2014 Indian Wells Masters Final: Federer v. Djokovic

[Moxie]

Not getting more first serves in was a huge fail. But rallying with Novak in the heat was another. Let him get some rally wins on you, and the confidence builds. Then his serve doesn't even need to get better, though it did. Djokovic raised his game a lot, to his credit, but Federer stopped being aggressive, and didn't serve well, both of which things he needed.

 

[lacatch]

I had said in an earlier post that I thought this match was about heart, and Novak just needed it MORE, though no denying it meant a lot to Fed as well. I think Novak just reignited his season with this win---we'll see......

 

[Front242]

The serve is key really for Roger. Novak gets visibly rattled when Roger's serving well and winning his service games easily with attacking tennis and then Novak's game goes off. The moment Roger's first serve % dips by 10% or so and the slightest sniff of weakness appears, Novak will pounce 'cos he knows Roger can't play that brand of aggressive tennis with 2nd serves.

Very questionable tactics and embarrassingly bad shot selection by Roger too at crucial junctions after set 1. He needs to just practice serve non stop and he's in a prime position to trouble the top guys more consistently. He can't expect to win without his first serves.

 

[Moxie]

^ Agreed. At 32, he needs his first serve, and he has a fine one. I know it was pressured today, but that doesn't explain how off it was. And no excuse for going off the attack but nerves. That was a play that was working for him. Granted, you need a first serve to attack from. All of a piece.

 

[Front242]

There was one particular drop shot Fed hit that I cringed when I saw him hit it 'cos I knew Djokovic would not only easily run it down, but make him pay for it, which he did. You'd think he'd have learnt his lesson after the drop shot fiasco against Del Potro at the end of set 2 in the US Open 2009 final.

 

[Riotbeard]

^ Agreed. At 32, he needs his first serve, and he has a fine one. I know it was pressured today, but that doesn't explain how off it was. And no excuse for going off the attack but nerves. That was a play that was working for him. Granted, you need a first serve to attack from. All of a piece.

I think Novak hit enough good shots to make roger second think for long enough to let novak in, and then Roger fully backed away from aggressive tennis, which was a big mistake.

 

[Front242]

^ Agreed. At 32, he needs his first serve, and he has a fine one. I know it was pressured today, but that doesn't explain how off it was. And no excuse for going off the attack but nerves. That was a play that was working for him. Granted, you need a first serve to attack from. All of a piece.

Yeah, that's the thing, he can't attack without the first serve so I hope he practices it a lot. It was very good much of the tournament and in set 1 today also but really dropped off too much after set 1, so much so that he couldn't continue the winning formula of good first serve and aggressive follow up. Easier said than done though. Even John Isner couldn't serve well yesterday.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

The serve is key really for Roger. Novak gets visibly rattled when Roger's serving well and winning his service games easily with attacking tennis and then Novak's game goes off. The moment Roger's first serve % dips by 10% or so and the slightest sniff of weakness appears, Novak will pounce 'cos he knows Roger can't play that brand of aggressive tennis with 2nd serves.

Very questionable tactics and embarrassingly bad shot selection by Roger too at crucial junctions after set 1. He needs to just practice serve non stop and he's in a prime position to trouble the top guys more consistently. He can't expect to win without his first serves.

Yes, In the first set he had 74% first serves in, it came down to 54% in second set
and then went back to 63% in third set.

If he had maintained his end of the bargain and gotten to a TB in 2nd set, he probably
could have won in 2 sets, as there would not have been any momentum shift.

 

[Front242]

^ Yup.

 

[Front242]

Fed serving 74% and playing like he did in set 1 is going to be hard for anyone to do well against.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Another thing I observed today is that after breaking Roger early in the third set,
Novak was basically "tanking" Roger's service games without seriously trying for
an insurance break and instead tried to save energy for his own serves.

It is not a good idea against top players (if what I am saying is true).

 

[Riotbeard]

Another thing I observed today is that after breaking Roger early in the third set,
Novak was basically "tanking" Roger's service games without seriously trying for
an insurance break and instead tried to save energy for his own serves.

It is not a good idea against top players (if what I am saying is true).

Of late, Novak can try and play terrible tennis, so I am not sure how you tell if he is tanking.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Another thing I observed today is that after breaking Roger early in the third set,
Novak was basically "tanking" Roger's service games without seriously trying for
an insurance break and instead tried to save energy for his own serves.

It is not a good idea against top players (if what I am saying is true).

Of late, Novak can try and play terrible tennis, so I am not sure how you tell if he is tanking.

It did not appear to me that he was trying as hard as he could in the later service games
of Fed after the break.

 

[Front242]

Maybe he's just not as fit as he used to be. That or he started eating gluten again. Would explain a lot really.

 

[Moxie]

^ Agreed. At 32, he needs his first serve, and he has a fine one. I know it was pressured today, but that doesn't explain how off it was. And no excuse for going off the attack but nerves. That was a play that was working for him. Granted, you need a first serve to attack from. All of a piece.

I think Novak hit enough good shots to make roger second think for long enough to let novak in, and then Roger fully backed away from aggressive tennis, which was a big mistake.

That's exactly what's going to happen. Except that I think it happened before Fed was compelled to. He won the first set with aggressive tennis. Then he settled back into the pattern. He needed to bring that aggressiveness into the 2nd. If he was hoping that Novak would just keep making errors, and gift him the win, he was on a fool's errand. (As it happened.)

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

its a win-win scenario for both players I think.

the balloons of optimism will float around inside the heads of Federer and djokovic.

 

[DarthFed]

Fed served poorly in the game he got broken in during the 2nd and in the tiebreak. Other than that it was very good, his problem was the neutral rallies where he was dominated for most of the 2nd and 3rd sets. Nole also served excellent those 2 sets as well so that made things more difficult.

 

[Moxie]

Another thing I observed today is that after breaking Roger early in the third set,
Novak was basically "tanking" Roger's service games without seriously trying for
an insurance break and instead tried to save energy for his own serves.

It is not a good idea against top players (if what I am saying is true).

Of late, Novak can try and play terrible tennis, so I am not sure how you tell if he is tanking.

It did not appear to me that he was trying as hard as he could in the later service games
of Fed after the break.

I was taking notes throughout, for the news item on the front page:

http://www.tennisfrontier.com/news/atp-tennis/djokovic-survives-federer-in-desert-classic-at-indian-wells/

There was not one moment that I thought Djokovic was tanking for the sake of his next service game. He knew that an errant lapse could cost him the title and he wanted it. I think he fought for it all they way.

 

[Front242]

Fed served poorly in the game he got broken in during the 2nd and in the tiebreak. Other than that it was very good, his problem was the neutral rallies where he was dominated for most of the 2nd and 3rd sets. Nole also served excellent those 2 sets as well so that made things more difficult.

His shot selection was terrible at times too. That drop shot that he hit I think in the 2nd set was atrocious and got exactly what it deserved and on another point he was going for inside out forehand one after the other in a ridiculous pattern for about 5 or 6 successive strokes that he eventually hit wide when the whole opposite side of the court was wide open and he had Novak pinned in the left behind the baseline. Baffling and downright moronic. All he had to do was hit the ball the other direction!

 

[DarthFed]

No doubt about that, and I think it cost him. Either the service game he was broken in the 2nd or the one in the 3rd there were a couple poor decisions that cost him the game. Thinking it was the one in the 3rd set.