam in a devastating performance by Sampras at Wimbledon so it is nice to finally get to experience that as a fan.

Who would have thought last year after Djokovic lost in the French Open final that he would go on a historic run of winning four consecutive slams? First, he put the semi-cursed US Open slam to bed and then the big one at the French.

Over a period of twelve months, he had gone from a player who had won eight slams without the career slam to someone who is now in the top tier of GOAT candidates. An extraordinary achievement.

In many ways, he is now ahead of Federer and Nadal. Not only does he lead them in the head-to-head meetings but he has achieved something neither of them could by winning a personal slam.

I really can’t wait to see what the future holds for him. He has now laid the ideal platform from where he can attempt to become the undisputed GOAT.

Federer plays Johnson next after Johnson defeated Dimitrov in four sets. His draw really just keeps getting better. The big question is now whether Federer can take advantage of Djokovic’s loss and go on to win #18 here.

This is the opportunity he has been waiting for, but did he leave it too late? He still lacks match play and he can only avoid difficult opponents for so long. If he wins he will play Cilic or Nishikori.

Those are still easy for a quarterfinal opponent especially if it is Nishikori but then there is a good possibility that Federer will face Raonic. But judging by his draw so far he will probably get Goffin who would lose on purpose just so Federer can have a shot at winning another Wimbledon title.

You would think at least in the final Federer would face Murray if he makes it that far but there is no guarantee of that either. Murray could play Kyrgios in the next round who can beat anyone on a good day.

This is a rare opportunity for Federer to finally bag #18 with the exit of Djokovic but the fact that he was injured for a big part of this year doesn’t help his cause. Federer has been steadily improving since his first round but you never know when lack of match practice can catch up with you.

And if he has to go through Raonic and Murray that will still be a tough ask at this stage. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is a Murray vs Raonic final but we will see how the draw plays out. You certainly can’t count Federer out.

Murray played again today and won in straight sets over Millman in his so far cakewalk draw. But next, he will get the winner of Kyrgios or Lopez who are currently tied at a set all. Tomic also made the fourth round with a straight-set win over Bautista Agut.

Like I said before, he can be dangerous on grass and plays the winner of Pouille and Del Potro where Pouille leads 6-7(4), 7-6(6), 7-5. It’s tough to call a winner there yet but Tomic can easily make quarters.

I am hoping Del Potro can continue his run but I am not holding out too much hope of that happening. Del Potro won’t win the tournament so I don’t care much about who wins the title now.

That doesn’t mean I will lose interest. I am a tennis fan after all. I will certainly be interested in finding out how this concludes. More so than Federer perhaps this is the chance Murray has been waiting for.

He has been the runner-up in the last two slams and with Lendl back in his corner this is an excellent opportunity for him to finally win another slam. I think he probably has to be the favorite now.

After that Raonic and then Federer. Federer is more like a dangerous dark horse I think because in the end there is no substitude for match play. But anything can still happen. This is now quite open which makes things interesting!