// Where do I begin? I can write 10 e-books about this result probably so this will basically be a summary. Congrats to the Djoker!!!!!! I am incredibly proud to call myself a fan today because of the immense composure Djokovic showed against a disgraceful crowd to win his 10th grand slam title. The stakes in this match were ridiculously high and the crowd was constantly shouting out when Djokovic was serving and cheering against him.It was classless behaviour as you would expect from the pro-Federer crowd but Djokovic kept his head down and heroically found a way and shut the crowd up. With everything that was at stake, the quality of the match was quite low compared to the Wimbledon final. But the scoreline was very similar and so was the pattern of play. Federer was the aggressor while Djokovic made his life hell.

There was a three-hour delay to the start of the match due to rain which was highly frustrating and thank God this will be the last year without a roof at this cursed slam. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world from a Djoker fan perspective because the rain would slow down things and help him, but it also meant it was going to be a night match where Federer is at his best.When the players finally came out the very first game of this match showed that Federer was up against something entirely different than the rest of the losers he faced who folded like cheap tents. It set the tone for the match. The game went to several deuces before Federer finally held serve. Djokovic responded with a love service hold of his own. Another big statement. In Federer’s next service game, Djokovic already made his move.He did what I mentioned in my previous post which was to be aggressive and put Federer under pressure right off the bat when he hit a very aggressive forehand winner to go up 30-0. Federer saved the first break point at 15-40 but Djokovic took the second break point after an extended baseline rally for the break. That was obviously huge to set the tone for the match but in the next game Djokovic had a very bad fall after changing direction and slipping.

It was a bit of a scary moment but thankfully nothing serious apart from Djokovic leaving about half of his skin on the court. Not surprisingly that shook him up a bit and he dropped serve right away and then Federer held serve to love. Another big moment. Djokovic steadied himself in the next game though with a service hold to 15. And in the next service game he was at it again, breaking Federer with a precision backhand pass after trailing 0-30.Right back on top. In the next service game, Djokovic faced another break point but finally consolidated for 5-3. Federer held serve after going to deuce again and at 5-4 Djokovic held serve to love to win the all-important first set 6-4. From here on you liked Djokovic’s chances. It was absolutely imperative for Federer to make a strong start and not allow Djokovic to drag the match out, but as usual Djokovic proved he is Federer’s master in the big matches.The hype around Federer was immense as usual going into this final. Craig O’Shannessy, the lead analyst for the ATP Tour and many other big organisations listed 15 reasons why Federer is the favourite. Federer defeated Djokovic in Cincy, he didn’t lose a set up to the finals, the surface suits his attacking game, blah blah blah. It only took one set for these people to realize what a big mistake they made once again to jump on the Federer bandwagon.Before I continue I have to bring up Luke Jensen who was the commentator for the ESPN broadcast here in South Africa who was an absolute disaster. His Federer bias and worship was so disturbing and evident that I had to switch off the sound for most of the match. But it is ESPN the worst tennis channel in the world after all so I guess that was not all that surprising. Back to the match.

The second set was a close affair and it was imperative for Federer to win it to stand any chance in the match. To his advantage, he served first which meant scoreboard pressure for Djokovic. At 5-4 and 30-30 on the Djokovic serve, Federer was once again piling on the pressure when he attacked the net with an aggressive backhand. Djokovic threw up a defensive backhand, but Federer went straight back to Djokovic who ripped the backhand straight at him forcing him into error.The Djoker erupted with a celebration that was just delicious to see. That game turned into a monumental struggle with Federer holding I don’t know how many set points. When Djokovic held serve to level at 5-5 it felt like another big moment. But with Djokovic serving at 5-6 and under more scoreboard pressure Federer brought up two more set points and finally took the second one. All squared.I think in the first game of the second set Djokovic was threatening the Federer serve again but failed to break, and in the second game at 15-15 Federer began again with the SABR. He tried it several times in the match but this time Djokovic was up to the task. In some cases, it paid off but overall it failed so I now call it the FABR(Failed Attack By Roger). That said, I wasn’t overly convinced with the way Djokovic handled it.The one he did at 15-15 sat up waiting for Djokovic to drill it straight into the sitting duck at the net but he went for the pass and missed badly. Federer did it again on the very next point but this time Djokovic embarrassed Federer who couldn’t keep up with the pace of shot from Djokovic. Same as in the opening set, Djokovic broke serve in the third game. Ajde! But same as in the first set as well Federer broke straight back in the next game.Fuck! This match was beginning to wear on me. The tension was already unbearable. Djokovic appeared to be unbelievably nervous as well. Probably the crowd had a lot to do with that as well but since I had to silence Jensen I didn’t know at the time just how much the crowd was getting involved. And then of course there was an awful lot at stake so I can’t blame him really. As a fan, this was by far the most nervous I’ve ever been before a tennis match.

