Wimbledon 2014 final: Federer vs Djokovic

[nehmeth]

who wins yall?

Picking Djokovic in three.

Saturday will be spent surgically removing his head from his arse. A quick shampoo and he will be ready to go Sunday. Roger looked great today against a fella severely lacking mobility and unable to stand up in the "moment".

I liked a fair bit of what I saw from Novak... the best that he was able to wrestle his way through his own distractions and get it done when he needed to. He could have been through in a routine three if he had stayed focused. I trust that he will remain focused Sunday.

 

[Moxie]

Yes, definitely Nole is losing sets due to concentration lapses. If he can give one like that
to Fed, Fed can take the other two himself.

He really has to get over starting to sulk and toss his racquet way before it's time. It's a self-indulgent habit, and I've never seen it do him any good. With the crowd likely to favor Roger, Novak had better try to keep himself in a very positive place.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I feel the crowd will be pro Federer.Novak Has to Shut the crowd Out and stay Focus....or else it could be his undoing.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

We should add number of falls to the match stat. I expect a differential of at least 7 (Novak
falls - Fed falls) tomorrow.

 

[Front242]

who wins yall?

Picking Djokovic in three.

Saturday will be spent surgically removing his head from his arse. A quick shampoo and he will be ready to go Sunday. Roger looked great today against a fella severely lacking mobility and unable to stand up in the "moment".

I liked a fair bit of what I saw from Novak... the best that he was able to wrestle his way through his own distractions and get it done when he needed to. He could have been through in a routine three if he had stayed focused. I trust that he will remain focused tomorrow.

Hope he remains focused tomorrow too but the final is on Sunday :snigger He may not be then

 

[nehmeth]

who wins yall?

Picking Djokovic in three.

Saturday will be spent surgically removing his head from his arse. A quick shampoo and he will be ready to go Sunday. Roger looked great today against a fella severely lacking mobility and unable to stand up in the "moment".

I liked a fair bit of what I saw from Novak... the best that he was able to wrestle his way through his own distractions and get it done when he needed to. He could have been through in a routine three if he had stayed focused. I trust that he will remain focused tomorrow.

Hope he remains focused tomorrow too but the final is on Sunday :snigger He may not be then

Thanks for the heads up. It's edited.

 

[nehmeth]

Yes, definitely Nole is losing sets due to concentration lapses. If he can give one like that
to Fed, Fed can take the other two himself.

He really has to get over starting to sulk and toss his racquet way before it's time. It's a self-indulgent habit, and I've never seen it do him any good. With the crowd likely to favor Roger, Novak had better try to keep himself in a very positive place.

Novak is well aware that Centre Court will be Fed's playground. I agree with you... rather than the sulking body language, the throwing of the arms in the air, and then hitting more passive, looping shots that land in the middle of the court - it would be nice to see him set his face like stone and hammer the ball.

Hopefully tomorrow's "surgery" will help with that. :snigger

The problem behind Novak's inability to focus

 

[Front242]

^ :lolz::laydownlaughing

 

[Moxie]

^ LOL. GSM made the same mistake. We get it. Tomorrow = next match.

I've been like most, gaming the psychology between the two. But what about the tennis? Federer is better on the grass, Novak doesn't look as comfortable. As somebody said, Roger has to have a great serving day to keep the points short. Can Novak force longer points, and possibly make it about fitness?

 

[Front242]

Even if he does he may be younger but he's had a much tougher path to the final than Roger has and even Novak's fitness has come down a bit last 2 years. Roger's path couldn't have been less stressful on the body if he tried. 1 set and 1 service game dropped. He's physically in perfect nick for this final.

 

[bobvance]

I know Roger has been in good form but I feel like at this stage of their careers Novak is the favorite. I also expect Novak to be supermotivated since he hasn't won a slam this year. That aside, I'm obviously hoping Roger can have a throwback performance.

