This stat is crazy, but it’s true: After 1978, Jimmy Connors made only four more major finals in
his career. His 1991 U.S. Open semifinal at age 39 will always be one of the great feats in tennis
history relative to age and physical fitness, but Connors established a semifinal result as his most
consistent one in majors during his centrally productive years on tour: 1974 through 1985.
Ironically, his loss to Jim Courier in the 1991 U.S. Open semifinals dragged his career record in
31 major semifinals under the .500 mark: 15-16. Connors was a top-tier player in his time, but
when he ran into co-inhabitants of that top tier, he lost roughly as much as he won.


Bjorn Borg enjoyed a tremendous height when he played, but that very lofty place in tennis
flowed through two tournaments held weeks apart, Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Yes, Borg
has played the combination of the French Open and Wimbledon better than any man in Open-Era
history, chiefly in terms of the percentage of times he won and lost at the two events (six total
losses between the two events, two in Paris and four at SW19).
这个数据很疯狂，但这是真的:1978年之后，吉米·康纳斯在他的职业生涯中只拿到四次大满贯。年仅39岁的康纳斯在1991年的美国网球公开赛半决赛中取得的成绩将永远是网球历史上与年龄和身体健康相关的伟大成就之一，但在1974年至1985年的巡回比赛中，康纳斯在大满贯赛事中取得了最稳定的半决赛成绩。
略有讽刺的是，他在1991年美国网球公开赛半决赛中输给吉姆·奎尔(Jim Courier)，拖了他职业生涯的后腿，
31个大满贯半决赛，胜率在50%以下，比例:15-16。康纳斯在那个时代是顶级球员，但是当他遇到顶尖选手时，他输的差不多和赢的一样多。


比约恩·博格在打球时享有很高的身高，但在网球运动中却享有很高的地位。
在罗兰·加洛斯和温布尔登这两场相隔数周的比赛中，他都取得了不错的成绩。
是的,博格在法国网球公开赛和温布尔登网球公开赛的组合中，他的表现比网球公开赛历史上任何一位选手都要好：，主要是他在两个比赛中输赢的次数(两个大满贯总共输了6次，巴黎2次，SW19 4次)。

Borg therefore never won three majors in a year. He reached three finals in a year three times. He
was one of the two best players in the world in each of the last four years he played (technically
not by ranking in 1981, but certainly in terms of stature). However, when playing on cement or
indoor carpet, one player on tour – usually Connors or McEnroe – was better. Borg represented a
roadblock for anyone trying to win the French or Wimbledon for six years… but not a full
decade.
Ivan Lendl endured many beatings from Jimmy Connors, but by many measurements, he
finished with the more accomplished career. Whereas Connors ran into roadblocks in major
semifinals, Lendl finished 19-9 in them. Lendl captured eight major finals, but he lost 11,
making that round his most common achievement and obstacle. During his nine-season prime at
the majors, from 1983 through 1991, Lendl won eight major finals while losing nine and making
nine other major semifinals. Two finals and three semifinals in a year were representative of his
level of consistency in that stretch. It was better than Connors, but only slightly. Lendl’s inability
to forge a winning record in finals meant that he won majors in only four consecutive years
(1984 through 1987).
因此博格从未在一年内赢得过三个大满贯。他在一年内三次进入决赛。在他巅峰期的四年里，他每年都是世界上最好的两名球员之一(技术上讲，不是1981年的排名，但肯定是在水平方面)。然而，当在硬地或室内硬地上比赛时，巡回比赛中的一名选手——通常是康纳斯或麦肯罗——更好。博格代表了任何想要在六年内赢得法网或温布尔登网球赛冠军的人的障碍，但不是整整十年。
伊凡·伦德尔忍受了吉米·康纳斯的多次冲击，但从很多方面来看，他完成了更有成就的职业生涯。康纳斯在半决赛中遇到了障碍，而伦德尔在大满贯半决赛的成绩以19-9的比分胜出。Lendl拿下了8个大满贯决赛，但是他输了11个，这是他最常见的成就和干扰。从1983年到1991年，伦德尔在网坛中打了9个赛季的高光表现，他赢得了8次大满贯决赛，9次失利，9次进入半决赛。一年中有两场决赛和三场半决赛证明了他在这段时间的稳定性。它比康纳斯好一点点。Lendl无法在大满贯决赛中创造胜利记录，这意味着他只在连续四年(1984年到1987年)中获得了大满贯。

