Spice It Up - 20090812

Male tennis is so fascinating in the prevailing time. We witness the greatest rivalry, between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, as an epic film. Nevertheless, snippets outside the court are nothing less than ordinary. Novak Djokovic is the main propeller.

Together with Andy Murray, Djokovic is one of the two serious contenders to challenge the crown shared by Federer and Nadal. Gifted with an athletic body and equipped with scathing groundstrokes from both wings, Nole is already a one-time Grand Slam champion, as the title holder of Australian Open in 2008.

I must confess that, being a Federer's fan, Djokovic's utterance was sometimes irritating. In addition, Djokovic's credibility and stamina was not beyond doubt, with the precedent of withdrawal from the match against Andy Roddick in 2009's Australian Open. However, being controversial seems to be his inborn character.

Nickname "the Djoker", the guy is a real fun. His mimicry to Nadal and Sharapova should be all-time classics. During the player dinner party in Rogers Cup 2009, Novak stripped his clothes off on the stage, with just the mere underwear hung around his bare body! Could you imagine Roger to do the same thing?

Changing of racquet seems to have affected Djokovic. His record in 2009 is dimmer than the previous couple of years, especially in the Grand Slams. U. S. Open would be his final chance to save his face in this calendar year. Anyway, if Federer and Nadal could not clinch the U. S. Open title, Djokovic would be a way better choice than Murray, whose defensive game plan torments both his opponents and me.