abmk
Bionic Poster
Djokovic's FH doesn't belong in that list either.
What do you truly believe about Safin/Federer at AO 2005?
- Thread starter Third Serve
- Start date
Djokovic's FH doesn't belong in that list either.
helterskelter
G.O.A.T.
The first one is the more inexplicable, as it was just a rally ball. The second one was a calculated risk that didn't pay off and probably shouldn't have been taken, but you can at least understand why he'd go for too much in an attempt to finish the match quickly.
It was very difficult position for Federer to do anything. And Federer is not a long expert either. Federer missed first serve and made decision to rush net on second serve. That's where he lost it. He made to difficult volleys but Safin' was too good making a perfect lob under pressure.
abmk
Bionic Poster
Its not like he missed the 2nd one by a bit, he missed it by quite a bit -- a wild miss.
If you hit it close to the line, you have a shot of it going in.
jasonbrown
Rookie
When you watch his matches with Federer and Nadal, and its effectiveness I think it does.
abmk
Bionic Poster
I have watched plenty of those and no, it doesn't. If you argue that way, then watch some of the Fed-Nalby or the 1st 3 matches of Nalby-Nadal and tell me how he doesn't more than hold his own with his FH.
Fed's FH before 2013 almost always got the better of Djokovic FH when fed was playing well enough - had Djokovic on the backfoot.
Nadal's FH is also a clearly bigger weapon AND more consistent, when playing well.
beltsman
G.O.A.T.
Fed and Safin were lucky Bull wasn't fit for that tournament. He would have beaten either. Match is overrated because of highlights but neither player could properly rally and play real tennis l. They just servebotted and hit hot shots. Santoro vs kyrgios essentially. Not that great except the names are different.
Tsonga 2008 wouldn't have beaten both too. Easily.
Tsonga 2008 wouldn't have beaten both too. Easily.
jasonbrown
Rookie
I dont think Nadal would be a pathetic 7-19 vs Djokovic lifetime on hard courts considering their matches are almost exclusively baseline duels, and when Nadal was probably a slightly better defender most of their careers, if Djokovic's forehand was that far inferior to Nadal's. I dont think Djokovic is on top of that group at all, just that I put him in it, or atleast on the main topic his forehand is definitely better than Nalbandian's. I think nearly everyone would agree with me on that point.
racquetreligion
Hall of Fame
Fed did not choke, he was in full arrogant mode from start till the end when he knew he was the best
Safin was not thinking about banging those 2 girls he just picked up and for his usual dual and
hit hard like Birdick flat and low but better mobility, hunger and serving was monstrous.
Hewitt was relishing to play Safin rather than Fed who would have triple breadsticked him.
Safin was not thinking about banging those 2 girls he just picked up and for his usual dual and
hit hard like Birdick flat and low but better mobility, hunger and serving was monstrous.
Hewitt was relishing to play Safin rather than Fed who would have triple breadsticked him.
George Turner
Hall of Fame
GOAT Safin vs Ultron
Raining hopes
Hall of Fame
That might just change my view of this match.
Standaa
G.O.A.T.
Sorry for responding late, forgot that I wanted to reply to this.
I feel like an unforced error from the forehands were still not as bas as intentionally picking the riskier shot to return a ball.
No one can tell me the tweener was the best decision in order to win that point. Tweener is a shot with a little success rate which takes a lot of time to set up and is extremely difficult to execute. Even if he didn’t hit it into the net, it was a slow ball right onto Safin’s racquet.
And he took a lot of time to prepare for the shot so it’s not like there was little time to retireve the ball. So there must have been at least a slight motivation to finish the match in style for the viewers. A lob would have been a safer option.
The forehands on MPs in the Rome final were a wide by a lot, true, but the intention behind them was certainly better.
abmk
Bionic Poster
I disagree. I think Safin would've gotten back the lob most probably. Fed's fault/problem in that point was not the tweener as much as him deciding to SnV on 2nd serve IMO.
Even if you think the tweener was worse, 2 missed FHs on 2 MPs in Rome 2006 final were certainly bad and you cannot say Fed did anything wrong there.
abmk
Bionic Poster
yeah, its serve+return. Djoko's is better on both counts. More of those HC matches were played with Nadal out of form/out of prime rather than other way around.
Also, Nadal lead Djokovic something like 11-3, 12-3 on clay till 2013 end.
Djokovic's FH is better than Nalby's, but it doesn't belong to the Fed/Nadal tier or the top tier.
Standaa
G.O.A.T.
Yes, but I meant tactically. Here we have two tactical mistakes by Fed in the AO 05 SF match already - the tweener and the SnV on the second serve. I don’t think he committed any such tactical errors in the Nadal match (although it’s been a long time no see for me, I could be wrong). I don’t think the two FH unforced errors were necessarily tactical mistakes , wanting to hit through Rafa was a good decision IMO, it was just poorly executed.
I don't think Fed let his guard down. Safin was lucky to survive the tiebreaker match point, but the fifth set was all Safin... And Federer had no answer to the power. Amazing to see.
D
Deleted member 77403
Guest
The mighty fan?
D
Deleted member 748597
Guest
Fed was old.
Druss
Hall of Fame
We’re talking about 2005 not 2015!
D
Deleted member 748597
Guest
Yeah, he was old.
tennis_pro
Bionic Poster
Federer was too good until MP, then he was too bad.
