Novak Djokovic and Zhang Jike

[Dan]

Yesterday Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open 2012 championships defeating Rafael Nadal in the final! Djokovic defeated Nadal in the longest ever grand slam final by five hours and 53 minutes! Djokovic won the match 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5.

As Novak Djokovic won match point he celebrated in similar fashion to reigning World Table Tennis Champion Zhang Jike. In the video below you can see the similarities of their passionate celebrations.

Left of photo: Novak Djokovic, photo by: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
Right of photo: Zhang Jike, photo by: sina.com.cn

Video of Zhang Jike and Novak Djokovic. --- Action with passion means everything ---

Thanks to TTD member Sarah Her Lee for the idea of this video! Check out her amazing blog here: http://www.sarahherlee.com/

 

[dguerra]

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[kiwiNCFC]

Good Video Dan! Let's hope there are far more of these "shirt busting" moments to be had in 2012! Especially the olympics!

 

[dguerra]

great video dan!, really great!

 

[Dan]

Good Video Dan! Let's hope there are far more of these "shirt busting" moments to be had in 2012! Especially the olympics!

Thanks KWIN! ... I hope so to. Makes the game very exciting, if Zhang Jike was to win the London Olympics he may do a crazy celebration ha!

great video dan!, really great!

Thanks Daniel! Took longer to make then I original planned hehe

 

[YosuaYosan]

Same passion different pay
Nice share Dan

 

[Dan]

Same passion different pay
Nice share Dan

Haha wise words there Yosua! Thanks dude

 

[YosuaYosan]

Yeah was thinking tennis and its rich stars compared to table tennis' :\
One open in tennis could be almost a career of a table tennis pro's lifetime money.
I mean I watched the replays and stuff @ ESPN which is really cool and thought that table tennis is way left behind in both funding thus promotion to the public compared to tennis..

Unsettling..

 

[WiWa]

Cool video Of course Novak didn't manage to rip the whole shirt like Zhang, but hey, he's just a tennis player

By the way: I think that you can hear Djokovic scream... 'CHOOOO' ???
That would be an important stake in the 'cho origin' discussion Not many Chinese influences in tennis you see

 

[PlasmaLight]

when i watched the game yesterday and djokovic celebrated, i thought .."hm ... like zhang jike"

 

[sarahherlee]

loveee the video !!! very inspiring =)

 

[Mr. RicharD]

China's pro's are pretty much set for life. With endorsements and their celebrity status they don't really have to worry about money ever again. Especially if you medal in the Olympics. You become a national hero and thus are taken care of by the government. TT will only pay out the amount of money as other sports when enough countries can produce a Chinese level market. So it's all about growing the sport to that level.

As for the video, it was great Dan. It'll be exciting to see what this year brings in.

 

[Dan]

Yeah was thinking tennis and its rich stars compared to table tennis' :\
One open in tennis could be almost a career of a table tennis pro's lifetime money.
I mean I watched the replays and stuff @ ESPN which is really cool and thought that table tennis is way left behind in both funding thus promotion to the public compared to tennis..

Unsettling..

Very true Yosua. Its a shame our players don't get similar money to tennis stars but this is life and tt players do it for the heart. Not saying that tennis stars don't... but we all play sport for the love of the game whether your making money or not. Hopefully if table tennis keeps increasing and building itself then one day it could become a mainstream sport. You never know

On the plus side, ESPN have contacted me again, and want to put the best points of 2011 on their TV channel at some point. So keep a look out for it hehe

Cool video Of course Novak didn't manage to rip the whole shirt like Zhang, but hey, he's just a tennis player

By the way: I think that you can hear Djokovic scream... 'CHOOOO' ???
That would be an important stake in the 'cho origin' discussion Not many Chinese influences in tennis you see

Thanks WiWa,,, took some man hours hehe

Haha true, maybe Djokovic did chooo.. it reminded me of Michael Maze chooo as seen in video below against Hao Shuai at 10.32

Maybe Maze should have ripped his t-shirt off to increase the women participation in table tennis haha

when i watched the game yesterday and djokovic celebrated, i thought .."hm ... like zhang jike"

Haha I thought the exact same when I saw it. Very similar, and they both seem to have similar characteristics.

loveee the video !!! very inspiring =)

Couldn't of been done without you Sarah! Thanks!

China's pro's are pretty much set for life. With endorsements and their celebrity status they don't really have to worry about money ever again. Especially if you medal in the Olympics. You become a national hero and thus are taken care of by the government. TT will only pay out the amount of money as other sports when enough countries can produce a Chinese level market. So it's all about growing the sport to that level.

As for the video, it was great Dan. It'll be exciting to see what this year brings in.

Thanks Richard for the kind comments.. And your spot on about building the growth of the sport. We and other governing bodies need to do as much as we can in raising the profile of the sport and increasing participation.

We have some major tournaments this year, lets hope they can make an impact to the game.

 

[TableOhTennis]

great video! and i love the quote! very inspiring.. i watched the nadal-nole game and when i saw nole on the ground i was thinkin "he's gonna rip his shirt soon" hahahaha! my fave two athletes! love it!

 

[poltery]

SUPERB COMPARISON....I think u missed the part where he lays himself on the ground ))

 

[blahness]

hahahahahahahahaha finally someone made a video comparison.... they are so alike!

 

[Matt Hetherington]

Nice comparison, good excuse to make a video and throw in some inspiration with it it's a shame ZJK doesn't get paid as much as Djokovic for winning

 

[azlan]

1st round exits in the Aussie Open earns just a notch less than the ZJK did. That's just insane. But in terms of personality, I have to say Novak and Jike are worlds apart. Jike always have this moody temperament, while Novak is the opposite.

 

[WiWa]

LGL made the same comparison xD. He also compared Xu Xin to Nadal because of their strong forehand and awesome footwork.

 

[judah000]

They are both really the same