Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer 6-7(7), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 in the US Open semi-final, 2011 on hard court
Djokovic would go onto beat Rafael Nadal in the final to claim his first US Open title and 3rd Slam of the year
Djokovic won 161 points, Federer 143
Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (82/140) 59%
- 1st serve points won (68/82) 83%
- 2nd serve points won (32/58) 55%
- Aces 9 (1 second serve & 1 not clean), Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 6
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (41/140) 29%
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (101/164) 62%
- 1st serve points won (68/101) 67%
- 2nd serve points won (35/63) 56%
- Aces 11, Service Winners 2
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (48/164) 29%
Serve Pattern
Djokovic served...
- to FH 43%
- to BH 54%
- to Body 2%
Federer served...
- to FH 44%
- to BH 49%
- to Body 8%
Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 112 (50 FH, 62 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 2 Winners (2 FH)
- 35 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (2 FH, 4 BH)
- 29 Forced (20 FH, 9 BH)
- Return Rate (112/160) 70%
Federer made...
- 93 (38 FH, 55 BH), including 3 runaround FHs & 1 return-approach
- 2 Winners (2 FH), including 1 runaround FH
- 31 Errors, comprising...
- 8 Unforced (6 FH, 2 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 23 Forced (13 FH, 10 BH)
- Return Rate (93/134) 69%
Break Points
Djokovic 6/12 (7 games)
Federer 3/5 (3 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Djokovic 34 (19 FH, 11 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
Federer 35 (25 FH, 4 BH, 1 FHV, 5 OH)
Djokovic's FHs - 6 cc (2 returns), 1 dtl, 7 inside-out (1 at net), 2 inside-in, 1 longline/inside-out, 1 longline/cc and 1 inside-out/longline pass
- BHs - 3 cc (1 pass), 2 dtl, 3 inside-out, 2 inside-out/dtl and 1 inside-out drop shot
Federer's FHs - 6 cc, 1 dtl, 11 inside-out (2 passes, 1 return), 3 inside-in (1 return), 2 longline and 2 inside-out/dtl
- BHs - 1 cc and 3 dtl
- the FHV was a swinging shot and 1 OH was hit between service line and baseline and not a net point
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Djokovic 54
- 30 Unforced (17 FH, 13 BH)
- 24 Forced (10 FH, 14 BH)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46
Federer 82
- 58 Unforced (32 FH, 26 BH)
- 24 Forced (13 FH, 8 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.3
(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)
(Note 2: The 'Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is a measure of how aggressive of intent the average UE made was. 60 is maximum, 20 is minimum. This match has been scored using a four point scale - 2 defensive, 4 neutral, 5 attacking, 6 winner attempt)
Net Points & Serve-Volley
Djokovic was...
- 11/14 (79%) at net
Federer was...
- 14/21 (67%) at net, including...
- 2/2 serve-volleying, comprising...
- 1/1 off 1st serve and..
- 1/1 off 2nd serve
--
- 0/1 return-approaching
- 1/1 forced back
Match Report
The best match I've seen between the two. Going down to the wire and with Federer having two match points on his serve, the match could have gone either way, but the end result is probably most appropriate. Djokovic is clearly the better player overall (naturally, given the scorelines on the sets each player won) and probably edges it broken down by set
If the match is best remembered for Federer throwing away a win by failing to serve out the match and having 2 match points at 40-15 (just like Wimbledon 2019), its even more the case that that is a gross simplification. Djokovic had given away the break to love the game previously with a double fault and 2 unforced errors. He hadn't faced break point in his last 13 service games (having lost all of 14 points in those games), and the only time he'd been behind in any of the those games was 0-15 - once.
