RE: Rankings
First time I heard that a player can be dominant while losing a set or even eking out a close one.
Dominating a sport in almost all definitions I've seen means you are practically totally in control, in tennis that would be winning most of your service games easily (rarely reaching deuce) and putting pressure on almost every service game of the opponent and breaking them a couple of times.
In the Wimbledon 2014 final, the first set saw neither player force a break point, though there were a few games (mostly Federer's) that went to deuce. A tiebreak was required to decide the first set and it saw Federer come from two separate set points down to take it 9–7.
1st set conclusion: Federer eked the set win out, but it obviously wasn't a set dominated by either player.
The second set had Djokovic breaking early, on Federer's second service game of the set, following a long hold on his 1st service game of the set. Thereafter, Djokovic called for a trainer, but he seemed fine when he resumed play, and it was pretty even the rest of the set with both players holding serve comfortably until Djokovic served for the set at 5-4 and it went to deuce. Federer had a break point but could do nothing with it, and Djokovic took the set 6-4.
2nd set conclusion: With the single break of serve, Djokovic was better in the set, but hardly dominating.
The 3rd set went very routinely with both players holding serve comfortably, with Federer's serve becoming more and more potent including a perfect ace game to move ahead 5-4. Djokovic held well again for 5-5. Then on the Federer serve, it went to deuce and Novak had a break point before Federer came back with some good serving to hold for 6-5. Novak leveled for 6-6 to force a tiebreaker. Novak got the early mini-break to go ahead 3-2, but Federer gets it back to make it 4-3. But then Federer gave it right back when he hit a forehand wide to make it 3-5. He closed the gap to 4-5 with a good serve, but then Nole closed it out on his next two serves.
3rd set conclusion: An even set, eked out by Djokovic in the tiebreaker (a reversal on the 1st set)
The 4th set was probably the most intriguing and up and down of the match. All was even until Djokovic broke Federer to go up 3-1. When many Federer fans feared the worst, Federer broke Djokovic straight back for 2-3 with some of his most aggressive play from the ground in the match. But then Federer was broken again with some loose errors to give Nole a 4-2 lead. When Djokovic held serve for 5-2, it looked all but over. But Federer hung in there, holding his serve comfortably for 3-5. Djokovic served for the match and seemed tight, handing Federer some unforced errors, but evened it at 30-30 before sending a shot wide, and then Federer broke when Djokovic fell and made it on serve at 4-5. Federer then had a very tough hold as he faced match point at 30-40, but then seemingly went into overdrive and hit aces as needed to hold. On his next serve, Djokovic looked shaken, and Federer was up 0-40 including a double fault. Djokovic recovered with a couple of good serves, but was ultimately broken to go a break down at 5-6, and Federer closed the set out with his 5th straight game.
4th set conclusion: A Topsy-turvy set with Djokovic having the better of the battle of breaks early to get to a 5-2 single break lead, and then Federer winning late to take 5 straight games for the set and wrested the momentum to his side.
The 5th set was delayed a bit in starting as Djokovic headed off for a toilet break, and Federer decided to follow him. Djokovic started serving in the set, and both players held comfortably to 2-1 Djokovic, when Novak took another medical timeout before Federer's serve for some discomfort in his lower leg. But Novak returned and again seemed to have recovered his condition, and Federer held serve comfortably. It stayed comfortable until Novak's service game at 3 all where the game was forced to deuce with some aggressive play from Roger and a double fault from Novak. But Novak held with excellent serving for a 4-3 lead. But then Roger had a difficult time on his service going down 15-40, before Roger brought it back to deuce. Roger finally held after 3 deuces to even the match at 4-4. In the Djokovic service game, at 15 all, Roger dumped a rare overhead smash into the net giving Nole a 30-15 lead instead of 15-30. Maybe it was significant, maybe not, we will never know. Nole afterwards held and led 5-4. After a tough previous service game and then the failed overhead in Novak's game, Federer's energy level at this point had deteriorated, while Nole looked like he had managed to get a second or third wind, following the medical timeout. Federer quickly went down 15-40 on his service with some errant shots, and the aces he had been coming up with previously were nowhere to be found, and he finally capitulated with a rather weak shot into the net in a rather anti-climatic end to the match and the Wimbledon title belonged to Novak Djokovic.
5th set conclusion: Federer ended the 4th set with the momentum, but in my opinion the toilet break and medical timeout diffused this advantage. In any event, Djokovic regrouped, the set was even until the last game and then Federer's energy level dipped right at the end and Djokovic won the very close match. There was no domination in this set either.
Match conclusion: If any period of "domination" occurred, it was in the 4th set when Federer won 5 straight games, but since he had gone down a break twice earlier, the set overall was not dominated. Otherwise it was pretty close throughout with Nole edging it out at the last.
Respectfully,
masterclass
