Ain’t no Djokovic

AlternaSports, Tennis

Posted by SK, January 26, 2008 - 1:05 pm

Roger Federer lost in the semi-finals of the Australian Open on Friday, in straight sets.

Wait, let me repeat that with proper emphasis.  ROGER FEDERER LOST IN THE SEMI-FINALS OF THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN ON FRIDAY, IN STRAIGHT SETS.

This is beyond huge.

I’m not going to lie, watching Federer dominate over the past three years has become something you take for granted.  Like air, for instance.  This is a guy that has reached every single Grand Slam final since May of 2005, and hasn’t lost in a Grand Slam to someone not named Nadal in the same time period.  It’s pretty much become boring - over the past three years we’ve known who’s going to be playing on the final Sunday.  A tall, robotic Swiss guy, and a long-haired Spanish guy in capri pants.  Or whatever the hell those are.

And it got to the point where everyone respects R-Fed so much that they have the whole “I’m just happy to be here playing against such greatness” attitude.

Well, a kid from Serbia finally did something about that.  And he did it without backing down, staring down Federer and playing with all the emotion that a 20 year old can muster.  I like this Novak Djokovic kid.  He’s got a little fire in him - a la John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors.

Could it be we’re starting to see a return to the glory days of men’s Grand Slam tennis?  When the entire tournament was wide open to a field of Sampras, Becker, Lendl, Courier, Edberg, and Agassi? 

We’ve had Nadal and now we’ve got Djokovic to play the role of spoiler to Federer’s perfection.  Federer isn’t going to go away, and he’ll probably continue to play at a high level and dominate through this season and beyond.

But here’s hoping it’ll be a little harder for him.
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Photo credit: Peter Parks (Getty)

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