Of the four giants of men’s tennis from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s, John McEnroe
places a clear fourth on most levels, partly because he never bagged the French Open, but mostly
because his prime period died the most natural death of the four, and at a relatively early age.
McEnroe unfurled his majestic 82-3 season in 1984, referenced above, but after a decent (not
spectacular) 1985 in which he finished the year ranked No. 2, he lost his passion for tennis.
Nothing about the game came easily for him. His energy and feel dropped. He never again made
a major final after the 1985 U.S. Open – he was 26 at the time. After 1985, he produced only one
relatively strong season, a 1989 campaign which lifted him into the top five. Otherwise, his
career had been reduced to flickers of brilliance, the occasional moments which carried him to a
1990 U.S. Open semifinal and a 1992 Wimbledon semifinal.
从20世纪70年代中期到80年代中期，男子网球的四大巨头之一是约翰·麦肯罗，
在大多数情况下，他都排在第四位，部分原因是他从未收获过法网，但主要原因是他的黄金时期是四巨头中早退役，而且退役得相对较早。
1984年，麦肯罗展现了他82-83赛季的辉煌，正如上文所提到的，但在一场相当好的赛季之后(不算精彩绝伦)1985年，他来到世界排名第二的成绩，但之后他失去了自己对网球的热情。
比赛的一切对他来说都不容易。他的精力和感觉下降了。1985年美国网球公开赛之后，他再也没有进入决赛，当时他26岁。1985年之后，他只创造了一个相对强劲的赛季，1989年的赛季使他跻身前五。除此之外，他的职业生涯已经沦为闪烁的余辉，偶尔也会闪光出现在1990年美国网球公开赛半决赛和1992年温布尔登网球公开赛半决赛中。

Connors, Borg, Lendl and McEnroe will always remain historically great players, but their feats
in the realms of longevity, surface-to-surface consistency, and championship-winning
dependability all fall short of what Federer and Nadal have accomplished in tennis’s four most
important tournaments.
Nadal put the French Open on near-lockdown for a full decade (the 10 tournaments spanning
from 2005 through 2014), failing to win Roland Garros only once in that period. Federer wasn’t
quite as airtight at Wimbledon, but from 2003 through 2015 – a stretch of 13 fortnights at The
All-England Club -- he failed to make the final only three times. That period of 2003 through
2015 also represents the consecutive number of years in which Federer or Nadal reached a major
final. It is only one year longer than the 12-year period (2003-2014) in which at least one of the
two men won a major title.
康纳斯、博格、伦德尔和麦肯罗将永远是历史上伟大的球员，但他们的职业生涯寿命方面，地对地的一致性，以及赢得冠军的可靠性，都比不上费德勒和纳达尔在网球的四个最重要的比赛中所取得的成就。


纳达尔几乎封锁了法国网球公开赛整整10年(从2005年到2014年的10届大满贯)，但在此期间只赢过一次罗兰加洛斯(Roland Garros)的费德勒在温布尔登的表现并非无懈可击，但从2003年到2015年——在这家全英俱乐部度过了13个两周的时间——他只在决赛中失利三次。从2003年到2015年这段时间也代表了费德勒或纳达尔连续几年进入决赛。这只比2003年至2014年的12年(当时两人中至少有一人获得大满贯)长了一年。

Since the start of 2006 – it’s still an active streak – either Federer or Nadal has made at least two
major finals in the same calendar year. From 2006 through 2011, at least one of the two made
three major finals in a year.
Connors and Borg, McEnroe and Borg, McEnroe and Lendl, Sampras and Agassi – the
especially great pairs of rivals from the late 1970s through the early 2000s (all with at least seven
major titles) – did not clamp down on men’s tennis to the extent Federer and Nadal did,
particularly – this is no idle coincidence – from 2006 through 2010. Had Borg’s career stretched
into 1986 or 1987, full speed ahead, that era of men’s tennis could have acquired the larger
dimensions this contemporary Golden Era have attained.
As it was, though, when Djokovic entered the 2010 U.S. Open, he stepped into a context in
which Fedal had won all but three of the previous 25 major titles. The Open Era had not
encountered that level of dominance from a two-man axis.
自2006年初以来，费德勒和纳达尔都至少在同一日历年打入过两次重要的决赛。从2006年到2011年，这两人中至少有一人在一年内打进了三场大满贯的决赛。
康纳斯和博格，麦肯罗和博格，麦肯罗和伦德尔，桑普拉斯和阿加西-特别是从20世纪70年代末到21世纪初这对伟大的对手(他们都至少获得过7次大满贯)——没有像费德勒和纳达尔那样压制男子网球，
特别是从2006年到2010年，这并非偶然。如果博格的职业生涯一直延续到1986年或1987年，全速前进的话，那个男子网球的时代本可以获得这个当代黄金时代所取得的更大的成就。
事实上，当德约科维奇进入2010年美国网球公开赛时，他所处的环境是，在之前的25个大满贯赛事中，费德納达尔只漏得了其中的3个。网球公开赛时代从未遇到过这种两个人达到这样轴心的统治水平。

Novak Djokovic didn’t merely carve out a small place at that table, nudging Federer and Nadal
aside with his elbows so that he had enough room to sit in a chair. He shoved these two titans out
of the way, grabbed the biggest chair, and planted himself at the head of the table for his own
feast. Fedal had to settle for occasional scraps, while Djokovic became the best player of this
current decade… by a very wide margin.
Start with 11 majors since the beginning of 2010, compared to 8 for Nadal and 3 for Federer.
Continue with 25 Masters 1000 titles compared to 15 for Nadal and 10 for Federer.
Don’t stop there. It gets better – MUCH better


晚饭还没吃，不翻译了，谁有空帮忙翻一下。。

没有人帮忙，自己继续填坑。。


诺瓦克•德约科维奇(Novak Djokovic)不仅在这张桌子上占据了一席之地，还力推费德勒(Federer)和纳达尔
他把胳膊肘放在一边，以便有足够的空间坐在椅子上。他把这两个巨人推开，抓起一把最大的椅子，坐到桌边准备自己的盛宴。当德约科维奇以非常大的优势成为这十年来最好的球员时，费达尔不得不满足于偶尔的出彩。
自2010年初以来，德约已经拿下了11个大满贯，而纳达尔和费德勒分别拿下了8个和3个。
德约获得25个大师赛1000个冠军头衔，而纳达尔和费德勒分别获得15个和10个。
不要停止。情况越来越好——好多了

