There are few more humbling experiences for a tennis player than facing Novak Djokovic.
From players thinking a match with Djokovic is a 50/50 to badmouthing the Serb off the court,
his opponents can sometimes be overly confident before matches. This then
leads to what I like to call the Djokovic effect: first, Djokovic gets bad mouthed,
then Djokovic steamrolls whoever bad mouthed him. Today, we’re going through some of my
favorite examples! QUICK DISCLAIMER
I do want to point out that of course players should be confident going into a match with
anyone, and that includes Novak Djokovic. I also don’t think any of the opponents in this video
have committed any egregious crimes. I just think that the Djokovic effect is really funny and that
you shouldn’t ever do anything to make Djokovic look like this. So, don’t take this video too
seriously and let’s get into times that players have been seriously humbled by the Serbian legend.
Ben Shelton
The most recent example of the Djokovic effect took place at the US Open this year. Ben Shelton
was in the best form of his career so far, reaching the semi-finals of a Grand Slam
for the first time. Knocking out fellow Americans Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul in previous rounds,
the 20-year-old was playing exciting, brave tennis. Confident or arrogant depending on
your point of view, he was behaving as you would expect a 20-year old to behave. In press
conferences, he was bubbly, smiley and cocky, particularly before the match against Djokovic.
He wasn’t exactly disrespectful to Djokovic and did acknowledge his opponent’s previous
victories: . However, Djokovic is certainly more than just a “tough challenge” and Shelton
was naïve afterwards, talking about the fact that Novak hasn’t ever faced him
or his playstyle before and saying that he was hoping to disrupt him Ah yes, Djokovic,
the player with almost 1,100 ATP wins who has never faced an aggressive player before.
During the match itself, the support from the American crowd was raucous and quite
often disrespectful, cheering not only Djokovic double faults but also first serve mistakes.
Shelton found this amusing, smiling whenever it happened. The young American was also too
exuberant in his celebrations, even pointing down at the court as if to say that the US
Djokovic responded in typical Djokovic fashion: by winning the tennis match. Shelton performed well
in the match but he was not at the level needed to even trouble Novak. The Serb won in straight sets,
outclassing and outmatching Shelton physically and tactically. He then gave a bit back to Ben and the
crowd, performing Shelton’s celebration of hanging up the phone with a cold,
determined look in his eyes. His 20-year-old opponent was far from smiley at the net and
seemed distraught as he walked off the court. Djokovic then went on to lift the US Open trophy,
rubbing it in the wounds of the American crowd a little bit more.
In my honest opinion, I don’t think Shelton was too disrespectful. He was immature and naïve,
which isn’t surprising considering his age. He did say some silly things during
the post-match interview though, calling Djokovic the “number two” player when it
was already decided that he would become number one and suggesting that Djokovic has
a “similar mentality” as himself. Overall, it was certainly a humbling experience for
Shelton which could prove to be positive for his future. It was more humbling for the American
crowd.Will they ever learn? Cameron Norrie
2022 was an unusual year for Novak Djokovic. Banned from competing in the Australian Open
and a couple of Master’s 1000 tournaments for not getting vaccinated, Djokovic had already
missed out on 4,000 ranking points. He then lost to the clay GOAT at Roland-Garros, a completely
fair result. The next Grand Slam was Wimbledon, and Nole managed to emerge victorious, defeating
Nick Kyrgios in the final. Due to Russians and Belorussians not being able to compete, the ATP
decided that no ranking points would be awarded for the tournament, which unfortunately meant
that Djokovic missed out on yet another 2,000 points and dropped out of the top 5 as a result.
This made it very difficult for Djokovic to qualify for the ATP finals - at least,
if it wasn’t for a rule that states the following: Up to two (2) Grand Slam winners of that year,
in order of their positions, positioned between eight (8) and twenty (20) in the ATP Rankings as
of that Monday. Thanks to his Wimbledon victory, Djokovic therefore qualified for the Finals,
much to the chagrin of a certain Brit: Cameron Norrie. Norrie described the fact that Djokovic
qualified thanks to Wimbledon as “a bit strange” and that “it seems unfair”. I can see where Norrie
is coming from: he didn’t get any points for his Wimbledon run that would have seen him in
a good position to qualify. However, winning a Grand Slam is a significant achievement that
should be rewarded and Djokovic should have been competing at the ATP Finals.
Djokovic went on to win that edition of the ATP Finals - because of course he did - which
for this battle. Any opportunity he could, he was screaming “Come on” at the top of his
lungs. Tensions then boiled over after this point: Norrie smashed the ball right at Djokovic’s legs
after the Serb had clearly conceded the point. His apology was then incredibly half-hearted
and he gave his loudest celebratory shout a couple of points after when he won his service
game. Djokovic was less than impressed and Djokovic kicked into the next gear.
