Djokovic: "Tennis is a Mental Game" | Mailbag

[@Johnny_Dodge]

Lmao at him roasting the comments last week for not realizing he was only ranking the top ten

[@GaryLyons]

LOL I was one of those comments. I totally missed it. Obviously Gill would put Matteo way up there if he was simply considering all players with the forehand 😂

[@miljann98]

Something should've been atleast fishy for them when he included Toafoe 😅

[@stephenhero77]

Lol I came here to say the same. So good.

[@got2bjosh]

Meh, his video title wasn't clear enough. That's why people were confused. The use of prepositions and articles would've helped.

[@carniedph]

There's a quote "Tennis is 50% physical and 90% mental" or something like that. Meaning that you need the physical, athletic side but without the mental side you are practically useless. Its so easy to choke or have a poor mental game in tennis compared to other sports IMO.

[@waynehendricks1529]

I play 10 hours a week with Dunlop Fort All Court balls. They are hard and heavy and maintain their bounce for 20 hours+. Adjusting from a heavy ball to a lighter Wilson is a tough adjustment to make. I play at the sea which can make a difference too. Its easier to move from a high altitude court using light balls to a lower altitude court using heavier balls. The mishit on a light ball that flies loses you the point, whereas a mishit on a heavy ball tends to drop in or short and still gives you a chance.

[@sudowoodo8919]

Regarding winning a game against a pro, love that you told that the most thing you should spend more time is the serve, if you had a poor serve theres no way youre winning a point. When I saw that that was what i thought as well

[@bassmaster1953]

Mental covers a lot of ground. In the end, the combination of shot choice, execution, versatility, emotion, relaxation,, etc. win the match.

[@SJ-di5zu]

My favorite part about the race for 4 seed was that it was between 4 players, then Sinner won Toronto to catch up and make it a 5 man race. So Cincinnati looked super interesting, but then Sinner lost in his first match on top of the rest of the guys losing within the first 2 rounds. Meanwhile Rune has clearly been playing injured, went 0-2, retired from Cincinnati, and still got the 4 seed.

[@loridibon]

I thought Medvedev was talking about the courts in Cincinnati having been resurfaced and making the balls fly off the racket after his win with Musetti, maybe that could explain complaints this week?

[@miljann98]

Cmon Gill!!! Impatiently waiting for the post match review of the Final! I know you're a busy bee working on it right now :D

[@craigtimmons6907]

Pushing toward 25k subscribers… steady climb! Keep up the great work!

[@ThatGooner]

My pet theory re: Holger's ohc struggles is that he clashes horrendously with remotely hot conditions. His physical durability is still a big question mark, so when worn down or being fearful of such, he will switch between that ball-retriever and ball-basher mode much more frequently and jarringly (e.g. (not from hc's but still) that incredibly long rally he played vs Daniil in Rome late on before re-collapsing physically). Despite managing it better post-USO last year, I think it becomes a big hurdle mentally, as well as physically, when pushed. It was bizarre seeing how he played that Rublev AO match because he looked so at odds with himself and how to handle the conditions. AO is more on the extreme side but I've seen it pop up in other outdoor places since. Whereas when he's gotten to play in conditions he knows that he can trust not to become an inevitable negative factor (indoor, cooler outdoor conditions, night conditions, etc), it doesn't seem to impact him nearly as much, unless he has accumulated fatigue from previous matches/tournaments. He can be very erratic at the best of times, to be fair (loses focus when returning against big servers, and will almost always go back and forth between those two aforementioned modes of play to get at his opponent), but it seems heightened in those situations.