If the majors and Masters combined can be referred to under the expansive umbrella of a
“showcase event,” Djokovic made the finals in 9 of the first 10 showcase events of 2011,
winning 8 of those 9 finals. He won three majors and five Masters before a combination of
fatigue and injury forced him to give up the autumn swing for recuperation. From January
through early September of 2011, Djokovic delivered eight months of sustained tennis as exalted
as any player in the Open Era. Eight months isn’t quite a full season, but viewed strictly on the
merits, those eight months packed as many achievements together as any eight-month period
from any male over the past 50 years.
In 2006, Federer won three majors and five Masters. In 2013, Nadal won two majors and five
Masters. In 2010, Rafa won three majors and three Masters. Djokovic’s eight-month run in 2011
stood up to the other especially luminous seasons of this era. Rod Laver – author of the 1969
Grand Slam – didn’t have to run that Masters Series gauntlet, so while acknowledging that his
perfecto at the majors stands alone, Djokovic’s overall body of work from 2011 deserves to be
mentioned in the same breath.
Pause for a moment. Absorb those points. Reflect on them. Understand how high Djokovic had
climbed on the Fedal mountain.
如果大师赛和大满贯赛的结合可以被称为“重大赛事”，那么德约科维奇在2011年的前10场重大赛事中有9场进入决赛。
在这9场决赛中赢得8场。他赢得了3个大满贯和5个大师赛，后来由于疲劳和受伤，他不得不放弃了秋季赛事。从2011月1月直到2011年9月初，德约科维奇的网球巅峰持续了8个月，是网球公开赛中最令人兴奋的选手。8个月并不是一个完整的季节，但严格地从功绩来看，这8个月的成就和过去50年里任何一个男性8个月的成就一样多。
2006年，费德勒赢得了3个大满贯和5个大师赛冠军。2013年，纳达尔获得2个大满贯和5个大师赛。2010年，拉法获得了三个大满贯和三个大师赛。德约科维奇在2011年8个月的职业生涯，与这个时代的其他辉煌赛季相比，可谓卓尔不凡。1969年年度全满贯的罗德·拉沃尔(Rod Laver)并不需要面对大师赛的挑战，所以在承认他在赛季的完美表现是独一无二的同时，德约科维奇从2011年开始的全部工作也值得被相提并论。


暂停一下。好好想想这些点。思考一下，了解德约科维奇是有多不容易爬上了费达尔山（超越费纳）。

Then realize that in 2015 and the first half of 2016, Djokovic fought his way to an even more
elevated position.
Frame it in the Louvre and give it is own special place in history: In 2015, Djokovic
comprehensively – by any measurement – exceeded anything his two great peers had ever done
in one season.
Three major titles, six Masters titles, the World Tour Finals championship – 10 showcase titles –
plus three showcase finals (one in the majors, two in the Masters 1000 realm). In 13 showcase
events entered, Djokovic reached the final all 13 times. He collected a staggering 31 top-10 wins,
so it’s not as though he ever defeated comparatively weak opponents to forge all of his
achievements in 2015. Laver’s 1969 and Djokovic’s 2015 are the two greatest seasons in the
Open Era of the ATP. Everyone else is fighting for honorable mention.
That’s still not all – that’s still not the absolute apex of Djokovic’s achievements this decade,
over and above his two fabled contemporaries.
After winning at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2015, Djokovic did what he usually does this
decade – capture the Australian Open – to start 2016. Yes, he had never won the French Open
when he headed to Paris in May of 2016, meaning that he had not yet completed the career set of
major championships. However, that trip to Roland Garros doubled as an opportunity to make
Nole the first man since Laver in 1969 to win four straight majors.
Djokovic did just that.


在2015年和2016年上半年，德约科维奇努力争取更高的位置。
把它框在卢浮宫里（拿到法网），让它在历史上占有特殊的位置:
2015年，德约科维奇全面超越了他的两位伟大的同行在一个赛季内所做的一切。
三个大满贯冠军，六个大师赛冠军，世界巡回赛总决赛冠军- 10个重大赛事冠军-
再加上三次重大赛事决赛(一次是大满贯决赛，两次是大师1000决赛)。在13个重大赛事中，德约科维奇13次进入决赛。他取得了惊人的31场对世界前10的胜利，
因此，他似乎从未击败过实力相对较弱的对手，从而在2015年取得所有成就。1969年的拉维尔和2015年的德约科维奇是ATP开放时代最伟大的两个赛季。其他人都在为荣誉而战。
这还不是全部，这还不是德约科维奇这十年成就的巅峰，
超过了他的两个同时代的传奇人物。
在2015年赢得温布尔登和美网冠军后，德约科维奇做了他这十年来经常做的事情——拿下澳网——开始了2016年。是的，当他在2016年5月前往巴黎时，他从未赢得过法网冠军，这意味着他还没有完成职业生涯中的一系列重大锦标赛。然而，那次对罗兰加洛斯之旅让闹来成为自1969年拉沃尔之后首位连续四次赢得大满贯的球员。
德约科维奇做到了。

