It was an interesting match, with a good amount of drama, if not good play from both at the same time. Overall, Federer didn't play throughout the match as well as he did against Dolgopolov, especially on serve, but he wasn't poor either. Djokovic played better than he did the whole tournament, but still had lapses, but shorter in scope.
The result? A very even match. It could have gone either way in the end. Even stats were very even, almost even # of games won/lost, exact same winners/unforced error ratio, with Federer's amounts predictably higher, almost even # of total points won, Djokovic 99 points, 98 for Federer, etc.
Federer played well the first set, aggressively, charging the net at just the right times, while Djokovic looked nervous early and got broken, which was enough for Federer to take the set, as he continued to serve well at crucial times. He was over 70% won on both 1st and 2nd serves.
Federer seemed to let off the aggression pedal in the second, I don't why, and stayed back and rallied. His 1st serve pct. also declined significantly. I think this psychologically let Djokovic back into the match, and Djokovic got stronger, more consistent and confident, while Federer looked weaker and more tired as rallies and points played longer. Djokovic broke Federer once and that was enough for the second.
Djokovic continued to look strong at the start of the third set, painting lines on both defensive and offensive shots like they had magnetic attraction to the ball, while Federer still seemed lost or tired or something, giving an early break to Djokovic, and it looked like that would be enough for Djokovic, until he tried to serve out the match. Then Federer, with his back against the wall, played some great attacking tennis, 3 points in succession for love-40, which seemed to startle Djokovic out of his zone of good play, and Federer broke him at 15 to even the match at 5-5.
Federer once again regained confidence serving to love in his next game for a 6-5 lead, but then looked disinterested on the Djokovic serve and seemed content to have it decided in the tiebreak. Not sure I agreed with that way of thinking, even at that moment, not after the fact. I think Federer was on a roll and should have gone all out as in the 4-5 game to break Djokovic. But he didn't. Perhaps the effort to break previously sapped him a bit, and he was saving himself energy.
Then the tiebreak was a poor effort from Federer. Djokovic didn't need to do much but play steady, as Federer had 3 or 4 unforced errors on his serve. One certainly can't expect to win a tiebreak like that.
Regardless, Djokovic did up his game in general from the previous matches in the tournament, still had some lapses here and there, but it did not deter him, and he won it in the end. Federer's play was up and down, brilliant at times, and then seemingly on cruise control at others. He did very well to break Djokovic at the end of the third, but didn't take advantage of that, and played a poor tiebreaker, and due to that did not deserve the victory. With his former career #1 tiebreaker record .649 pct, now #2 just behind Isner .650, who has played about 1/2 the tiebreakers Federer has, one would think he should have done better.
Congratulations to Nole, his fans, and his team. He should play with more confidence after this, and looks good going to Miami. One continued concern is his recent inability to serve out matches. He was a bit fortunate that it didn't cost him this tournament.
Commiserations to Roger and his supporters. I don't think this loss hurts him a lot. He played a good tournament, just missed, so his level looks good going into his next training block before his clay season starts in Madrid. He said he had not expected to be at his best level till after the next training block so to have these good results prior to that was a bit of a surprise to him.
On to Miami!
Respectfully,
masterclass