The tension was already sky high before the first ball was struck so I can’t imagine what the players must have felt. At 3-4 Djokovic squandered a 40-0 lead on his serve and faced several break points. This was not the Djokovic I knew. This was the old Djokovic who choked when things got tough. But somehow he found a way to hold onto his serve in which was probably the most important game of the match.There were several games that took ages to complete and which was absolutely nerve-wracking and this was certainly one of them. If Federer held his nerve and broke serve there he would probably have won the third set and been in a very strong position. But he didn’t. He choked. The same way he choked against Nadal in the 2009 Australian Open final in the third set when he had Nadal at his mercy.And since Djokovic is a killer like Nadal he came back from 15-40 in Federer’s next service game to break. You don’t give Djokovic second chances. He smells blood like a shark and rips you to shreds. Federer was still fighting hard but Djokovic held serve to win the third set and now the writing was all but on the wall. Could Federer come back from two sets to love down against Djokovic at age 34? It seemed unlikely.Djokovic seemed more relaxed at the start of the fourth set as he broke Federer’s opening service game. He was still far from making things easy on himself, though. He was still struggling mightily on his own service game while he allowed Federer way too many easy service games. But I guess this is truer for the entire match. There wasn’t anything clinical about this performance and it was the hardest tennis match I ever had to watch.He also missed some ridiculously easy shots, while at the same times making some ridiculously difficult ones. In particular at 1-0 in the second set when Federer was trying to intimidate with the SABR again. He lobbed Federer consecutively for clean winners which were just delicious to see. At 4-2 and 30-40 on Federer’s serve came one of the points of the match which ended in Federer shanking an overhead into the crowd after another superb lob from Djokovic.