Federer’s age – and his weakness on clay – will prevent him from winning four majors in a row.
Nadal’s weakness on grass and his history of injuries both work against him at this point in his
career. Djokovic will very likely retain this accomplishment all to himself in the Golden Era of
men’s tennis. His 2011, his 2015, his four straight majors, his Masters 1000 prowess and top-10
wins – all achieved not after Federer and Nadal retired, but when they remained vital parts of the
story of tennis – make Novak Djokovic a remarkable sportsman at the very top of his profession.
In an era which – by late 2010 – had already exceeded the wildest imaginations of anyone who
felt multiple people could fully subdue men’s tennis, Novak Djokovic raised the bar…
dramatically. What had been an extraordinary two-man act on the ATP Tour became a titanic
trinity. The Big Three became an enduring presence – a recognized label for a resplendent era of
tennis – because the man who lived in the shadows of two extraordinary peers managed to not
merely eclipse them, but tower over them, in the fullness of time. This decade, Djokovic’s feats
have dwarfed two competitors who had once been so imposing on a scale never before seen in
the Open Era.
The postscript: While Djokovic has soared past Federer and Nadal the past several years, he has
done so in the face of crowds which have pulled for his opponents.
费德勒的年龄——以及他在红土赛场上的弱点——将使他无法连续赢得四个大满贯。
纳达尔在草地上的弱点和他受伤的历史都对他不利的职业生涯。
德约科维奇很有可能将这一成就留在自己的男子网球黄金时代。
他的2011年，2015年，他的四个连续大满贯，他的1000大师赛胜利和对世界前10名的胜利-所有的胜利都不是费德勒和纳达尔退役后取得的，而是当他们仍然是网坛主力的的时候取得的。
这些都使诺瓦克·德约科维奇成为一个杰出的运动员在他的职业生涯的顶端。
在这个时代——到2010年底——已经超出了所有人最疯狂的想象
诺瓦克·德约科维奇(Novak Djokovic)让人觉得有多人能完全征服男子网球，达到一个新的高度……


在ATP巡回赛上，一个非凡的双人表演变成了一个巨大的三位一体。这三巨头成为了一个经久不衰的存在——一个公认的标志，标志着一个辉煌的网球时代——因为这个人生活在两位杰出的同行的阴影下，他不仅成功地超越了他们，而且在时间的成熟过程中超越了他们。在这十年里，德约科维奇的成就让两位曾经在开放时代从未有过的影响力如此巨大的选手相形见绌。



另:德约科维奇在过去的几年里超越费德勒和纳达尔，而且他是在面对众多支持他的对手的人群时做到这一点的。

It’s not malicious – at least, I certainly don’t think so – but it remains that the aura of Federer and
the contrasting figure of Nadal have left such an indelible impression on the minds of tennis fans
throughout the years (aided by a sympathetic press corps, one should add) that they get most of
the crowd support at matches. This is not a universal reality, but it prevails more often than not,
especially at the majors.
In recent years, crowds wanting to see an “old-man” major title have tried to push Federer past
the finish line. The 2015 U.S. Open final was marked by a rain delay, which had the effect of
filling an already pro-Federer crowd with booze. Djokovic had to play against that rowdy crowd.
Wimbledon crowds are more polite, but they nevertheless revere Federer, as did the Roland
Garros crowd in 2011 when the Swiss upset Novak.
Djokovic hasn’t done anything to deserve this. Moreover, Federer and Nadal didn’t do anything
wrong, anything to poison the well against their Serbian rival. Nevertheless, the reality of crowd
allegiances shouldn’t be denied. Djokovic has played against crowds instead of being the
overwhelming crowd favorite on most occasions when facing Fedal. He has triumphed –
substantially triumphed -- anyway, a telling indicator of how fully realized he has become as a
competitor.
这不是恶意——至少,我当然不这么认为,但它仍然是费德勒和纳达尔的对比光环已经留下不可磨灭印象的球迷(由于相互感染,互相影响),他们在比赛得到大多数人群的支持。这是不是一个通用的现实，但它往往是普遍存在的，尤其是在大满贯比赛。


近年来，希望看到“老将”拿大满贯的人们一直试图希望费德勒拿到最终大满贯奖杯。2015年美国网球公开赛决赛因雨延期举行，本来就支持费德勒的观众喝得酩酊大醉。德约科维奇不得不面对那群喧闹的人群。
温布尔登的观众更有礼貌，但他们仍然尊敬费德勒，就像罗兰加洛斯(Roland Garros)在2011年击败诺瓦克(Novak)时那样。


德约科维奇无法期待发生什么。此外，费德勒和纳达尔没有做错任何事，没有做任何对塞尔维亚对手不利的事。然而，群体忠诚的现实是不容否认的。德约科维奇在大多数情况下都是和观众对抗，而不是在面对费纳的时候成为最受观众欢迎的球员。他战胜了对手，这是一个有力的指标，种种迹象表明他已经使自己成为一个竞争对手。

