The One And Only Alexanr Dolgopolov

Forget about Fedal for a minute.
And the GOAT debate.
And the sad state tennis is in...

Because, there is no room for any such  thoughts when you enter the magic world of one and only Alexandr Dolgopolov.

He doesn't care for glory.
He will never be a GOAT.
His tennis is untouched by any of it.
It lives a life of its own in a world of resilient, impenetrable, kaleidoscopic madness.

It flies loosely and elusively through his mind, just like his feet float lightly across tennis courts. 

He is no Maestro, yet free from the burden of being one, he conducts his points with breath-taking abandon.

He dares the ball.

And when the ball responds, he unleashes all his fire into it, never giving it the same, taken for granted, tired look. 

It seems to stir a bottomless well of passion, an endless ball of wool he will never exhaust chasing and unravelling.

Dolgo is bored and horrified by the world. And, like the rest of us, he can't do much about it. 
But when he enters  tennis arena, he can creates a world of his own.

Wild and beautiful.


To Dolgo!   

S. Tignor wrote a great piece about Dolgo on Tennis.com, here are some extracts from it:

“I understand my game pretty well,”  Alexandr Dolgopolov said after his upset win over Rafael Nadal on Monday. That’s not an answer you hear every day from a tennis player, mainly because not many pros, especially ones who have been ranked No. 13 in the world, are asked if they know what they're doing out there.
But that's what the 25-year-old Dolgopolov was asked. With him, though, the question is not necessarily insulting. The Ukrainian, who is one of the sport's all-time eccentric originals, admits that he has had only two coaches in his career—his father, Oleksandr, and Jack Reader of Australia—because it’s not easy to find people who can figure out how to work with him. Dolgopolov only kept Reader around, “because he wasn’t really pushing me or trying to change a lot in my game.
“Some people have their view on tennis," Dolgo said this week of his experience with coaches, "and they try to make [the player] play the way they want. But for me, I don’t think that’s the best decision.”
It’s not hard to see why. Watching Dolgopolov reminds me of the way a young Ilie Nastase, another all-time original, described his approach to the game: “I want to play tennis inside-out.”
.....
Dolgopolov’s mother was a gymnast, though from the way he travels around the court in leaps and bounds, I would have guessed he had a ballet dancer in the family. Even between points, he walks with a spring in his step, as if his feet are lighter than the rest of ours. As with all natural athletes, though, his ease of movement masks the frenetic work that makes it happen. Today Dolgopolov signed two of his sneakers and threw them into the crowd, because, as he said, “It was better than throwing them in the litter box.” He burns a hole in his shoes every match he plays.
.....
On Thursday, Dolgopolov added another counterintuitive piece to his puzzle. Faced with the prospect of having to return Milos “Missile" Raonic’s serve, which may be the most lethal in the game, Dolgopolov did what all true originals would do: He moved toward it.
He can be frustrating, but he never seems to hit a shot or play a point exactly the same way twice. A prodigy and the son of a tennis pro who suffered an early case of burnout, it’s nice to see him enjoying the sport again.
.....
I’ve liked Dolgopolov’s game since seeing him as a junior at the Orange Bowl in 2005. He was all about the drop shot then, and I wrote that he might be the next Fabrice Santoro. At the start of this year, Dolgopolov talked about hiring Santoro as his coach, but they never got past the talking stage. The Magician is probably one of the few people who could have understood the Dog. 
On the one hand, I would have loved to see what those two came up with together—in some ways, Dolgo as Baby Santoro was more of a pure genius than he is today. On the other hand, as far as his results go, staying away from the Magic Man is probably the best thing that happened to Dolgopolov all year. He understands himself, and that’s enough."

I did not see his match v Rao or Fognini. He is certainly a great player when on form. Wasn't too impressed by his performance v Nadal....though I did not watch the 3rd set.

Should be a good match v Federer as it should tell us how he can, in turn, handle pace and consistency.

I didn't see those two matches either.
I started watching last night's replay while waiting for Fed's one.

I think Raonic was gobsmacked with the ease with which Dolgo handled his serve:

http://instagram.com/p/lgGg8Aw7QN/

As for the match vs Fed...

Well...consistency has never been the word to associate with Dolgo...unless you were trying to say that he is consistently inconsistent....

I do look forward to seeing how Fed's consistent variety squares off against Dolgo's inconsistent one, though.

It will be one for the soul.

They are both playing very well, and Dolgo will have a bit of confidence under his belt....not that it matters much to him...