//

DJOKOVIC, Novak SRB [1] vs KOHLSCHREIBER, Philipp GERNIEMINEN, Jarkko FIN vs HEWITT, Lleyton AUS (WC)HERBERT, Pierre-Hugues FRA (Q) vs CHUNG, Hyeon KORSTRUFF, Jan-Lennard GER vs TOMIC, Bernard AUS [27]MAYER, Leonardo ARG [24] vs KOKKINAKIS, Thanasi AUSTIPSAREVIC, Janko SRB vs GRANOLLERS, Marcel ESPILHAN, Marsel TUR vs JANOWICZ, Jerzy POLPOUILLE, Lucas FRA vs ANDERSON, Kevin RSA [14]CILIC, Marin CRO [9] vs MORIYA, Hiroki JPN (Q)HAIDER-MAURER, Andreas AUT vs BERANKIS, Ricardas LTUEBDEN, Matthew AUS (WC) vs ROLA, Blaz SLOSOEDA, Go JPN vs ISNER, John USA [17]CUEVAS, Pablo URU [28] vs KUDLA, Denis USA (WC)GABASHVILI, Teymuraz RUS vs ZVEREV, Alexander GERSOUZA, Joao BRA vs GIRALDO, Santiago COLBOLELLI, Simone ITA vs NISHIKORI, Kei JPN [5]WAWRINKA, Stan SUI [4] vs SOUSA, Joao PORESTRELLA BURGOS, Victor DOM vs BECKER, Benjamin GERKLIZAN, Martin SVK vs VERDASCO, Fernando ESPSELA, Dudi ISR vs THIEM, Dominic AUT [32]ROBREDO, Tommy ESP [19] vs MILLMAN, John AUS (Q)YOUNG, Donald USA vs BAGHDATIS, Marcos CYPBROADY, Liam GBR (WC) vs MATOSEVIC, Marinko AUSZEBALLOS, Horacio ARG (Q) vs GOFFIN, David BEL [16]DIMITROV, Grigor BUL [11] vs DELBONIS, Federico ARGLACKO, Lukas SVK vs JOHNSON, Steve USADE SCHEPPER, Kenny FRA (Q) vs SMITH, John-Patrick AUS (Q)SAVILLE, Luke AUS (Q) vs GASQUET, Richard FRA [21]KYRGIOS, Nick AUS [26] vs SCHWARTZMAN, Diego ARGMONACO, Juan ARG vs MAYER, Florian GERLAJOVIC, Dusan SRB vs HAAS, Tommy GERGIMENO-TRAVER, Daniel ESP vs RAONIC, Milos CAN [7]FERRER, David ESP [8] vs WARD, James GBR (WC)VESELY, Jiri CZE vs LORENZI, Paolo ITAPOSPISIL, Vasek CAN vs MILLOT, Vincent FRA (Q)SMYCZEK, Tim USA vs FOGNINI, Fabio ITA [30]TROICKI, Viktor SRB [22] vs NEDOVYESOV, Aleksandr KAZ (Q)STEPANEK, Radek CZE vs BEDENE, Aljaz GBRBROWN, Dustin GER (Q) vs LU, Yen-Hsun TPEBELLUCCI, Thomaz BRA vs NADAL, Rafael ESP [10]TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried FRA [13] vs MULLER, Gilles LUXISTOMIN, Denis UZB vs RAMOS-VINOLAS, Albert ESPDOLGOPOLOV, Alexandr UKR vs EDMUND, Kyle GBR (WC)YMER, Elias SWE (Q) vs KARLOVIC, Ivo CRO [23]SEPPI, Andreas ITA [25] vs KLEIN, Brydan GBR (WC)STAKHOVSKY, Sergiy UKR vs CORIC, Borna CROHAASE, Robin NED vs FALLA, Alejandro COL (Q)KUKUSHKIN, Mikhail KAZ vs MURRAY, Andy GBR [3]BERDYCH, Tomas CZE [6] vs CHARDY, Jeremy FRAKRAJINOVIC, Filip SRB vs MAHUT, Nicolas FRA (WC)GULBIS, Ernests LAT vs ROSOL, Lukas CZEANDUJAR, Pablo ESP vs GARCIA-LOPEZ, Guillermo ESP [29]MONFILS, Gael FRA [18] vs CARRENO BUSTA, Pablo ESPMANNARINO, Adrian FRA vs BERRER, Michael GER (Q)SUGITA, Yuichi JPN (Q) vs KAVCIC, Blaz SLOALMAGRO, Nicolas ESP vs SIMON, Gilles FRA [12]LOPEZ, Feliciano ESP [15] vs DARCIS, Steve BELBASILASHVILI, Nikoloz GEO (Q) vs BAGNIS, Facundo ARGPAIRE, Benoit FRA vs YOUZHNY, Mikhail RUSBEMELMANS, Ruben BEL vs BAUTISTA AGUT, Roberto ESP [20]SOCK, Jack USA [31] vs GROTH, Sam AUSJAZIRI, Malek TUN vs DUCKWORTH, James AUSQUERREY, Sam USA vs SIJSLING, Igor NED (Q)DZUMHUR, Damir BIH vs FEDERER, Roger SUI [2]The draw is out and while Federer got Murray in his half, he has no Nadal to contend with in his quarter. That misfortune fell to Murray who will meet Nadal in the quarterfinals if they both progress that far. I for one hope that match happens. Murray has a poor record against Nadal in slams and it would be a good opportunity for him to improve on that. If you look at Nadal’s quarter it is not that tough if he gets through the first couple of rounds. Murray has some potential stumbling blocks in Tsonga, Karlovic, Muller, and Dolgopolov.

The dream is alive

Murray has the toughest draw of the big four. Federer’s draw isn’t a cakewalk either. His first four rounds shouldn’t be much of a problem, but then he could play Berdych. Not that Berdych is that big a threat, but he has beaten Federer at Wimbledon before. In the semis, it looks like Murray or Nadal. Both would be very difficult opponents for him. I don’t think Nadal is getting that far but with him I guess you never know. Anyway, Murray would be very tough with the form he’s been in.In the top half, Djokovic has a tough first round with Kohlschreiber after three weeks off. If he survives that then he should make quarterfinals where Isner could be difficult. Who knows who will come through in Stan’s quarter. It’s probably between Stan, Kyrgios, and Raonic. In the end, you’d think Djokovic will probably make the final, but my stance on draws is that they are almost entirely meaningless. They are hardly worth a post. It’s just a rough framework of what could happen, and I don’t like speculation.

Murray to conquer London again?

I think Federer has a good draw, despite the fact that he got Murray. I think this is also his last realistic chance of winning a slam. It’s now or say goodbye to bel18ve forever. Personally, I don’t care whether he wins it or not. It would be a great story if he can do it no doubt, but I don’t expect it and it won’t bother me in the least if it doesn’t happen. Fedal have won enough. Djokovic already buried Nadal at the French and Murray could do the same to Federer at Wimbledon.I wouldn’t mind another Djokoray final at all. Murray has dominated the rivalry on grass but they’ve only had two meetings on the surface, and I think Djokovic was tired in the 2013 final after a very difficult match with Del Potro in the semis. He looked tired in the final and if they met in the final again this year I think it would be a much closer encounter. I think Djokovic is ready to defend his title too. He got a tough first round but if he gets past that I like his chances.