It’s true that to a considerable extent, the identities of Federer and Nadal have been cemented for
a lot of casual American sports fans. Whereas tennis fans know that John McEnroe stopped
being a thoughtful, informative commentator a long time ago, the casual American sports fan –
easily captured by his personality and New York attitude – doesn’t know enough (and doesn’t
follow tennis throughout the season) to realize that McEnroe is more a dramatic performer on
television than he is an analyst who offers intellectually nourishing fare.
McEnroe sells controversy and the button-pushing opinion over the studied, measured, restrained
observation based on empirical evidence. (Darren Cahill and Jim Courier are good examples of
analysts who build their commentary on observation, not entertainment value, and generally
don’t embarrass themselves.)
McEnroe’s tendency to go over the top – without any care or desire for restraint in commentary –
was never more apparent than on the day of the 2006 French Open final, the first major final
contested by Federer and Nadal. McEnroe knew, as did everyone else, that Federer was playing
for the full set of major titles (he had won every non-French title) and an excellent chance to win
the Grand Slam. He could have placed the match in a reasonable context, since Federer was only
24 years old and Nadal 20. Yet, Johnny Mac said before the match that if Federer won, he would
be the greatest male tennis player of all time. Forget the next 10 years – McEnroe didn’t give a
second thought to rendering a verdict which would reach through the entirety of the sport’s
existence.
的确，在很大程度上，费德勒和纳达尔的身份已经被许多普通的美国体育迷巩固了。而球迷知道约翰•麦肯罗不再是很久以前一位深思熟虑,知识性评论员,美国休闲体育爱好者容易捕捉到他的个性和纽约的态度——不知道足够的(和不遵循网球整个赛季)意识到,麦肯罗更戏剧性的表现比他在电视上的分析师提供营养素材。
(达伦·卡希尔[Darren Cahill]和吉姆·奎尔[Jim Courier]就是很好的例子，他们把评论建立在观察之上，而不是娱乐价值之上，而且通常不会让自己难堪。)
在2006年法国网球公开赛决赛的那一天，这是第一次费纳两人的大满贯决赛，而麦肯罗的这种希望有人能超越巅峰的倾向是再明显不过的了，那是费德勒和纳达尔的对决。和其他所有人一样，麦肯罗知道费德勒是在为所有的大满贯赛事(他赢得了所有的非法网冠军)而战，这是赢得大满贯的绝佳机会。他本可以把这场比赛放在一个合理的背景下，因为费德勒只有24岁，而纳达尔只有20岁。然而，强尼·麦肯罗在赛前表示，如果费德勒获胜，他将成为史上最伟大的男性网球运动员。忘掉接下来的10年吧——麦肯罗没有再想过要做出一个会影响到这项运动整个存在的判决。

The hilarious (and cringe-inducing) postscript to this individual episode is that as the Federer-
Nadal rivalry unfolded the next few years at Wimbledon and Australia in addition to Roland
Garros, McEnroe – whether commenting for NBC Sports or ESPN – would change his opinion
on the “GOAT” debate. Instead of having the common sense to shut up, McEnroe kept relitigating
tennis history based on single-match outcomes… over and over and over again.
McEnroe didn’t allow Federer or Nadal to evolve naturally, but for a lot of casual TV watchers
in the United States, it felt like good drama and engrossing plot development.
That lack of responsibility – from McEnroe and others – intersected with genuine moments of
wonder forged by Federer and Nadal, the ultimate example being their fabled 2008 Wimbledon
title match. When Federer and Nadal played that day, they had both made each of the last three
Wimbledon and Roland Garros finals, and only once in the past three and a half years (since the
2005 Australian Open) had a major final not been contested by one of the two men (interestingly
enough, that instance was Djokovic’s first major, won over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the 2008
Australian Open).
For reasons both understandable and appalling, Federer and Nadal stuffed the headlines of
newspapers, online publications, and sports television programs from 2006 through 2010. They
established a large amount of space in the imagination of the casual sports fan, and they built
extra storage units as that space only grew. (Or, to phrase the matter differently, the media built
those extra storage units for them.) Djokovic developed a very firm footing at the Masters 1000
level during these years, but he needed time to sort out his game at the majors, his breakthrough
not occurring until September of 2010 in New York, as documented above.
最搞笑(也最让人难堪)的插曲是，在接下来的几年里，除了罗兰加洛斯，费德勒和纳达尔在温布尔登网球公开赛和澳大利亚网球公开赛上展开了激烈的竞争。关于“山羊”（史上最佳）的争论，麦肯罗没有按常理闭嘴，而是一遍又一遍地根据单场比赛的结果来重新回顾网球历史。
麦肯罗没有让费德勒和纳达尔自然发展，但对很多美国的普通电视观众来说，这感觉就像一部好剧，情节发展引人入胜。


这种缺乏责任感——来自麦肯罗和其他人——与费德勒和纳达尔创造的真正奇迹时刻交织在一起，最终的例子是2008年传奇般的温网冠军争夺战。当费德勒和纳达尔在那天比赛时，他们之前都进入了温布尔登和罗兰加洛斯三次决赛,只有一次在过去的三年半(自2005年澳网)最终没有带争议的这两个男人参与(有趣的是,该实例是德约科维奇的首次重大冠军是战胜特松加赢得了他的第一个大满贯在2008年澳大利亚网球公开赛)。
从2006年到2010年，费德勒和纳达尔占据了报纸、网络出版物和体育电视节目的头条，原因既有可以理解的，也有骇人听闻的。他们在休闲体育迷的想象中建立了大量的空间，他们建造了额外的战绩标杆，因为水准一直在提高。(或者，换句话说，媒体为他们建造了额外的关注度。)这些年来，德约科维奇在大师赛1000的比赛成绩上打下了坚实的基础，但他需要时间来达到在大满贯比赛的突破。


