Novak Djokovic had a better 2015 Season than Serena Williams

Let’s get this out of the way. I’m not comparing men’s tennis to women’s tennis. I’m not saying men’s tennis is better than women’s tennis. What I’m saying is that when you consider various factors Novak Djokovic accomplished more on the tennis court in 2015 on the ATP tour than Serena Williams did on the WTA tour. Even though all anyone could talk about leading up to and during the US Open was the Serena Slam, and rightly so, Djokovic was quietly putting together a season for the ages even before his US Open victory.

Now that we’ve got that straight, I’ll tell you why.

Stats Don’t Lie

Serena won 5 titles in 2015. Novak Djokovic won 7 titles in 2015.

Serena failed to make the final of six tournaments, three of which were the result of withdrawing from tournaments, a fact that’s been overlooked. Novak Djokovic made the final of every tournament he entered this year. Let that sink in. Every. Single. One.

Of Serena’s 56 matches 19 (34%) went the full three sets. Even though 23 of Djokovic’s 68 matches (also 34%) involved Djokovic dropping a set, only 23% of his matches went the distance. Especially against higher ranked opponents this suggests that Djokovic played sharper tennis throughout the year.

To further highlight Djokovic’s match sharpness, his serve was on point all year hitting in an above average 66% of his first serves. Serena however, had to feast off of her opponent’s service games (she won a ridiculous 44% of her opponent’s service games) because she served at a well below average 57.7%. This included Serena facing 287 break points while Djokovic faced 304 in 347 more service games.

The Competition

Serena faced nine top 10 players in 2015. Novak Djokovic faced 24 top 10 players. If you’re Serena all you can do is beat the people in front of you but it is clear that she didn’t have to face nearly the same level of competition on their respective tours.

Also the men’s game is stacked. There is no getting around that. I don’t care how tough a year Rafa Nadal had, if he can’t even crack the top 5 you know the surrounding talent is great. The number two player in the world on the WTA tour, Simona Halep, has never won a Grand Slam. Maria Sharapova, Serena’s personal punching bag, and Petra Kvitova are the only players in the top 20 with multiple grand slam titles to their name and there are only 6 Grand Slam titles between all the top 20 players combined. Is Serena just THAT much better?

Former multi-time champions Azarenka, Venus Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova are well past their prime which should pave the way for a younger crop of players. The problem is none of them have stepped up to date. On the men’s side there are four multi-time grand slam winners in the top ten combining for an astounding 35 career Grand Slam titles. The competition has never been stronger on the men’s side.

Social vs Personal Pressure

The argument can be made that because of the incredible pressure on Serena to win all four Grand Slams in a single year, something that hadn’t been done since 1988, in her home country, in front of home fans was far greater than anything that Novak Djokovic had to deal with. Also take into account all the race and body image hurdles that are ever present, not just recently but throughout her entire career. The scrutiny on Serena is very real.

To say however, that Djokovic wasn’t dealing with any pressure even close to that of Serena is unfair. Coming into the 2015 season Novak Djokovic had a 7-7 career record in Grand Slam finals. Is that the record of an all-time great? Definitively, no. He was only a few more blown finals away from getting tagged as someone who couldn’t finish. His legacy in the tennis history was at stake. Let’s be honest, Serena didn’t have to prove anything to anyone when it cam to her play on the court. We know, and she knows, that she is the best women’s tennis player of all time. Djokovic stepped up to shut up the critics and win three this year pushing his total to 10 total Grand Slams, something only 7 other people have done previously.

Oh yeah, and Novak Djokovic became a dad for the first time this year. Do you think it would be easy trying to think about winning tennis tournaments and being the best at something in world when all you can think about is the health and well being of your pregnant wife and then the health and well being of a newborn? Even though he claims the birth of son propelled him to greatness, it couldn’t have been a stress free 2015 in the Djokovic household. Some people can just handle it all.

 

The post Novak Djokovic had a better 2015 Season than Serena Williams appeared first on The MyTennisLessons Blog.

FPL violates Endangered Species Act at Turkey Point: Who will sue? ... by gimleteye

Information provided by the Miami-Dade County government to Citizens Allied for Safe Energy, Inc. (CASE), a Florida non-profit corporation, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, reveals an 80% decline in number of threatened American crocodile nests in FPL’S Turkey Point Cooling Canal System in Homestead, FL. The decline has occurred over the past two years since FPL increased the operating temperature in the nuclear reactors at Turkey Point.

Almost a decade ago, Dr. Frank Mazzotti and Dr. Michael S Cherkiss published “Ecology and Conservation of the American Crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) in Florida” (2006). The study clearly shows that American crocodiles are rarely found where salinity is above 35 parts per thousand (ppt) and they prefer salinities of 10-20 ppt. The salinity in FPL’s cooling canals is currently about 90 ppt, three times the salinity of seawater.

On March 1, 2015, Michael Pearce, Senior Director at FPL wrote to Mr. Steve Scroggs, FPL’s senior director for project development,

“In my 25 years associated with PTN, we have never experienced a situation with emaciated crocodiles (I think we have significantly underestimated the fallout if we are threatening the crocs...).”

In May, 2015, despite FPL’s knowledge of the decline in crocodile health, and the incompatibility of their cooling canal conditions with crocodile survival, FPL continued to tout their stewardship of crocodile population during the NRC hearings on nuclear expansion at Turkey Point.