[@tamnatalie3]

I thought Medvedev is adapting his game according to what I saw in Toronto and Cincinnati tournaments: getting closer to the baseline to attack second serve, going to the net more often, do some serve volley. During his match against Zevrev, he made two bad serve volley and allowed Zevrev to break him in the 9th game of the 3rd set. Regarding the double faults, in his lone USO Grand Slam, he had 16 aces and 9 double faults, half came from set 3 when he was nervous to win. However, the loss to Alcaraz has some negative effect on his serve. He mentioned that Alcaraz attacked successfully on his serve, that cast doubts in his mind. I don't know if Meddy is changing his serve techniques to make more wide kick serve? But I think he's struggling on everything in the process of changing his game to face the new guns

[@WickedRichie]

No mailbag is complete without an Alexei Popyrin segment

[@bomberoflamenco]

Looking forward to next week too Gill

[@theprogressivemichigander6588]

If I had 6 months to get good enough to take a game off a professional, I'm working exclusively on my serve. We are doing two first serves going for aces. I can serve about 100 mph right now. My serve was a little faster back in high school. I figure that if I can get that up to at least 125 and try to hit aces with no kick serves and work on placement for 6 months and maybe some strength exercises, I'd stand a fair chance at taking a game if the pro got bored once he had a big lead. Also, I'm serving and volleying which is already my preferred strategy. I'd want to practice a little to decide which balls to leave against someone with the kind of spin rate pros have.

[@jtlieb]

at 19:20 I think they were saying he has 14 H2H's with a losing record where they've played at least 3 matches

[@Lucian86]

It's a mental game as long as you have good technical ability

[@GillGrossPredictionTracker]

If we expect players to play on a variety of surfaces, we need to expect them to handle minute differences in the composition of tennis balls.

[@BOZ_11]

"minute" is over egging it 😆 Some of these balls move like shuttlecocks after the bounce

[@msem6136]

de Minaur can break into the top 10... ....but he'd be easy pickings for the others in top event finals like he is now. I feel like there are lots of players that have made the 6 to 10 rankings that haven't done much, so de Minaur can do similar - I'm thinking Felix Auger-Aliassime, Richard Gasquet, David Goffin, Cameron Norrie, Fabio Fognini, Denis Shapovalov etc. If these guys can do it, de Minaur certainly can sneak in. I'm amazed Diego Schwartzman ever make #8!!! 🤣

[@tijgertjekonijnwordopgegeten]

FAA shouldn't be on this list, he was a genuine top ten player last year and still has the potential to be top 5.

[@SJ-di5zu]

I disagree with a lot of this. Goffin and FAA were legitimately threatening to top players during their time in the top 10. Both had big wins over higher ranked players, both gave tier 1 players a serious fight (FAA pushed Nadal 5 sets at RG, Medvedev 5 sets at AO). I am particularly low on FAA relative to most people; I knew his indoor season was relatively meaningless because indoor season often is in general. Fognini was always dangerous on clay and did win a Masters when he cracked the top 10. Shapovalov was always wildly inconsistent, but he did make Wimbledon semis in 2021 (granted, it was a very weak field). Gasquet was playing in the toughest era and didn’t match up well with the top guys, but was undeniably better than De Minaur. Norrie I’ll give you, but he did win Indian Wells in 2021 (again, pretty weak field but I guess that’s on Tsitsipas, Medvedev, and Zverev for getting upset). Schwartzman was a FORCE from 2019-20. He consistently went deep at every clay Masters and slam, made RG semis and QFs, was only losing to Nadal and often gave him some trouble too. Also made QFs at USO 2019, Rome final in 2020. Schwartzman earned his spot in the top 10 for sure. He was consistently only losing to Nadal and Djokovic. I get that he’s easy to pick on because he’s short and has a weak serve, but the guy was a clear top 10 player. De Minaur would almost certainly be the worst of these players and doesn’t have enough weight on his shots to challenge anyone above him imo outside of maybe Ruud and Fritz in their current slumps.

[@msem6136]

@@tijgertjekonijnwordopgegeten: it will be interesting to see... ...maybe FAA shines at the end of year events!

