Burnt Out

With temperatures reaching the upper 130's, Djokovic retires during his QF match against Andy Roddick. Following a very inspiring 1st set (in which he played flawlessly), Djokovic seemed to take a dip in his quality of play, going down a break early in the 2nd set. From that point on, it was all downhill. His feet stopped moving, his shots were barely making it past the service line, and his confidence was waning. It was sad to watch, actually. And I'm not even a fan of the Djoker. Perhaps it was the near 140 degree temperature, and then again, perhaps not.

He has a record of both taking medical timeouts and retiring from matches. Here's his history of retirement: 2005 & 2006 French Open, 2007 Wimbledon, and now the 2009 Australian Open. He's only 20, and soon he'll have retired from all 4 Slams! Not an accolade you'd want under your belt, Novak! And I'm only talking about his Grand Slam record. If you take a look at his retirement stats at the smaller tournaments, it's not any better.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not against medical timeouts. In fact, I believe they're necessary. If you're in danger of injuring or hurting yourself during a match, you should be allowed the proper amount of time to be accessed and to be treated. However, when players appear to abuse the rule either to help boost their level of play or to cool down the game of their opponent, I start to become suspicious.

To the credit of Roddick, he was tracking down drop shot after drop shot, showing off his newly found fitness and speed.

Funny that he would retire to Roddick, considering Andy's recent criticism of Djokovic at the US Open. He accused Novak of lying about or faking his injuries as a strategy to get through tight matches. I'm starting to think he's right.