Federer in 2 if serve works fine. His FH looked poor though on the resume v Haas I saw.

Why do you think his FH was poor against Haas?

Very short and way too safe.

2010 Basel Switzerland Hard R32 Federer, Roger 6-4, 5-2 RET Stats v Dolgo
=======================

Weird to retire at 5/2.

I noticed only the good ones...and there were quite a few of them!

Last night even better, but then again, Anderson isn't quite the rallying kind of player...

He is gaining confidence quite fast on it, but still hasn't quite 100% with its power, as he sent one or two of them out when he struck them hard and flat.
still, the best player in IW, all being equal, the title his to lose.

Tenez wrote:2010 Basel Switzerland Hard R32 Federer, Roger 6-4, 5-2 RET Stats v Dolgo
=======================

Weird to retire at 5/2.

Aaaaaaah, didn't know that, very interesting... another case of "abandonment"?

Are you jinxing a la Amri?   

Well it's pretty even between Djoko, him, Gulbis and Dolgo.

On those slow courts Federer will not be able to rush Djoko like in Dubai.

Interesting tournament!

Jinxing, me?   

I don't think it's even at all...Fed is looking really good. Not his 10/10 self, but 8/10 will do...even on this court!

Yes, the tournament is interesting...brilliant, in fact!

The thing that doesn't stop surprising me is how this super slow high-bouncing court keeps challenging road-runners, they are all out.

Even Nole had to play differently, at least from what I saw. The court is actually too slow to grind!

Yes Federer explains it in his post match interview. The slowness gives the chance to the powerful player to give a good and safe cut to the ball. And this is why this court is actually pretty court for Delpo.

Yes, I noticed that first when I saw Stan play his 1st match in IW, he had so much time on the ball, the other guy had zero chance on Stan's service games.

Didn't see his second match which he played injured and then said he wasn't injured...of course he was, Anderson would have had zero chance against the fit Stan.

Delpo...a big question mark with his wrist. Another casualty of road-running era, as he, like so many had to hit too many balls to win a point...and had to pay for it with the wrist injuries...mind you, if he had learnt to serve better, he could have made his life a lot easier for himself.

Yes, his serve is quite poor proportionally to his height.

Yes, just look at what "tiny" Dolgo can do with his serve...

....or Mannarino...nothing like a bit of talent!

true.

Here it is:

Ouch!. Of course he was right to retire on that occasion.

I just saw it now, too....that's a relief!

I just hope Gulbis gets past Isner, we'll have some really nice semis!

agreed...though an Isner Djoko revenge woudl be fun too.

Oh, I just find Isner difficult to watch, looks so lumbersome, like a basketball player...although, that super long fifth set in Wimbledon three years ago against Mahut was interesting in a unique way.

If I had Isner every other match I would not like it much either. But once a year..which is roughly what I watch of him (beside that historical long match at Wimby which was worse 10 years of watching him!) I can cope with....especially if he can shorten rallies of your man!  

I always think it's good to see how people handle power so even if they don't play great, I like to see the impact they make on the opposition.

Having said that I agree that Isner is not nice to watch as he really looks like a giraffe on court where one feels a leg is going to snap any time.

Yes, it must be a nightmare to play him...imagine having to return those serves, esp the wide kick ones.
I have actually seen very little of Nole in IW, so no idea what to expect, esp after he managed to lose a set 6:2) against the guy who looked to be a poor hitting partner in the first set...(Gonzalez)
He seems to be struggling with confidence, and you are right about the physical side, too. For some reason, he seems to have lost a step!!!

His BH as a result looked very ordinary compared to the good old days...

Dolgo will lose to Fed I think, I see Fed beating Gulbis in the final.

Julia Santamaria wrote:Dolgo will lose to Fed I think, I see Fed beating Gulbis in the final.

Main thing is, we are going to see some great tennis, two players who take pride in their talent and skill. Tennis wins.

Fed's view on it.

Q. Earlier this evening Alex was asked about playing you. He said, Well, what do you want to know? He's won 17 Grand Slams, broken every record. Figure it out. Turning the tables, what are your thoughts on playing Alex?
ROGER FEDERER: I'm excited. I like to play against him. I have practiced with him a fair bit in Dubai this year at the end of last season and in the buildup. He was there for a long time in Dubai. So was I.
So we caught up and played some practice matches. It was really good fun. He was playing really well in practice, you know.
He really takes the ball early. He likes to take advantage of the fact when there is a short ball he just smashes it, and he's got a great serve. He's super athletic, you know. Maybe the hard work is paying off right now.
He's already been higher up in the rankings. I was anyway surprised he dropped as low as he did. It's nice for me to see he's working his way back.
And now playing him, I think it's going to be an interesting matchup. We both like to take charge of the point, and it's going to be interesting to see how things are going to go.
Definitely going to be some interesting shots out there. That's what he has a tendency to do.

what we knew but from the horse's mouth.