And then he's broken to 0 the way that he was. A far worse 'choke' than what Federer (who had been broken twice in the match despite making 6/6 first serves) did. Furthermore, Federer reached 40-15 on the back of Djokovic missing 2 second serve returns (he was more apt to put a first serve return at Federer's feet than miss a second throughout the match)... ignore dramatic soundbite summaries of Federer choking to lose the match. If he'd won, you could have said Djokovic choked - as is, Djokovic choked a lot worse than Federer did to get into a hole in the first place, choke cancels out choke... and the better player wins
The playing dynamics are such that its surprising that the match is as close as it is. Djokovic has a significant advantage on the serve-return complex (Fed slight edge on serve, Djoko bigger one on return) and a sizable one in play
Serve & Return
The improvements in Djokovic's serve from a year ago are easy to see. the unreturned serve counts are effectively equal (Djoko 29.29%, Federer 29.27%), which isn't unusual. It isn't even unusual for Djokovic to lead in this area - he did at both hard court matches between the pair earlier in the year (in Dubai on a fast court and Indian Wells on a slow one)… but usually, this is largely due to his returning better (to the point of Federer returning not well)
There are elements of that at play here too, but its more about the quality of Djokovic's serve itself. I'd say its in the same league as Federer's in this match, though not as good. And Federer serves well
Djokovic does take risk in his serving pattern. Note his serving 43% to FH and 54% to BH. Typically, that ratio is about 40/60... and its also the obvious way to go (you don't need number analysis to tell Federer has a far stronger FH return to BH)… why the change?
a) It has its up side. Note Federer with 13 FH return FEs to 10 BH (also 5 FH UEs to 2 BH, not counting 1 runaround FH miss)… Roger Federer, like Djokovic himself, is showing himself to be more consistent in getting the BH return in play. In other words, Djokovic gets himself more cheap points serving to Federer's FH than BH. The price of that is...
b) the FH returns Federer makes are stronger than the BHs - both in general and in this match. So the trade off for Djokovic is getting more cheap points for starting rallies on serve in a less strong position. (Should be added that Fed returns better off the BH than usual too... slices less, comes over more)
This choice by Djokovic probably shapes Federer having more chances returning than usual. By chances, I don't mean break points (Fed only has them in just 3 games - all of which he wins), but in play. Less smothery, beat-down dynamic, more open court with shot making opportunities stuff than usual which suits Federer
A risky move from Djokovic, probably indicating his confidence of beating Federer anyway in any dynamic. There's a thin line between 'confidence' and 'foolhardiness' (in this match, it's 1 point - twice over to be exact... can't get any finer). I didn't think it was a good move. He seems to know he's playing with fire (or at least, not splashing around in water) with the ploy because in the tiebreak, he reverses the pattern (had served 17/10 in the set, but does so 1/6 in the tiebreak)… not that it ends up making a difference in that instance. But the smart play is almost always serving to Federer's BH - as it is with most players - Djoko does so more and more as the match wears on... good change to a not great starting plan
The Federer serve vs Djokovic return is more interesting stuff... a great serve vs an even greater return on a fast-ish court. For the first set, Fed's serve is too much for Djok, round about the second set, the Serb starts returning more surely and by the third, seems to be reading the serve as well as I've seen him (he usually doesn't seem to be reading it much)… and both first and second serves come back to Federer deep down the middle. Both in set 2 and set 4, Federer is broken to 30 in games he made all 6 first serves.... this is the type of thing that just doesn't happen to Roger Federer against anyone else
The usual patterns for this battle is Federer serving predominantly to the FH. Uncommon, but previous matches have shown it to be the best play (Djok less consistent with FH returns and about equally damaging). He tones that down in this match (44% to FH, 49% to BH). And look at the return errors he forces - 20 FH to 9 BH... he should have gone to the FH more. Like Djokovic, despite deviating form his norm, Federer does tend to go to the FH at important junctures. There's at least one exception
The sole break in set 3 sees Federer direct just 3 serves to the FH out of 15 (and 1 double fault), repeatedly throwing out kickers out wide in the ad court (once, even with a first serve). Even with imperfect serving directions, the serves aren't easy to cope with... credit to Djokovic for doing so, but I thought Fed erred in his serving patterns also
Which brings us to the return everyone remembers. Match point down at 40-15, Djokovic swats a regulation first serve out wide to his FH crosscourt for a blinding winner. In real time, I remember thinking it was a wild, desperate, nothing-to-lose shot. Re-watching it, only the nothing-to-lose part still seems to stand. Like Djoko himself, Fed had adjusted his serving patterns as the match wore on and in the second half, was directing every important serve to the FH... I think Djoko knew the serve was coming and premediated this is how he'd go after it. He'd nailed a virtually identical shot earlier in the match. And Federer had served an identical serve at the identical score on set point in the 2nd set (it went unreturned). Serve wasn't great... but Djoko was ready for it and pulled off the low percentage strike, all credit to him for it
Djokovic would go onto beat Rafael Nadal in the final to claim his first US Open title and 3rd Slam of the year
Djokovic won 161 points, Federer 143
Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (82/140) 59%
- 1st serve points won (68/82) 83%
- 2nd serve points won (32/58) 55%
- Aces 9 (1 second serve & 1 not clean), Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 6
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (41/140) 29%
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (101/164) 62%
- 1st serve points won (68/101) 67%
- 2nd serve points won (35/63) 56%
- Aces 11, Service Winners 2
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (48/164) 29%
Serve Pattern
Djokovic served...