 

[Moxie]

Even if he does he may be younger but he's had a much tougher path to the final than Roger has and even Novak's fitness has come down a bit last 2 years. Roger's path couldn't have been less stressful on the body if he tried. 1 set and 1 service game dropped. He's physically in perfect nick for this final.

All is lining up for him, for sure. And I don't mean that as a knock. Everyone, and rather most vocally Fedfans, has said that he'd need an assist to get another Major title. Surely he'll never again see a silver platter served up shinier than this one. Djokovic will have to dig deep to spoil Roger's party, I think. This isn't best of 3 and it isn't IW.

 

[Haelfix]

I know Roger has been in good form but I feel like at this stage of their careers Novak is the favorite. I also expect Novak to be supermotivated since he hasn't won a slam this year. That aside, I'm obviously hoping Roger can have a throwback performance.

In 2012, I said that Federers victory over Novak might be the last time he ever beats him on grass or at a major. The primary reason he won was that he completely outcrafted and outmanipulated Djokovic in grass court tennis.

It wasn't the worldbeating grass court champion from 2003-2005 who would hit a winner almost everysingle time he had a look at a fh (or even a bh) and that could dance around the court as if it were a hardcourt.

Novak's loss was correctable in multiple areas, and the fundamentals favored him (his strokes were better, his movement was better, and crucially the career arcs were going in different directions, etc)

Well, i'm not so sure I was right. If anything Novak has been less good than his 2011-2012 form, and remarkably Federer is basically still right there.

Novak's problem in a nutshell is the following. If Roger Federer comes out hot or gets hot at some point, Novak doesn't really have a way (unlike Murray and Nadal) to cool him off, unless he plays perfect D. In terms of grass court talent, at the most fundamental level Roger is a superior player. Its really only the physicality difference that has really allowed Novak to beat him at slams in the past few years. Since the latter is somewhat neutralized on this surface, its not obvious to me that he can really play the type of D necessary to act as a cooler, or rather he needs something else to keep him in it.

If Novak can serve well enough to keep this match close, I believe that a bad tiebreaker or something like that might be enough to get into Federer's head. But its hard to say for sure.

In any event, Novak needs to come out hot and blazing to have a chance here. If Federer gets ahead as he so often does, and consequently loosens up, this match will end up like 2012 or even worse.

I think Federer in 4

 

[britbox]

Nice post Haelfix. I'm also thinking along the same lines. Federer is fresh, serving well and seems to be brimming with confidence. I'm plumping for a Fed victory in 4 also. I also think it may be the last time we see him at the champions dinner.

 

[britbox]

Even if he does he may be younger but he's had a much tougher path to the final than Roger has and even Novak's fitness has come down a bit last 2 years. Roger's path couldn't have been less stressful on the body if he tried. 1 set and 1 service game dropped. He's physically in perfect nick for this final.

All is lining up for him, for sure. And I don't mean that as a knock. Everyone, and rather most vocally Fedfans, has said that he'd need an assist to get another Major title. Surely he'll never again see a silver platter served up shinier than this one. Djokovic will have to dig deep to spoil Roger's party, I think. This isn't best of 3 and it isn't IW.

I disagree with the silver platter remark - if he wins this then he'll have gone through two major winners to do so.

Sure, he didn't have to go through Nadal but hey, that's the reality of tournament tennis. With due respect to Nick Kyrgios (who has a bright future), Rafa wasn't good enough on the day to make it beyond a guy who was knocked out in the third round of the boy's singles a year earlier.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Today, even some lame slices from Grigor got Nole out of his comfort zone. Roger's backhand slice will be a huge factor, if he can really hit them sharp with a bite, and short on the fresh part of the grass where the bounce will be low, bring Nole in involuntarily , he will hit a lot of passing shots, or at least draw some errors from Nole.

Anyone knows what the weather looks like? Roof can be a factor.