[@msem6136]

@@SJ-di5zu: hehe, I wasn't picking on Schwartzman because he is short... ...he won 4 ATP events over his career- mostly 250s. Sinner showed at Wimbledon how one can have an easy draw to a Semi in a Major, and as such it be the catalyst for making the top 10 in a given year. de Minaur one year might find himself in a similar part of the draw and make the most of it and just sneak in. It will be interesting to see.

[@SJ-di5zu]

@@msem6136Well Schwartzman’s peak only lasted 2 years, so it’s natural he wouldn’t win many titles. But easy draws? Well at Rome 2020 where he made the final, he beat Nadal on the way. Nadal ended up winning RG 2 weeks later without dropping a set to anyone, so this was a phenomenal win for Diego. At RG2020, Schwartzman beat Dominic Thiem in the QFs, who was fresh off of his first grand slam win and the two-time finalist at RG. At US Open 2019, Schwartzman beat 6 seed Zverev to make the QFs. This guy was no joke. He was basically playing at a Tomas Berdych-level for 2 years, it’s just that like I said, his peak was short.

[@jimmyfox]

Switek does the same, always blaming something after her lost the match and rarely gives credits to her opponent.

[@gretchenlittle6817]

I wonder how many of the people who thought they could take a game from a pro have actually seen pro tennis live.

[@robatkinson2125]

No club player can on earth.😊delusions of grandeur is what they have. 😅

[@SJ-di5zu]

“They just hit it back and forth at each other. It’s not even hard.” People who don’t play tennis have a skewed perception of how easy it is. They think it’s easy to rally, and they consider the physicality to basically be on the level of golf, where 45 year olds can play and no one gets injured.

[@robert111k]

Real Madrid is a members' club. They hold presidential elections every four years, and candidates have to compete for the position. To be accepted as candidates, they need to demonstrate that they are financially capable of assuming the responsibility. This requirement stems from the fact that the law holds the leadership of such organizations accountable for potential economic losses. Florentino Pérez, the current president and a very wealthy individual, is the largest shareholder and CEO of ACS, one of the world's leading civil engineering firms. He is rumored to want Rafa to be his successor, but this is mainly based on the fact that Nadal is a friend of his and, just like Alcaraz, by the way, a devoted Madrid supporter. And that's the extent of it. There's nothing serious for the time being.

[@Leejungwoo48]

Anyone, how come Gael Monfils plays amazing against his opponents, and then suddenly when he plays Djokovic, he loses so badly?

[@buzzfunk]

Must be a mental thing. Fritz choked the entire match today as well.

[@Ttjam1]

Loses before he goes on the court. Fritz also. I think only Medvedev and Alcaraz have belief against Djokovic. Novak is still benefitting from a certain aura of invincibility. It will take three or four early tournament exits in a row (including at majors) for him to lose the aura.

[@Futhi.Johnson]

It's mental.....French mentality !!

[@marekwichniarek268]

Guys, stop talking nonsense about "aura". It's all about skills and form an a given day. When Novak is in a bad form or has a bad day, he can easily lose to Lajovic, Evans, to anybody from top 100, even from outside top 100 - like he lost to Istomin at Australian Open in 2017 - 2 weeks after beating Murray in Doha then. These days happen, these loses happened. Everybody knows it, also Monfils and Fritz, obviously. They're professional and they use the opportunity. But if Novak plays like yesterday against Fritz then no chance for them, maybe no chance for anybody. Similar story was with Cilic against Djoker, he couldn't win a single match until Novak had his bad days in the 2nd half of 2016.

[@justusbeweel1109]

It’s a matchup thing. Novak is a nightmare matchup for monfils as much as Rafa is a nightmare matchup for gasquet.

[@PastorSolanga]

Gill, you actually look a bit like Novak in the thumbnail. Nice one... 😊

[@kingnole4237]

But with worried face 😟

[@lsb9073]

😲 Gill doesn't deserve that! Friendly, charming looking fellow that he is!

[@got2bjosh]

No, he really doesn't. Very different bone structure.

