Djokovic's play is GOAT level but he lacks the spontaneity needed to be beloved

Yeah Djoker is never going to be considered the GOAT by most because he is really just a sociopathic guy who became a great tennis player. It is difficult to cheer for him. He is good no doubt.

There was a great point where Medvedev ends up on the court sprawled out on his back. And he stays there to everyone's amusement. Novak comes to the net to look at him fondly. The crowd cheers cause they both deserve the little mini break they are taking. Then Djok steps over the net to come give Medvedev a hand in getting up. That breaks the mood. Med waves him off. Djokovic took it too far! trying to play up the sportsmanship. UGH how can I turn this into a PHD thesis on psychology and personality...

I don't know. I think he is just awkward for some reason. Maybe has to do with self-centeredness.

On a board that talks obsessively about doping I'm surprised I am the one who casts that obvious shadow over Dopervic.

Oh he's a doper. Just like Nadal and, likely, Alcarez.

Nodoubt Dopavich. Isn’t that his name?

Those '24' jackets were a douche move. Reminded me of Federer's douchebag gold jacket that he wore after one of his wins. But Djoker's still the GOAT.

After seeing the replay, I hope Medvedev plays better than that most of the time. It wasn't close, he looked terrible, never had the upper hand. Struggled so much, holding serve in the 2nd looked like a great achievement

The pool of folks that play Tennis is low. He's pushing 37 and there's no one to challenge him, that says more about the challengers than the quality of his play. Tennis is a joke

He’s also the target of a very creepy and obsessive admiration by antivaxxers. Yuck!

When he was young, he was more personable. He would get very nervous on important points and bounce the tennis ball 20+ times before serving. He also did funny impressions of other tennis players' serve. Then he had a phase where he had health problems which he attributed to gluten intolerance. After that, he surrounded himself with some real weirdos and got very insular with his family and Ivanisevic's crew. They are very creepy and you cannot tell whether his box is full of tennis supporters or supporters for Slobodan Milošević at his war crime tribunal.

Good take. I remember a noticeable change in his demeanor on and off the court at that time. He was clearly an obsessive and self-centered type to begin with, but that has become more extreme over the years. Could you imagine living with someone like that? So yeah, not very likeable or at least as likeable as a lot of other popular players. He definitely mostly sticks to the script to appear to be humble, modest, and laid back, but on and off the court we've seen behavior that contradicts this. And the sportsmanship is a bit fake - even though I credit him for still doing it and verbally showing respect for his opponents.

There is some slight debate as to whether he's the GOAT, but I believe he definitely is and once he's won another 2-3 titles no one will be disputing his greatness.

Did you also get banned from Talk Tennis? 😃

It wasn't a douche move. It wasn't like he's done that for all his other grand slam victories. He did it because 24 is sole possession of 1st place in the open era. That's an insane number and worthy of something like that.

Without the likes of Novax, Roger and Rafa we would have seen so many different guys winning over the last 2 decades, like we've seen in women's tennis ex-Serena. And they are all fantastic players that just tend to be inconsistent and get injured. It's much more likely that the quality of the game and average player has improved and that these 3 players have just been that much better in comparison. We've seen flashes of consistent similar greatness from Medvedev and Alcaraz, but it's nothing like those 3. I suppose there will always be a bit of domination by some players at a given time, but there is no disputing how much those 3 have owned the sport. Tennis is very deep in talent.

Should Nadal have done that when he was up? Should Nadal make uniforms with #15 for his next French open? It's def a douche move and disrespectful to Nadal who hasn't retired yet. In summary, there is no good enough reason to publicly boast to that degree... unless it's just an ego thing which we all know it is.

That's part of his legacy.. and he seems proud of it

Medvedev had more stamina.. he won most of the long rallies and was able to set himself up to come back but didn't capitalize on numerous occasions. Very poor execution. His instincts on the net were terrible - how many times did he hit the ball directly to Novax when he had an open court? Novax was definitely vulnerable after the first set and looked very tired. You gotta be playing at your damn best against him to win. But I agree Medvedev's performance didn't look good enough to win most big matches (quarter/semi/final).

He has a 23 jacket too. And 23 was on his shoes. Total douche move with those jackets.