如上所述，直到2010年9月才在纽约发生。

By the time Djokovic began his great ascendance – not his first one, in 2007 and then 2008 on
the road to his first major title, but the big climb to greatness in another universe in 2011 – the
public imagination had become so full of Fedal that it didn’t seem to have enough room for Nole
to get equal billing, equal praise, equal media saturation, equal respect.
This dynamic wasn’t right or fair or good, but it was real. The exquisite and unfortunate irony in
the middle of it all is that while crowds revered Federer and Nadal for epic, extraordinary
achievements, Djokovic proceeded to duplicate (and in 2016, surpass with the Novak Slam) his
decorated peers on a number of levels… but didn’t get the same explosion of praise from fans or
the press.
(An essay on the media’s treatment of Djokovic in 2016 appears in part two of this book below,
so a press-specific explanation will be fleshed out more fully there.)
In terms of a fan response to Djokovic when he began to affirm himself as an iconically great
player, no match might be more instructive or revealing than the 2011 U.S. Open semifinal
against Federer (“The Shot”).
德约科维奇开始他的伟大的崛起的时候，不是他的第一个2007第一个冠军,也不是2008年他的第一个大满贯，而是2011年上升到另一个伟大的宇宙层面——公众的想象力已经成为充满费纳，它似乎没有足够的空间让德约获得平等的位置,平等的赞美,平等的媒体关注、平等尊重。


这种情形既不正确，也不公平，也不友好，但它是真实的。不幸的讽刺的是,尽管人们尊敬的费德勒和纳达尔的史诗,非凡的成就,德约科维奇仍继续复制(在2016年,超过诺瓦克大满贯)其他传奇的水平……但没有得到相同劲爆的球迷的赞扬或媒体回应。


(一篇关于媒体在2016年对待德约科维奇的文章见下文第二部分，
因此，针对媒体的解释将在这里更加充实。
当德约科维奇开始肯定自己是一名偶像级的伟大球员时，球迷们对他的反应是，没有一场比赛比2011年美国网球公开赛半决赛更有启发意义，更能说明问题
对阵费德勒(“接发致胜挥拍”)。

Djokovic was going for his third major of the season, while Federer hadn’t won a single major.
Djokovic had unfurled a remarkable season, while Federer – though certainly very solid and
consistently in the hunt at important tournaments – had struggled by his very lofty standards and
was looking for a kick-start moment. Djokovic was the rising player. He had wrested the World
No. 1 ranking from Rafael Nadal earlier in the year and had won Wimbledon for the first time.
The achiever of the moment was Nole, not Fed… but the crowd wanted Fed, anyway.
Federer was not a young pup, but his career wasn’t exactly on its last legs. He and Nadal – alphamale
winners of so many trophies over the years – had become revered for their next-level
excellence. This is exactly the sort of thing which should have made Djokovic equally beloved,
at least on a linear level… but rooting allegiances aren’t always forged or sustained that way.
Right after “The Shot” on that hot September afternoon, a portion of the Arthur Ashe Stadium
crowd supportively exulted, loving the audacity and excellence of a go-for-broke shot executed
perfectly under withering pressure. However, a considerable portion of the stadium fell into a
state of shock. This was the chunk of the crowd which wanted Federer to win. Djokovic – as he
walked to the ad-court baseline to receive serve at 40-30 (the second match point Federer gained
and then lost) – exhorted the crowd, making a motion with his arms to inspire more cheering for
his side of this five-set struggle. Only players without a partisan-crowd advantage make that kind
of gesture – this isn’t a psychological point, merely part of the dynamic of the interactions
between athletes and crowds in stadiums during live competition.


德约科维奇正在争取他本赛季的第三个大满贯，而费德勒那个赛季一个大满贯还没有赢过。
德约科维奇展现了一个非凡的赛季，而费德勒——虽然肯定非常稳定
在重要的比赛中，他始终如一地在寻找机会——他一直在为自己的崇高标准而奋斗，并且一直在寻找一个快速启动的时刻。德约科维奇是一个冉冉升起的选手。他已经征服了世界。今年早些时候，拉斐尔·纳达尔排名第一，并首次赢得温网冠军。
此刻最成功的是德约，而不是费德……但无论如何，人们想要费德。
费德勒并不是一只新手，但他的职业生涯也不是走到最后。他和纳达尔——多年来作为超男赢得了如此多的奖杯——已经因为他们的下一个级别卓越而受到尊敬。
这正是应该让德约科维奇同样受人爱戴的事情，
至少在理论层面上是这样，但是忠诚并不总是以这种方式建立或维持的。
就在9月那个炎热的下午，阿瑟·阿什体育场(Arthur Ashe Stadium)的一部分刚刚看完致胜接发的
观众们欢欣鼓舞，热爱这种大胆而又出色的突破在赛点的压力下。
然而，体育场的很大一部分是一群希望费德勒获胜的人。
费德勒以40-30的比分走到场边接受发球(这是费德勒在比赛中获得的第二个赛点，后来又输掉了)，德约告诫观众，用手臂做了一个动作，要为自己在这场五盘鏖战中赢得更多喝彩。只有没有群众优势的球员才会做出这种姿态——这不是心理上的问题，只是现场比赛中运动员和观众互动的动态的一部分。