[@marekwichniarek268]

@@lsb9073 And Novak looks like a devil, doesn't he?

[@zetristan4525]

Great thumbnail!

[@zardoz7900]

That finger pointing to the head was Wawrinka's signature move. Why is he copying it and now others are doing it.

[@BikiG1]

The thing is, he did it first and Stanislas is a copy-cat...

[@jugoslavnamljidjiu9021]

Wawrinka copy but with whole hand like soldiers different.

[@guruk]

Lmao. Its stan who copied tbh.

[@jtlieb]

Don't you think the lack of control with the Wilson balls should have favored players who shorten points and are hyper agressive / serve and volly-ers (even though that's not how the later parts of the draw played out lol). I just think that in the same way you can't trust a long, drawn out rally on 90s grass, you probably shouldn't trust a long rally with balls you can't control. The factors disincentivize more shots / point.

[@ben1147]

If you can't trust the grass bounce, it makes sense to avoid letting the ball bounce after your serve. But if you can't control the ball, you can't hit reliably great serves and volleys, and high margin topspin shots seem like the better strategy to me.

[@joshforde698]

Mentality can be the difference maker at the top of sport for sure. You can see this in different ways, a good comparison would be Murray and Wawrinka. There is absolutely no comparison as to who is the better overall tennis player, just look at their achievements. Wawrinka was able to demonstrate that bit extra that he had mentally when it came to his Grand Slam finals, he beat the better player in each final, he just showed that ability to rise to the occasions consistently. Compared to Murray, you just didn't see that ability to go to the next level on the biggest occasions with the exception of the Olympic and Wimbledon finals of 2012 &13. Week to week on the tour, Murray could do it far more consistently, because he was a better all-round tennis player.

[@GaryLyons]

You mean Wimbledon finals of 2013 and 2016 when talking about Murray. And remember Andy also won the US Open in 2012 also beating Djokovic

[@BOZ_11]

Wawrinka also had the most devastating single-handed backhand of all time, and a forehand that made everyone sweat. He was up and down though, as you rightly pointed out

[@SJ-di5zu]

Wawrinka won three slams because he played a high risk style of tennis and peaked at the right times. I agree that we should commend his ability to play the high risk style well in big matches. We’ve seen other guys who played similarly completely fall apart in every big match they played. But Wawrinka and Thiem were great because they had such a high ceiling to their games, allowing them to knock off the big 3. Although it was weird how poor Wawrinka was in best of 3 against top players. Murray had a far better career than Wawrinka overall. You’re kinda implying that he underachieved, but he really did not. Murray won like 14 Masters to Wawrinka’s 1, achieved world #1, 2 Olympic Golds, and an ATP Finals. The only reason they’re compared is because both Murray and Wawrinka won 3 slams, but if you look at any other metric, Murray is far ahead of Wawrinka. So the difference is not that Wawrinka was purely mentally stronger, it’s just that his high-risk game had a very high ceiling. We don’t really have any proof that it’s all because of mental strength.

[@joshforde698]

@@GaryLyons No. That's not what I meant, Murray blew Djokovic off court at Wimbledon 2013, and the same with Federer in the Olympics, he just about outlasted Djokovic in the US Open final.

[@annamariaisland1960]

The story about most amateur player's delusions of grandeur is really hilarious. How well do they think a good adult softball player would do against a major league pitcher? Most of those would be terrified just to watch just three pitches go by! And I think the comparison is apt - pro tennis is as different from amateur tennis as rec-league softball is from pro baseball. Don't those tennis players know that the pros are not just hitting the balls back, but disguising what they are about to do (location and spin) ? And trying to hit a pro kick serve is like a softball player trying to hit a major league curve ball. Fellow amateur tennis players, just take your seats in the stands, keep your mouths shut, and watch the show with me !

[@SebastianLenehan-gw3fn]

Do you think if Djokovic winds cincy, he will prioritise Monte Carlo next year and go for the triple golden masters?