Djokovic played the Boodles event as a warm-up

// First of all my sympathies to Fedfans and second congrats to the Djoker and his fans. With his 4th Rome title, the Djoker surpasses Roger in Masters titles won and it looks very likely that he will surpass Nadal too to get the record. He has now also won every big tournament(Masters and up) that he played since losing to Roger in Shanghai last year.

There wasn’t much in his match until Roger set up a break point at 4-4 and deuce with a forehand drive down the line which forced the Djoker into error. The point that followed was definitely a key point. The Djoker played a rock solid point where he hit with great depth and finally forced Roger into error with an attacking inside out forehand. If Roger had won that point it is very likely he would have won the set, but the Djoker was just very clutch. In the next game, the Djoker played a very good return game to get the break and the set.

Roger went down 0-30 I think but reeled the Djoker in with some great net play to 30-30. At deuce, there was another key point as the Djoker came up with a US Open 2011-like return winner cross court to set up set point. He then made another very deep return off a first serve from Roger and kept great depth until dropping one short which Roger netted.After winning the first set, the Djoker was immediately the big favorite to win it. The Djoker held his serve in the opening game of the second set after which he set up a break point in the second game. Roger saved it with a tremendous backhand winner up the line, but the Djoker ended up breaking anyway. And then when he consolidated for 3-0 you figured the match was pretty much a done deal. The Djoker had a break point in the next game as well for the double break, but at least Roger avoided a possible bakery product.

Roger also did his part by making the Djoker serve out the match at 5-3 but this time there would be no miraculous comeback as Roger hit a routine forehand well wide to lose the match.In the end, it was a routine scoreline and it wasn’t a classic in any sense of the word, but it was still a high-quality match as you can see from the match stats. When both players hit more winners than unforced errors it is a sign of high-quality tennis. Both players had great serving days as well. The Djoker’s serve has improved recently and when he serves at 70% first serves on top of a rock solid baseline game then he becomes almost impossible to beat. The Djoker’s returns and passing shots is another big factor.

As you can see Roger didn’t win a big percentage of net points because of this. His second serve was also under loads of pressure. On a slower court like this it was always going to be an uphill struggle for Roger. The courts were playing faster than usual this week and today was probably the hottest day of the week, but it still wasn’t enough. The Djoker is just too solid and impenetrable from the baseline. You had the feeling if Roger won that break point and won the first set, the Djoker would have won in three sets anyway.As far as Roger goes I think Fedfans should feel very good about his week. At the beginning of the week, we were just hoping he could make semis, but he surpassed that and made the final. Of course Fedfans always want more and yes it would have been nice if he won, especially after losing last year to Stan in the Monte Carlo final as well. This was another chance that got away to win one of the two elusive Masters he has never won. That said, I think it is great that he is making the Rome final at this stage of his career.Maybe not necessarily making the Rome final, because he did that in 2013 when he was playing poorly too, but the level of his play on clay. It is nice to see after that Davis Cup match against Gasquet last year that he is indeed so far resurrecting his clay tennis. The performances from Berdych and Stan were strange, but Roger still played very well. And this was exactly the kind of result he would have looked for after the early loss to Kyrgios in Madrid. So from my point of view this was another superb week for Roger.I can only speak for myself. I know many Fedfans get very disappointed after a loss like this and tend to look at the negatives. The way I see it Roger did as well as he could and lost to the better player in the final. Simple as that. He will go to the French Open with loads of confidence with a great shot of making semis. I don’t know what more you can ask as a Fedfan at this point.As for the Djoker, he continues his utter dominance of the ATP Tour after looking vulnerable earlier in the week. You gotta respect the way he came up with his best tennis when it mattered the most in the semis and final. Today he was impeccable. I think it is fair for me to say he is the French Open favorite again, even after I made the wrong prediction last year. Nadal is always a danger and Roger actually said after the match that Nadal is still the favorite. I don’t know if there was any emotion involved in that comment, but he will say that until Nadal loses again at the French Open anyway, so I’m not sure how much to read into it.Personally I hope the Djoker wins the French Open. I certainly don’t want Nadal to win it again and I think the Djoker deserves the title by now, having come the closest of anyone to beating Nadal at the French aside from Nadal’s loss to Soderling of course. Nadal’s loss to Stan in Rome, on the other hand, can’t bode very well for his French Open hopes. If he is to win the French Open this year it will be the first time he does it without winning a Masters on clay during the clay season.