The demons he has slain (what 3 good months of tennis can do)

First topic message reminder :

It is interesting to look back on all that Nole has accomplished with just 20 straight wins. Going into the Davis Cup final Djokovic was seen by many as the most fragile of the top echelon of players. His serve was attackable, his conditioning suspect. He didn't win a master's title since Paris of 09 and hadn't won a grandslam in three years. He had lost three straight to Andy Murray, 3 straight to Roger, and hadn't beaten Nadal since the WTFs in 09. But in sports what a difference a few months can make.

Davis Cup final: He becomes maybe the biggest sports hero in Serbian history and wins the tiny nation its most important international sporting title. More importantly his old serve came back and he found his comfort zone on what had been his biggest liability.

Australian Open: He becomes only the 4th active multislam winner along with Hewitt, Fed, and Nadal. In many ways this finally relieved the pressure and the media attention that he had received since his maiden slam. He could no longer be seen as one slam wonder, a guy who got lucky because Roger had Mono. (as ridiculous as this argument is). In short, the doubters and critics had to keep quiet and Novak got the monkey off his back. He also beat a healthy Roger and Andy Murray on way to the crown ending his abysmal record against the very top of the game.

Dubai: another win over Roger and collecting the richest ATP 500 event in the calendar, and a record tying 3 dubai crowns in a row.

Indian Wells: He beats roger for the third straight time and collects his first win over Super Rafa in nearly 18 months and his first win ever over Rafa in a final. Also jumps past Fed for the #2 ranking.

20 straight wins dating back to Davis Cup

8-0 against top ten players

5-0 against top 5 players.

It is not just the win streak that is impressive, but the quality of the wins as well. He is no longer the weakling in the Fed, Nadal, Murray stratus of players. And with his serve back, imporved volleys and conditioning there doesn't seem to be a weakness in his game. Lets hope he can keep up the form and make this year even more interesting.

temporary21 wrote:Reality check? Last time I saw Novak WAS the big cheese. He's on a huge run and making mockery of his biggest rivals. He's like what federer was when Agassi was in his elder years. The new big thing who takes over when sentiment for the elder statesman dies out when he retires.  Credit where credits due quite frankly

Here, here excellent post. Of course he is probably never going to be as popular Nadal or Federer, but those two are probably the most popular tennis players since Borg. He is after Fed, Nadal, and Serena the guy who makes the 4th highest amount in tennis just ahead of Sharapova. So it isn't exactly that he is unpopular. The more he wins and the more the general public gets to know him the more popular he gets.

Grouping Nadal with Federer on popularity is flawed. Federer is way more popular than Nadal and always has been. The guy is cheered in every tournament in every part of the world, for goodness sake. Nadal isn't even loved by the crowd at RG after winning there for a decade!

Not that it matters. Public sentiment is never an accurate measure of quality.

All that matters is what happens on the court. If I wanted a popularity contest, I'd watch Big Brother.

Rafa has the most fans onfacebook and twitter. Just saying

The French don't like him because he beats the big nose like a heavyweight beating a middleweight in sparring.

Nah, the French do love Rafa; its only some of those Parisians who attended the FO plus the Fed fans who dont like him. You got to watch Rafa's practice sessions to see how popular he is in Paris.

Rafa is also popular in New York, London and Melbourne. Even in Basel, people pay to watch Rafa plays (full house), not forgetting Latin America. Rafa may not be as popular as Fed, as Fed had a few years headstart (before Rafa) and was a domineering force for a few good years before Rafa came along. However, to say Rafa doesnt belong to Fed's class in terms of popularity is a bit off, they do belong to the same class, not that much separate them. Rafa's endorsement income is fast catching up with Fed's; again Fed has the headstart, getting big brands like Rolex, Mercedes.

Belovedluckyboy wrote:Nah, the French do love Rafa; its only some of those Parisians who attended the FO plus the Fed fans who dont like him.  You got to watch Rafa's practice sessions to see how popular he is in Paris.  

Rafa is also popular in New York, London and Melbourne.  Even in Basel, people pay to watch Rafa plays (full house), not forgetting Latin America.  Rafa may not be as popular as Fed, as Fed had a few years headstart (before Rafa) and was a domineering force for a few good years before Rafa came along. However, to say Rafa doesnt belong to Fed's class in terms of popularity is a bit off, they do belong to the same class, not that much separate them.  Rafa's endorsement income is fast catching up with Fed's; again Fed has the headstart, getting big brands like Rolex, Mercedes.  

Endorsements:
Federer - $52m
Nadal - $30m
Djokovic - $21m

Federer streets ahead. Nadal only $9m ahead of Djokovic despite years longer at the top of the game.

http://www.forbes.com/athletes/list/

HM, you got to update yourself. Rafa has new endorsements coming in, Tommy Hilfiger, one Spanish Nutritional supplements, Spanish Food, Spanish Telecoms, etc and etc He clearly will have > 30m going forward.

$30m extra??

Like to see some numbers for that one.

Not 30m extra, read again!

So do update us if the $30m is incorrect

Are we really playing the fiscal version of "my dad is bigger than your dad"? Federers been around longer, hes got more endorsements, the other 2 might not want that many commitments whilst theyre still around their prime, or just falling off it

LK, according to Forbes, Rafa had 30m endorsement income, so with new endorsements coming in, he'll clearly have > 30m going forward.

Rafa is getting in new endorsements at such a rapid rate I dont know what next for him. I counted, he now has 12 to 13 endorsements and hes not stopping anytime soon.

PS.Rafa is into business, investing in hotel in Mexico, and setting up Spanish restaurants with friends.

Yeah those endorsements, not even half of them are public information, others are just unknown Forbes crap.

Also sure say Nike or Adidas might pay you 5M a year, but for every Masters and GS win or title, bonus annexes kick in separately, info that no one has, except the agent of the player and the player.

Sure Fed is miles ahead, but those number are no way 100% true for each of those players.

So all true what I said about Djoko, he is unloved and unmarketable to sponsors

Damn it Jahu stop making sense!!

Is the girlfriend watching you??

hahaahah, no she did her duties and went home this morning

I'm still shaking off the "make sense" mood from last night

I've removed a lot of unacceptable stuff from this thread.

Pretty sure everyone knows what is/isn't allowed. If they don't then it may be best to err on the side of caution before posting. Make 'caution' your watchword for the day.

Done chief, thx