===================================
Q.  For you personally, is that belief also increased over the last couple of years?
ALEXANDR DOLGOPOLOV:  Yeah.  I mean, with my game I always believed I can beat anyone on a good day because I hit flat.  I have the shots.  I wasn't consistent enough, that's true.  But I knew if I can get that consistency that I can trouble anyone.
I mean, it's just a point to execute it and to get to that level.  So I knew that for a long time.

Yes, the magic word called consistency!

Interesting he wanted to "get" it.
Does it mean then that consistency is basically  talent you have to work hard on to fulfill it?

Consistent brilliance...I've only seen it in Fed so far.

With Dolgo, I always felt it was more about discipline than anything else. In some distant way, he reminds me of Paire.
Neither want to compromise their instinct which is what makes them so brilliant to watch when they are playing well.

noleisthebest wrote:Yes, the magic word called consistency!

Interesting he wanted to "get" it.
Does it mean then that consistency is basically  talent  you have to work hard on to fulfill it?

Consistent brilliance...I've only seen it in Fed so far.

With Dolgo, I always felt it was more about discipline than anything else. In some distant way, he reminds me of Paire.
Neither want to compromise their instinct which is what makes them so brilliant to watch when they are playing well.

At this level talent is not enough. Dolgo would blasted any club player on talent alone. The thing is now he is faced with the best talent and/or physical players on the planet so his talent is a great advantage but he needs to practice a lot to make it less erratic. That gives him probably greater margins for improvement.

The problem with players with such thin margins is to deliver this talent under pressure moment cause there is no way to get used to that pressure and deliver it in the great moments. This is where federer again is so special. He plays those great pressure moments as if it did not matter. Only by tiring him can his focus break down or simply does lose his edge.

I want Dolgo to get to that calmness on pressure point but that is likely to happen if he has confidence enough on his talent.

Tenez wrote: At this level talent is not enough. Dolgo would blasted any club player on talent alone. The thing is now he is faced with the best talent and/or physical players on the planet so his talent is a great advantage but he needs to practice a lot to make it less erratic. That gives him probably greater margins for improvement.

Not only is it not enough, it has been sidelined to a mere "bonus".

On the one hand, although it makes life so much easier as you can master shots quicker etc, on the other hand, like it has been the case with Dolgopolov, it gives you that sense of superiority where it's below you to spend all your life in the gym & you don't want to sell your soul and win by grinding your career out with percentage tennis, like so many around you do.
But, if you are a pro, you have to tame your likes and preferences, so your talent doesn't rot.

To be fair to Dolgo, he has been ill for a long time, and in a similar way to Federer just came out of a healthy patch where he has been able to train properly.

On top of that, I think he has matured and obviously had time to think about what he wanted to do with the rest of his career, and brought some relative order into the previous trademark chaos.

So, I am very happy for Dolgo's recent results, he is brilliant on clay and should continue to climb the ranking.

I am curious to see how he ends up playing today,  it is so rare to see a fast player take Fed on, especially on this court!

It will be a good test to see how much Dolgopolov has disciplined his game, because he won't have any chance if he starts his old tricks...

noleisthebest wrote:it gives you that sense of superiority where it's below you to spend all your life in the gym & you don't want to sell your soul and win by grinding your career out with percentage tennis

That is a pretty modern take on the concept of "selling your soul".  To me, the part highlighted in bold qualifies much better.

But I agree with most of what you say thereafter except perhaps that I am not convinced that Dolgo has put it all together and will climb the rankings now.  But it would be good if I were wrong there.

I completely forgot I did another thread on Dolgo ages ago...just came across it looking for stg else...interesting to revisit the conversation and place it in the latest context of his career.

https://ourtennisforum.forumotion.co.uk/t83-alex-dolgopolov-genius-vs-wild-child 

How do you pronounce his name? You see at first glance you tend to say "Dol-go-pol-ov (and the commentators do).

but I'm thinking it is supposed to be Dol-gopo-lov

I just call him Le Dog!