All Novak Djokovic has to do is defeat either Dominic Thiem or Alexander Zverev to get one step closer to possibly “the greatest ever” tag.
Of course, everyone knows that although Djokovic likely will be the last player standing when history records the most Grand Slam titles ever, Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal are the real greatest players ever, along with probably the great Rocket Rod Laver.
But that doesn’t take anything away from Djokovic’s highly possible achievements.
DJOKOVIC SUPERIOR ON LAVER COURT
Novak was simply too superior athletically for Federer to handle on Novak’s favorite surface at Rod Laver Arena in Thursday’s semifinal match in the Australian Open.
In that last two sets of Djokovic’s 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 win, Novak made Federer almost look like a relic. Roger had the serve to keep himself in the match. Otherwise, his mad rushes to the net weren’t enough to stop Djokovic’s pursuit of an eighth Australian Open crown. Djokovic did almost everything better.
The Novak yo-yo worked nearly perfectly on the older Federer.
NOVAK KEPT ROGER MOVING
Djokovic repeatedly drove Federer from one side of the court to the other until the Swiss great yielded the point.
As for Nadal, the Spanish left-hander looked a little lost on the slow hard surface that allowed Dominic Thiem to repeatedly chase down what would have been a winner against players other than Thiem and Djokovic.
Thiem amazingly sent his returns of the wide balls back with such depth and pace that they virtually handcuffed Nadal. And then there were the ground strokes that Thiem routinely met with such force and power that Nadal was almost rendered helpless.
THIEM TOOK A PAGE FROM DJOKOVIC’S GAME
Thiem simply out-Novaked Nadal.
That blended with Thiem’s power appeared to put Nadal in such a defensive mode that even Nadal’s usually powerful forehands left too much height to put balls away. Thiem’s shots also pressured Nadal in such a manner that Nadal hit too many balls into the net.
Oh, well, there’s still Paris for Nadal’s one-needed Grand Slam title to catch up to Federer’s total of 20.
JAMES BECK IS THE LONG-TIME TENNIS COLUMNIST FOR THE CHARLESTON (S.C) POST AND COURIER NEWSPAPER.