 

[Fiero425]

Today, even some lame slices from Grigor got Nole out of his comfort zone. Roger's backhand slice will be a huge factor, if he can really hit them sharp with a bite, and short on the fresh part of the grass where the bounce will be low, bring Nole in involuntarily , he will hit a lot of passing shots, or at least draw some errors from Nole.

Anyone knows what the weather looks like? Roof can be a factor.

The thing is "Baby Fed's" slice is more penetrating; hit's it and the topspin better than "Daddy!" There's a reason Roger's been Nadal's pigeon all these years; that one handed backhand doesn't scare the top echelon anymore, but it can be effective if he's hitting it well! :angel:

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Today, even some lame slices from Grigor got Nole out of his comfort zone. Roger's backhand slice will be a huge factor, if he can really hit them sharp with a bite, and short on the fresh part of the grass where the bounce will be low, bring Nole in involuntarily , he will hit a lot of passing shots, or at least draw some errors from Nole.

Anyone knows what the weather looks like? Roof can be a factor.

The thing is "Baby Fed's" slice is more penetrating; hit's it and the topspin better than "Daddy!" There's a reason Roger's been Nadal's pigeon all these years; that one handed backhand doesn't scare the top echelon anymore, but it can be effective if he's hitting it well! :angel:

I will only say I disagree with the slice thing %100 . Roger's slice has always and still is better than Grigor's.


Also, it is really getting annoying on so many levels to say Roger is handed this final.

Guys...Roger did not face Nadal to make it to the final. Because Nadal did not DESERVE to be in the semi final. He lost. When you think you are crapping on Roger's success, you are crapping on Kyrgios's biggest win of his career, than Milos's biggest achievement in a slam, and than you are saying Roger is lucky. It is unfair on so many levels. Nadal sucking early at Wimbledon, or grass overall, has got nothing to do with Roger. Roger does NOT suck on grass, early , or late. He had one accident last year, that's it.

To beat Roger, you have to deserve to get there. If not, you go to the beach...

 

[Moxie]

Even if he does he may be younger but he's had a much tougher path to the final than Roger has and even Novak's fitness has come down a bit last 2 years. Roger's path couldn't have been less stressful on the body if he tried. 1 set and 1 service game dropped. He's physically in perfect nick for this final.

All is lining up for him, for sure. And I don't mean that as a knock. Everyone, and rather most vocally Fedfans, has said that he'd need an assist to get another Major title. Surely he'll never again see a silver platter served up shinier than this one. Djokovic will have to dig deep to spoil Roger's party, I think. This isn't best of 3 and it isn't IW.

I disagree with the silver platter remark - if he wins this then he'll have gone through two major winners to do so.

Sure, he didn't have to go through Nadal but hey, that's the reality of tournament tennis. With due respect to Nick Kyrgios (who has a bright future), Rafa wasn't good enough on the day to make it beyond a guy who was knocked out in the third round of the boy's singles a year earlier.

As I said, it wasn't meant to be a knock, i.e., "cupcake" walk. (I despise and disagree with all talk of "cupcakes.") I'm just saying that there were at least as many fed fans saying that he might need an assist to win another Major. By all accounts, (read commentators), Roger's draw was genial, and then Murray and Nadal got knocked out. I'm only saying that the Fates have been kind, and Roger isn't one to pass up an opportunity. "Silver platter" is merely a turn of phrase. Roger and Rafa are both great in part because they're opportunistic. In Spring/Summer 2010, Nadal saw the other Big 4 rather wobbly and Del Potro not defending the USO. I'm absolutely sure he saw it as his Now or Never. His draw was also kind, and Murray got knocked out (both of which some folks still complain about.) But Rafa saw a silver platter and he dined out on it. Opportunistic, but it takes the chops, too. That's all I'm saying.

 

[Moxie]

Anyone knows what the weather looks like? Roof can be a factor.

So far no more than 20% chance of rain. Roof shouldn't play.