Norrie only won one more game and called a medical time-out at 5-4, another moment that
end but I think that was calculated. With the minimal celebrations and the quick handshake,
Djokovic showed that Norrie wasn’t even worth the celebration. Norrie was then quite
salty after the match and he hasn’t won more than two matches in a tournament since then:
not the best run of results for him. I’ve also got a feeling that Djokovic will tear Norrie apart in
their next meeting. Alex de Minaur
The reason I think that is because I think Novak holds a grudge. (Light-hearted) In fact,
I think he has a list of players he holds grudges against that he checks off after destroying them,
like what happened with Alex De Minaur. In 2022, De Minaur was interviewed about
Djokovic attempting to enter the Australian Open but being turned away and he seemed to be mocking
Djokovic a bit with his answers, laughing at him. Again, Djokovic wasn’t impressed.
The next year, a De Minaur victory in the third round set up a clash
with Novak Djokovic. In his post victory interview, De Minaur was chipper and said this
Unfortunately, it seems he wasn’t made of the right stuff. Djokovic dismantled him,
winning 6-2, 6-1, 6-2. Novak was an absolute machine, totally outclassing De Minaur in
every way. The Serb hit 26 winners and made the Australian look like a player outside the top 200,
in front of his home crowd. I’ve rarely seen such a one-sided match of tennis in my life: Djokovic
set the pace in every single point and overpowered his opponent with his strokes. He made one of the
fastest players on tour look sluggish and lazy and this was truly Djokovic at the peak of his powers.
He then gave one of the best post-match interviews
answers in history. I highly doubt De Minaur will be so glib in the future.
Juan Pablo Varillas In our next example
of the Djokovic Effect, we have Juan Pablo Varillas. The Peruvian had never won a Grand
Slam match before Roland-Garros 2023 but he hit a bit of form, winning three five-setters
to set up a match with Novak. In his post-match interview after a victory against Hubert Hurkazc,
Varillas insisted that all tennis matches are “50-50”. Of course,
that’s what you tell yourself before facing a monster like Djokovic, but a 50/50? Really?
Like with De Minaur, Novak dismantled his opponent with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win. Varillas got a break
point in the very first game, but after that, it was entirely Djokovic. The Serb was on fire,
hitting 35 winners and winning 34 more points than his Peruvian
opponent. Varillas tried to do what he could to destabilise his opponent, including high,
looping shots but Djokovic’s powerful groundstrokes were way too much for Varillas.
In his post-match interview, Varillas was not only totally dejected but he also seemed in awe
of Djokovic, analysing how the Serb beat him. He was very complimentary but he didn’t seem
to be a happy figure. (light-hearted) I imagine he probably took a long,
sad shower after the match. Djokovic doesn’t just take your legs; he also takes your soul!
Before we go into our last example of players disrespecting Djokovic before matches, why don’t
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Andy Roddick For our final example,
we go all the way back to 2008, the year that Novak Djokovic won his first Grand Slam,
the Australian Open. Over at the US Open, former World Number one Andy Roddick would be facing
Novak Djokovic. In a post-match interview, a journalist asked Roddick about Novak’s ankle
injuries. The American had a lot to say: At this early point in his career,
Djokovic was very different to today and he did used to struggle with injuries and especially a
respiratory issue that he thinks his diet solved. He didn’t take Roddick’s words lightly and was
laser-focused from the first point in the match. He wiped the floor with the American in the first
two sets much to the annoyance of the American crowd. The next two sets were then a lot closer,
with Andy picking up the third but Djokovic ended up victorious in a fourth set tie-break.
The post-match interview was one of the fiercest in Djokovic’s career,
with boos ringing out from the crowd. Djokovic wasn’t backing down though,
saying: Well obviously Andy was saying I have 16 injuries after the last match,
so obviously I don’t right? The crowd continued to boo, but the young Djokovic didn’t care:
he was through to the semis, which he ended up losing to Roger Federer, the eventual winner.
In fairness to Roddick, he wasn’t being overly serious
and hedefinitely has a sense of humour. Years later, he reflected on the match:
"I was talking trash, and he came out and beat the pants off me (in the match), as he would,
but then kind of chirped afterward," Andy Roddick said. "So he comes straight (into
the locker room), I went right up to him, had him up against the locker. But then I
realized his trainer was a little bit bigger than Donovan and I kind of checked myself."
What this video should teach you is that it is never a good idea to piss off Novak
Djokovic. Most players already know that, as we described in our “Why Tennis Players FEAR
Novak” video which you can check out here, but the players today flew a little too close to the sun!