[@Nazhuk]

Only absolute hardcore fans care about completing masters 3rd time. He already won every masters title so he has nothing to prove. Everything else is a bonus. He should win USO because winning only 3 and loing 9 finals is not great for someone who is considered the best hard court player ever.

[@yangao2598]

Novak will not prioritize Monte Carlo. It serves as a warm up for Rolland garros. Winning Cincinnati- the most meaningful thing is that he was determined to beat Carlos post Wimbledon loss to him

[@aminwazir]

Your are superb Mr Gill ❤❤❤

[@Tuzzz94]

So about that topic of an amateur winning a game against a pro: So what if you have an amateur who is clearly inferior in almost all domains of tennis skills relative to the pro except for the fact that he has a killer serve? All it would take for him to win a game is to have a game like the following. First point: he hits an Ace for 15-0 Second point: the serve goes unreturned for 30-0 Third point: the ball is returned but is very short and he can easily put the ball away for 40-0 Now the amateur has three opportunities to hold. The first two points he loses because the pro hits two good returns and outplays the amateur in the rally for 40-30, but on the next point the pro makes a sloppy mistake (as all pro players do at times) and hits it in the net, and the amateur wins the game. Or obviously, the amateur could just hit another ace/unreturned serve to close out the game. Not saying such a game is likely to happen at any random point but if you have two sets to make one of these games happen I don't see it being super unlikely. This scenario really doesn't seem that unlikely, provided that the amateur has a great serve

[@paulrubinsteinvideo]

Problem is very very few amateurs have serves that would result in that outcome. But if the pros main weakness is return of serve, that would really increase the likelihood of the amateur winning a game.

[@MaxDangVu]

I dont know how to feel about Nadal potentially becoming RM president. On one hand, yeah kudos to him getting into sports leadership and leading his favourite club would be a dream. On the other, RM has been run like a madhouse and have done some financially shady stuff in the past (let's be real, most elite football clubs have). I dunno if this tarnishes Rafa's reputation but if he helps to change RM's image for the better, then I'm all in.

[@TheWolfSaidPoofy]

You’re out of touch with reality if you think that becoming president of RM would “tarnish” Nadal’s reputation. Dear lord.

[@lsb9073]

Meddy has a 4mo baby now. I dont know to what extent his daughter is travelling with him, but having a baby at home/on tour is highly disruptive. Fed's form took a dip in 2010 while travelling the world with TWINS. Dealing with their jet lag as well as your own cant be good, plus the already late nights Stateside. Im cutting Meddy some slack. Monfils & Elena decided to leave their child with the nannies during competitions, but there's two of them competing.

[@tamnatalie3]

His baby girl is 10 months now, and Alisa seems to give him a lot of motivation instead of disruption. So far they only take her along if the tournament is in Europe, guess she won't go to USA and China.

[@lsb9073]

​​​@@tamnatalie3 I thought she was born in April? Guess I skim read Google. Well, a 10mo baby is moving😄 . Motivation &disruption are hardly mutually exclusive tho. Anyway, good to know she doesnt travel across the Atlantic.

[@mrsjake1828]

@@lsb9073 I follow them. They were not in Toronto or Cincinnati, but expect to see his wife Daria in NY as of today, and the baby (is) there too - although the baby won't be in the players box (unless of course, Meddy wins). She was pregnant last year and has said she has a lot of friends in NY. I expect she'll be spending a lot of time visiting and showing off Alisa when not attending events and matches.

[@got2bjosh]

Gill got a haircut! Maybe they were talking about the conditions affecting ball control (i.e- wind, etc.) not the ball itself. I'd say Serena is winning in retirement. Tons of money from prize earnings and endorsements + hubby's tech money. Serena's 1st and 2nd serve was the best in the WTA as was her mental toughness.