- to FH 43%
- to BH 54%
- to Body 2%
Federer served...
- to FH 44%
- to BH 49%
- to Body 8%
Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 112 (50 FH, 62 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 2 Winners (2 FH)
- 35 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (2 FH, 4 BH)
- 29 Forced (20 FH, 9 BH)
- Return Rate (112/160) 70%
Federer made...
- 93 (38 FH, 55 BH), including 3 runaround FHs & 1 return-approach
- 2 Winners (2 FH), including 1 runaround FH
- 31 Errors, comprising...
- 8 Unforced (6 FH, 2 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 23 Forced (13 FH, 10 BH)
- Return Rate (93/134) 69%
Break Points
Djokovic 6/12 (7 games)
Federer 3/5 (3 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Djokovic 34 (19 FH, 11 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
Federer 35 (25 FH, 4 BH, 1 FHV, 5 OH)
Djokovic's FHs - 6 cc (2 returns), 1 dtl, 7 inside-out (1 at net), 2 inside-in, 1 longline/inside-out, 1 longline/cc and 1 inside-out/longline pass
- BHs - 3 cc (1 pass), 2 dtl, 3 inside-out, 2 inside-out/dtl and 1 inside-out drop shot
Federer's FHs - 6 cc, 1 dtl, 11 inside-out (2 passes, 1 return), 3 inside-in (1 return), 2 longline and 2 inside-out/dtl
- BHs - 1 cc and 3 dtl
- the FHV was a swinging shot and 1 OH was hit between service line and baseline and not a net point
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Djokovic 54
- 30 Unforced (17 FH, 13 BH)
- 24 Forced (10 FH, 14 BH)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46
Federer 82
- 58 Unforced (32 FH, 26 BH)
- 24 Forced (13 FH, 8 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.3
(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)
(Note 2: The 'Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is a measure of how aggressive of intent the average UE made was. 60 is maximum, 20 is minimum. This match has been scored using a four point scale - 2 defensive, 4 neutral, 5 attacking, 6 winner attempt)
Net Points & Serve-Volley
Djokovic was...
- 11/14 (79%) at net
Federer was...
- 14/21 (67%) at net, including...
- 2/2 serve-volleying, comprising...
- 1/1 off 1st serve and..
- 1/1 off 2nd serve
--
- 0/1 return-approaching
- 1/1 forced back
Match Report
The best match I've seen between the two. Going down to the wire and with Federer having two match points on his serve, the match could have gone either way, but the end result is probably most appropriate. Djokovic is clearly the better player overall (naturally, given the scorelines on the sets each player won) and probably edges it broken down by set
If the match is best remembered for Federer throwing away a win by failing to serve out the match and having 2 match points at 40-15 (just like Wimbledon 2019), its even more the case that that is a gross simplification. Djokovic had given away the break to love the game previously with a double fault and 2 unforced errors. He hadn't faced break point in his last 13 service games (having lost all of 14 points in those games), and the only time he'd been behind in any of the those games was 0-15 - once.