On July 16, 2015 University of Florida ecologist and crocodile expert Dr. Frank Mazzotti wrote to Mr. John Wrublik of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in Vero Beach, FL,

“John FYI, At Turkey Point 5 nests in the system, 2 in the mitigation. Maybe 2 more in the system yet to hatch. 33 hatchlings tagged. In ENP (Everglades National Park) more than 80 nest(s) and over 900 hatchlings tagged. Frank”

In 2013 biologists counted 24 crocodile nests in the canals, 22 in 2014, and only 5 in 2015. This 80% nesting decline follows the rise in temperature and salinity following FPL’s 2013 “uprates” that increased the operating temperature inside the nuclear reactors at Turkey Point.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulator Commission has repeatedly approved changes in operations at Turkey Point previously shown by scientists to create conditions incompatible with the threatened population of American crocodiles. The NRC’s recent Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) made no mention of this incompatibility.

FPL’s change in operations appears to have precipitated the demise of the Turkey Point crocodile population, one of several flagship species that resides these wetlands. CASE members strongly oppose this latest environmental insult and all damage inflicted on the Southeast Everglades by FPL’s Turkey Point power-generating operation in a fragile wetland ecosystem situated between two National Parks. FPL’s website continues to extol their stewardship of the American crocodile at Turkey Point:

FPL on their stewardship.
They also are trying to fool the children.

In October, 2014 CASE filed a motion before the Atomic Safety Licensing Board of the NRC opposing actions taken by FPL and approved by the NRC to mitigate the poor conditions in the Turkey Point Cooling Canal System including high temperatures, high salinity, and excessive algae bloom. CASE was granted an evidentiary hearing, which will be held in January 2016 in Homestead FL.

County Commissioner Pepe Diaz: Why Do The Good Die Young and The Dumb Keep on Ticking? By Geniusofdespair

I have been writing about waiting and waiting for County Commissioner Pepe Diaz's Epiphany since at least 2011. Brawl in the Keys, Brain Tumor, Stomach Staples and other problems have plagued the County Commissioner but he never changes. He just got arrested for drunken driving and speeding (double the speed limit - see the video here). For years I have been begging Pepe to see the error of his ways and to adjust his very bad voting record.

Maybe just maybe the Pope's visit will be the catalyst for change because he certainly doesn't learn anything by experience. And Pepe, that fake HUMBLE stance of yours, it is not working, no one believes you are humble for a minute. I think you are a thug and the brawl in the Keys, at a meeting no less, proves you are not humble. Get on your massive Harley and ride off into the sunset with all your Harley buddies because there is no chance for redemption. I think you are just too dumb to change and become a better person.

My 2013 Pepe Diaz Easter Prayer (didn't do any good)

Rescued from the brink of death

Pepe's a lucky man

God looks down upon him waiting

Waiting for the redemption of this fractured man

God waits for Pepe's glorious Epiphany

Months have passed, it has not come

God is patient but he wonders

When will Pepe care about all the people

And use his votes for the good instead of the connected

God thinks, Pepe's a selfish man
Or, maybe worse, just a stupid man

The rich get richer and God waits

and waits

For Pepe to become a righteous man.

In Other News:

Read County Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava's timely Op Ed on Climate Change as high ties plague Miami Beach. A flood advisory has been issued.

And DO NOT MISS Carl Hiaasen's column of the theft of money from State Amendment 1:

Most embezzlers try to conceal their thefts, but not in Tallahassee. The looting of Florida’s Amendment One conservation funds took place in broad daylight, orchestrated by two poker-faced swindlers named Andy Gardiner and Steve Crisafulli.

Gardiner is president of the Senate. Crisafulli is speaker of the House. Remember their names, because they ripped you off big-time — and it will happen again next year, if they think they can get away with it.

More than 4 million Floridians voted last November to set aside 33 percent of the revenues from existing real-estate stamp taxes for buying conservation and recreation lands, and for the restoration of such areas already owned by the state.

IT consultant to add jobs in South Florida

An IT and data risk consultant in Sunrise plans to add 32 jobs over three years, Gov. Rick Scott announced Friday. Sunera said the new jobs will have an average wage of $66,868, according to the Sun Sentinel. Sunera could be eligible for $128,000 in job-creation incentives, with $25,600 coming from the City of Sunrise and $102,400 from the state, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance said. The city also has offered an additional $1,200 per job for every Sunrise resident hired by the company for…

Wisconsin week in review

Here’s a quickie rundown and review of recent Wisconsin political stories. WONDER BOY FAILS WONDERFULLY On Monday at 5PM Walker dropped out of the race. Well, technically he “suspended his campaign”. This LA Times cartoon sums it up for us. And this cartoon by Phil Hands sums up the average Wisconsinite’s response: Tomorrow's @WiStateJournal cartoon more »

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Scott Walker plans a not so “unintimidated” public appearance in Beaver Dam today

Update: I have confirmation from Madison radio journalist Michael Crute that Scott Walker will be at the site at Noon today. I had this information 1 hour and 45 minutes in advance of the so-called “public event”. Site: Apache Stainless, 200 Industrial Dr, Beaver Dam, WI Google Map Street view Just to record what goes more »

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Video: “Walker’s critics celebrate, supporters reminisce …”

Despite having no more than a few hours notice of the 5PM press conference announcing Walker’s drop out from the presidential campaign, protesting Wisconsinites were ready, able, and willing to serenade Wisconsin’s delusional governor. This TMJ4 footage includes just a SNIPPET of protest singing. This brief broadcast also includes snippets from Wisconsinites who do not more »

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