Crowd-based affection for Federer on that day in 2011 went beyond his own global image and
popularity. In New York – as opposed to Melbourne, Paris, and Wimbledon – Federer and Nadal
had never played each other. (They still haven’t.) While failing to give Novak the same degree of
support as Federer fell short of what one would ideally hope for in a crowd, it does have to be
said that the people in Ashe Stadium (most of them, anyway) wanted to see Fedal in person, not
merely on a TV screen on a Sunday morning in a European city or Melbourne.
Djokovic didn’t deserve this reaction, but it came his way. While the hope for a Fedal matchup
in New York wasn’t the sole source of the crowd’s reactions that day, it certainly formed a
substantial part of the larger subtext. Djokovic, through no fault of his own, had to deal with it.
As Federer has gotten older – pushing the boundaries of what has traditionally been expected
from a player in his mid-30s – crowds have showered him with “old athlete love,” the affection
tied to the realization that he’s not going to be around forever. Djokovic – being almost six years
younger than Federer – has consistently inhabited a no-win situation relative to crowds. (Again,
that’s only half the story – then consider the press’ treatment of him. You’ll get to read more on
that later.)
2011年的那一天，人们对费德勒的喜爱超越了他自己的全球受欢迎程度。
在纽约——与墨尔本、巴黎和温布尔登不同——费德勒和纳达尔都没有机会碰面。(他们还没有)。
虽然诺瓦克没有像费德勒那样在人群中获得足够的支持，但这是必须的。
阿瑟阿什体育场的人(不管怎样，他们中的大多数人)想亲眼见到费纳大战。
而不只是在欧洲城市或墨尔本的周日早上，在电视屏幕上。
德约科维奇不应该得到这样的反应，但这是他应得的。
那天，不是仅有纽约人群希望能有一场盛大的费纳比赛，大部分人都希望。
德约科维奇，没有自己的过错，不得不面对它。
随着费德勒年龄的增长，他突破了传统的界限
从一个35岁左右的球员身上——人们向他倾注了“老运动员的爱”
他让你意识到他不会永远在你身边。德约科维奇——差不多小了整整六年了
比费德勒更年轻的费德勒- - - - - - - - - -相对于人群，他一直处于一种不是胜利者的状态。(再一次,
这只是故事的一半——再想想媒体对他的态度。稍后你会读到更多）

We are brought back to the theme of this essay and this book: Novak Djokovic has simply had to
fight harder and travel a noticeably rougher road than Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. He has
had to swim upstream, against the current. He has needed to not only block out crowd noise, but
not allow a large stadium’s allegiance with an opposing player to get under his skin.
He has seen first-hand – because he’s on the court with them in championship environments –
how Federer and Nadal are loved. Obviously, Djokovic is a professional at not internalizing
negativity. Otherwise, the topics being discussed right now would get to him… but they haven’t.
That’s what makes Djokovic such a supremely tough competitor: Though he wears his emotions
on his sleeve, he regularly derives strength from moments of discomfort and difficulty. Though
he lived in Fedal’s shadow until that 2010 U.S. Open, he not only felt sure of his abilities – he
WAS sure. The fruits of that complete confidence emerged in 2011, and have continued to spill
out in full flower ever since.
Federer and Nadal are two of the greatest competitors ever witnessed in any theater of sport. Yet,
when viewed through a very particular set of contexts, Djokovic might have surpassed them. The
conclusion might not reach “open and shut case” territory, but it’s certainly convincing enough
to the point that it cannot be quickly tossed aside. Djokovic demands that level of respect, and
his career needs to be taken that seriously.
As Djokovic himself said to Bob Simon of CBS’s 60 Minutes in 2012, “We (Serbs) have to do
much more to be seen, to be spotted.”
It’s an apt summation of Djokovic’s extraordinary career, one which glistens and becomes
magnified to a considerable degree when contemplating the realities beyond the stats and the raw
data.
Novak Djokovic, the finest sportsman in the Golden Era of men’s professional tennis? It might
not be the popular conclusion, but it certainly deserves its day in – and on – court.
这是第一部分的最后一段了，我要去打球了，谁帮忙翻译一下。

