Who more likely to improve their play in 2012, Djok or Fed?

[BULLZ1LLA]

(Who is more likely to improve their play in 2012, Djokovic or Federer?

I would say Federer, because Annacone has him going in the right direction, whereas it seems to be popular belief that Djokovic will burnout or lose something physically or mentally trying to defend everything.

Also because Federer is really obsessed with the Olympics,

he will be ultra-focused in 2012)

[oberyn3]

(Who is more likely to improve their play in 2012, Djokovic or Federer?

I would say Federer, because Annacone has him going in the right direction, whereas it seems to be popular belief that Djokovic will burnout or lose something physically or mentally trying to defend everything.

Also because Federer is really obsessed with the Olympics,

he will be ultra-focused in 2012)

I'm not sure how much room for improvement there is for either one of them, but I definitely don't expect Djokovic to maintain his 2011 form in 2012 much less improve on it while I think that Federer can, at the very least, maintain his 2011 level of play. Federer seems to have plenty of gas left in the tank and I can see him improving his results at the slams. I think he's got at least one more slam left in him. I also agree with you that he will be absolutely intent on getting that singles gold medal in London. My only concern with respect to Federer is that each year he seems more prone to getting out-hit (see losses to Soderling, Berdych, and Tsonga) and some odd mental lapses where he lets his opponents back into sets and matches instead of finishing them off (vs. Nadal at the French, Tsonga at Wimbledon, Del Potro at 2009 U.S. Open, and Djokovic at 2010 and 2011 U.S. Open)

As for non-slams, almost by default I expect Federer to improve upon his 2011 season (only 1 minor tournament victory).

Meanwhile I don't give Djokovic any chance at, basically, running the table at the Masters events the way he did in 2011. Djoker didn't play Monte Carlo and his only loss was a w/d due to injury in the final at Cincy. I just don't see that happening two years in a row.

[BULLZ1LLA]

(Who is more likely to improve their play in 2012, Djokovic or Federer?

I would say Federer, because Annacone has him going in the right direction, whereas it seems to be popular belief that Djokovic will burnout or lose something physically or mentally trying to defend everything.

Also because Federer is really obsessed with the Olympics,

he will be ultra-focused in 2012)

I'm not sure how much room for improvement there is for either one of them, but I definitely don't expect Djokovic to maintain his 2011 form in 2012 much less improve on it while I think that Federer can, at the very least, maintain his 2011 level of play. Federer seems to have plenty of gas left in the tank and I can see him improving his results at the slams. I think he's got at least one more slam left in him. I also agree with you that he will be absolutely intent on getting that singles gold medal in London. My only concern with respect to Federer is that each year he seems more prone to getting out-hit (see losses to Soderling, Berdych, and Tsonga) and some odd mental lapses where he lets his opponents back into sets and matches instead of finishing them off (vs. Nadal at the French, Tsonga at Wimbledon, Del Potro at 2009 U.S. Open, and Djokovic at 2010 and 2011 U.S. Open)

As for non-slams, almost by default I expect Federer to improve upon his 2011 season (only 1 minor tournament victory).

Meanwhile I don't give Djokovic any chance at, basically, running the table at the Masters events the way he did in 2011. Djoker didn't play Monte Carlo and his only loss was a w/d due to injury in the final at Cincy. I just don't see that happening two years in a row.

(I agree with all that.

And I hope Federer learned something from the Tsonga and Djokovic slam losses. Looks like Federer is able to beat the flat hitters WHEN Federer plays with imagination/variation. But for periods of those 2 matches he seemed to forget about imagination and played very lazy tennis tactically and stopped moving his man around. Next time, if he keeps his head in the game he can dismiss the flat-hitters, not just in 5 sets, but in straight sets. After getting up 2-0 in those matches, either he got overconfident or he was fatigued)