And then he's broken to 0 the way that he was. A far worse 'choke' than what Federer (who had been broken twice in the match despite making 6/6 first serves) did. Furthermore, Federer reached 40-15 on the back of Djokovic missing 2 second serve returns (he was more apt to put a first serve return at Federer's feet than miss a second throughout the match)... ignore dramatic soundbite summaries of Federer choking to lose the match. If he'd won, you could have said Djokovic choked - as is, Djokovic choked a lot worse than Federer did to get into a hole in the first place, choke cancels out choke... and the better player wins
The playing dynamics are such that its surprising that the match is as close as it is. Djokovic has a significant advantage on the serve-return complex (Fed slight edge on serve, Djoko bigger one on return) and a sizable one in play
Serve & Return
The improvements in Djokovic's serve from a year ago are easy to see. the unreturned serve counts are effectively equal (Djoko 29.29%, Federer 29.27%), which isn't unusual. It isn't even unusual for Djokovic to lead in this area - he did at both hard court matches between the pair earlier in the year (in Dubai on a fast court and Indian Wells on a slow one)… but usually, this is largely due to his returning better (to the point of Federer returning not well)
There are elements of that at play here too, but its more about the quality of Djokovic's serve itself. I'd say its in the same league as Federer's in this match, though not as good. And Federer serves well
Djokovic does take risk in his serving pattern. Note his serving 43% to FH and 54% to BH. Typically, that ratio is about 40/60... and its also the obvious way to go (you don't need number analysis to tell Federer has a far stronger FH return to BH)… why the change?
a) It has its up side. Note Federer with 13 FH return FEs to 10 BH (also 5 FH UEs to 2 BH, not counting 1 runaround FH miss)… Roger Federer, like Djokovic himself, is showing himself to be more consistent in getting the BH return in play. In other words, Djokovic gets himself more cheap points serving to Federer's FH than BH. The price of that is...
b) the FH returns Federer makes are stronger than the BHs - both in general and in this match. So the trade off for Djokovic is getting more cheap points for starting rallies on serve in a less strong position. (Should be added that Fed returns better off the BH than usual too... slices less, comes over more)
This choice by Djokovic probably shapes Federer having more chances returning than usual. By chances, I don't mean break points (Fed only has them in just 3 games - all of which he wins), but in play. Less smothery, beat-down dynamic, more open court with shot making opportunities stuff than usual which suits Federer
A risky move from Djokovic, probably indicating his confidence of beating Federer anyway in any dynamic. There's a thin line between 'confidence' and 'foolhardiness' (in this match, it's 1 point - twice over to be exact... can't get any finer). I didn't think it was a good move. He seems to know he's playing with fire (or at least, not splashing around in water) with the ploy because in the tiebreak, he reverses the pattern (had served 17/10 in the set, but does so 1/6 in the tiebreak)… not that it ends up making a difference in that instance. But the smart play is almost always serving to Federer's BH - as it is with most players - Djoko does so more and more as the match wears on... good change to a not great starting plan
The Federer serve vs Djokovic return is more interesting stuff... a great serve vs an even greater return on a fast-ish court. For the first set, Fed's serve is too much for Djok, round about the second set, the Serb starts returning more surely and by the third, seems to be reading the serve as well as I've seen him (he usually doesn't seem to be reading it much)… and both first and second serves come back to Federer deep down the middle. Both in set 2 and set 4, Federer is broken to 30 in games he made all 6 first serves.... this is the type of thing that just doesn't happen to Roger Federer against anyone else
The usual patterns for this battle is Federer serving predominantly to the FH. Uncommon, but previous matches have shown it to be the best play (Djok less consistent with FH returns and about equally damaging). He tones that down in this match (44% to FH, 49% to BH). And look at the return errors he forces - 20 FH to 9 BH... he should have gone to the FH more. Like Djokovic, despite deviating form his norm, Federer does tend to go to the FH at important junctures. There's at least one exception
The sole break in set 3 sees Federer direct just 3 serves to the FH out of 15 (and 1 double fault), repeatedly throwing out kickers out wide in the ad court (once, even with a first serve). Even with imperfect serving directions, the serves aren't easy to cope with... credit to Djokovic for doing so, but I thought Fed erred in his serving patterns also
Which brings us to the return everyone remembers. Match point down at 40-15, Djokovic swats a regulation first serve out wide to his FH crosscourt for a blinding winner. In real time, I remember thinking it was a wild, desperate, nothing-to-lose shot. Re-watching it, only the nothing-to-lose part still seems to stand. Like Djoko himself, Fed had adjusted his serving patterns as the match wore on and in the second half, was directing every important serve to the FH... I think Djoko knew the serve was coming and premediated this is how he'd go after it. He'd nailed a virtually identical shot earlier in the match. And Federer had served an identical serve at the identical score on set point in the 2nd set (it went unreturned). Serve wasn't great... but Djoko was ready for it and pulled off the low percentage strike, all credit to him for it
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