回到这篇文章和这本书的主题:诺瓦克•德约科维奇(Novak Djokovic)不得不这么做
比费德勒和拉斐尔·纳达尔更努力地拼搏，走一条更崎岖的路。他已经不得不逆流而上。
他不仅需要屏蔽人群的噪音，而且还需要不要让大型赛事上对对手的忠诚影响到他。
他亲眼目睹了这一切——因为他和他们一起在冠军的赛场上
费德勒和纳达尔如何被喜爱。显然，德约科维奇是一个不消极的职业选手。
否则，现在讨论的话题就会触及他……但他们没有。
这就是德约科维奇之所以成为如此强悍的竞争者的原因:尽管他有自己的情绪
在他的袖子上，他经常从不舒服和困难的时刻获得力量。虽然
在2010年美国网球公开赛之前，他一直生活在费纳的阴影下
这种完全信心的果实出现在2011年，并继续扩散
从此就开满了花。
费德勒和纳达尔是体育史上最伟大的两位选手。然而,
从一个非常特殊的背景来看，德约科维奇可能已经超越了他们。
结论可能达不到“盖棺定论”的境界，但它确实足够有说服力
以至于不能很快将其抛到一边。德约科维奇需要这种程度的尊重
他的职业生涯需要认真对待。
正如德约科维奇本人在2012年哥伦比亚广播公司(CBS)的《60分钟》(60 Minutes)节目中对鲍勃•西蒙(Bob Simon)所说，“我们(塞尔维亚人)必须这么做。
还有更多的东西要看，要被发现。”
这是对德约科维奇非凡的职业生涯的恰当总结，他的职业生涯闪耀着光芒，并成为了今天的他
当考虑到数据和原始数据之外的现实时，它会被放大到相当大的程度
数据。
诺瓦克·德约科维奇，职业网球黄金时代最优秀的运动员?
它可能不是一个普遍的结论，但无论在球场上还是在球场外，这都是值得的。

马上要过年了，本来计划在年前完成的翻译，看来现在很难完成，我先贴原文上来，谁有空的谁翻译吧，在回复那里就可以了。


*
PART II: COLLECTED WRITINGS, 2011-2016
SEPTEMBER 13, 2016
The tennis majors are done for another year.
Yes, Davis Cup semifinals await this Friday, but for most of the tennis planet, the final point of
the final match of the U.S. Open brings with it a profound emotional release.
Not until January in Melbourne, and only once over the next eight months, will fans, writers and
broadcasters have to put two consecutive weeks of their lives on hold for this little fuzzy yellow
ball and the people who hit it. (Has it occurred to anyone else that a major is essentially an
Olympic Games without the other sports or the NBC tape-delay?)
The end of a calendar year at the tennis majors is always a good time to discuss big-picture
issues in tennis, because there isn’t a “next match” or a “next tournament” for fans of various
players to fight about — not until the ATP World Tour Finals in London, at any rate. (Do people
fight about the Shanghai Masters? Maybe a few, but the year-end championships definitely get
the blood boiling to a greater degree. I digress…)
The issue which has been foremost on the minds of many tennis fans during much of 2016 is not
so much an issue with the sport itself (medical timeouts, Andy Murray’s place in tennis, or
injuries, though they have all received a lot of attention), but with how the press has covered it.
No issue in tennis media gained more critical scrutiny than the claim that Novak Djokovic —
who became just the second man in the Open Era of men’s tennis to win four straight majors
(Rod Laver, 1969) — didn’t receive nearly as much credit for the feat as he should have.
Djokovic might have lost the U.S. Open final to Stan Wawrinka, but when Andy Murray
“gonged out” of the tournament in the quarterfinals, Djokovic locked down the distinction of
being the best ATP player at the tennis majors in 2016 (two wins to Murray’s and Wawrinka’s
sole titles). This might have been Andy Murray’s best and most satisfying season compared to all
his others, but Djokovic’s season at the majors was still empirically better.
The centerpiece of Nole’s achievements in 2016 was his capture of the French Open, which
allowed him to be the reigning champion of all four majors at the same time, something Roger
Federer and Rafael Nadal have not done… and almost certainly will not ever do, their prime
periods very much in the rearview mirror of tennis history.
Let’s devote some time to this question before tennis turns the page and moves to 2017, when so
many new storylines will grab our collective attention.

*
The essential appreciation of Novak Djokovic’s game is also the foremost advancement of
the claim that Djokovic’s four-straight-major-titles achievement has received far less press
than it should have. Here, Joe Posnanski — a decorated American sports columnist now
with NBC Sports and formerly with the Kansas City Star — lays out the case for giving
Djokovic his due. Posnanski shames the media and the prevailing tennis culture for not reacting
more euphorically (in the written word, and in the magnitude of appreciation) when the World
No. 1 completed the Novak Slam.
(Personal disclosure: I quit my previous tennis writing job the day before the 2016 French Open
men’s final. I used a friend’s blog site to post two reactions to Djokovic’s French Open win
— here and here. You can evaluate my reaction to Nole’s feats on the merits. I don’t wish to
hide any flaws I might have displayed. That’s part of being a critic — not ducking legitimate
criticism.)
In my writing, I did not omit a mention of the Novak Slam, but I just as clearly placed more
emphasis on the Career Grand Slam in the wake of Djokovic’s French Open title.
There are two essential points to make about the Novak Slam, both equally important (just in
case anyone perceives a hierarchy if one point precedes the other):
Exquisite — perhaps exquisitely unlucky — timing created the downplaying of the Novak Slam.
Bad timing or not, the exposure of the tennis media’s failure is not so much in what it actually
did say about Djokovic, but in what it has said about Federer (and to a lesser but still real
extent, Nadal).
First, let’s tackle point one, starting with some historical perspective connected to women’s
tennis. We’ll get to the direct answer soon enough.