[@bhanurajput3721]

Nice thumbnail Gill 😂

[@stephenhero77]

I guess I get why this week but how many times are you going to be asked about Alex Popyrin? Lol

[@bassmaster1953]

IMHO, each respondent has lost a set at love to similarly skilled opponents. The audacity of believing they can take a game off a pro is laughable. Even a point is a stretch.

[@amiralsrbani24]

Gill Gross my favorite Hebrew Brother !!

[@rublo1]

Where’s the cincy content??

[@rublo1]

The rant about the people who didn’t get the top 10 top 10 forehands is so warranted and those ppl deserve it. Like, how dumb can you be????

[@got2bjosh]

His video title wasn't clear enough. That's why people were confused. The use of prepositions and articles would've helped.

[@rublo1]

@@got2bjosh he even explained it’s a play on words, top 10 top 10. It’s called having a good catchy title. Again if you don’t get it idk what to tell ya

[@got2bjosh]

@@rublo1 "Ranking the forehands of the current Top 10 players" is a clearer title while still providing strong SEO. Plain and simple.

[@rublo1]

@@got2bjosh that is not catchy or interesting at all. This is a KZbin video not a science lab report

[@Andres-qm1xx]

Finally Gill being honest about Carlos and not Biased !! Carlos has the worst serve by far in the top 10 !! And also by far one of the worse BHs

[@punns643]

Um.. his BH great. It's not a weakness

[@punns643]

You don't like Carlos do you? Are you a salty novax fan?

[@Andres-qm1xx]

@@punns643 not salty just a novak and tennis fan

[@ippolit4262]

Fritz serve last night was dog water

[@joaquimmartinfreixa994]

I'm sorry Gil buy I don't know why you brought up this crap of Nadal and Real Madrid. Believe me. Our media (I live in Spain) never came up with this.

[@ndk4]

I am worried that once rafa is gone, novak will lose motivation

[@drtash21]

I think he's gonna retire after the Olympics tbh. He's gonna go for the gold medal one last time.

[@AntaresHighlander]

Hurkacz has one the best serves and you didn't even mention him.

[@punns643]

Um....... He's not in THE TOP 10!!!!!!!

[@j.a.696]

comprehension level......

[@khojanekhethisa9711]

It's funny seeing this comment following his rant on forehands😂😂😅

[@punns643]

​@@khojanekhethisa9711yep 👍

[@donalonso2785]

He is not Top 10 at the moment.

[@goldwolf0606]

ChokoGil 😂

[@trinaprudhomme-oe2ze]

Novak only one because he cheated plain and simple.

[@KrishnamurthyA1980]

Novak Djokovic era over

[@michaelbraithwaite5875]

That's why he's so boring compared to the genius shot makers like Federer and Alcaraz.

[@shawnberry9335]

You liked the Choke Artist?

[@michaelbraithwaite5875]

Is it relevant? It's just a matter of taste whether you prefer watching attritionists (grind your opponents down till they make a mistake) or creative shot-making.@@shawnberry9335

[@drtash21]

​@michaelbraithwaite5875 better to be a boring winner than an exciting loser. The records speak for themselves.

[@michaelbraithwaite5875]

No, I prefer an exciting loser. I never watch Djokovic, but I often watch more talented, but mentally flawed, players like Kyrgios. I'll be glad when the era of the grinders comes to an end.@@drtash21

[@KrishnamurthyA1980]

Alcaraz beat Djokovic by 6-0,6-0 in Cincinnati 2023 finals.same in us open alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic by 6-0,6-0,6-0

[@paulrubinsteinvideo]

Yawn

[@Nat-le4um]

Lmao! Hopefully the other way around 😊

[@VSNxx]

teenagers are all supporting Carlitos. 😅

[@othersideoflifeandearth]

Just asking did you get to see the final. If you did can you relay the score to me once. Morons like you are reasons every day is so special..

[@mb_1990]

This aged quite well. Novak won both the tournaments and ur boy carlitos was not even able to reach the finals in one of the event.