Any other Federer fans not like Djokovic because it seems he always plays up to Federer but down to other opponents?

[McEnroeisanartist]

Any other Federer fans not like Djokovic because it seems he always plays up to Federer but down to other opponents?

Defeats Federer at 2008 and 2011 Australian Open in straight sets - in the two years between loses to Roddick and Tsonga

Defeats Federer in epic 2014 Wimbledon final, loses US Open semifinal later that summer to Nishikori

Hasn't lost to Federer at a Grand Slam since 2012 Wimbledon. Since then Djokovic has lost twice to Murray and four times to Wawrinka.

 

[Nadal_Django]

Something about Federer that triggers him deeply inside.

 

[NatF]

It is quite frustrating but also a compliment to the old geezer I guess.

 

[40-15 still haunts me]

Probably because Djokovic doesn’t have the universal acclaim and respect from fellow pros that Roger has and it makes him play better to sort of prove a point

 

[Federer and Del Potro]

No because I've seen Djokovic be clutch against far more people than just Federer. Look at him on the big points vs Ned at this past French Open, 2018 Wimbledon, etc.

He's just a machine.

 

[Sephiroth]

He takes it personal vs Roger + crowd

 

[GabeT]

He just beat Nadal at Chartrier, with a virtual bagel to boot

 

[Kralingen]

Well he also has played Federer 50 times which is by far the all time most matches Federer has played vs. an opponent.

Matchups and especially matchup experience matter so much in these fine margin matches (also a reason why I find hypothetical matchups to be mostly BS, the experience factor is very important) - and Djokovic's defensive style especially improved over time vs. Roger.

I think part of the reason why Djokovic is such a difficult opponent is that he's one of like 3 players who has been able to read Federer's serve consistently. That doesn't happen overnight. So it's not like he's magically raising his level, he just takes the matchup extremely seriously and got better with experience.

 

[Krish872007]

Of all the reasons to dislike Djokovic, this is probably the funniest one

It's not like his top level is reserved for Fred only; Nadal, Muzziah, Bendych, etc. All been on the receiving end...

 

[Sunny014]

Something about Federer that triggers him deeply inside.

Old age.

Thats what triggers him

Apart from that, to some extent Djokovic knows that to take down the emperor you have to beat the emperor.

To bring down Federer's empire he has to break Federer's records.

 

[Deleted member 762343]

Is it really a valid reason to dislike him ?

 

[Tony48]

Well I'm certainly not a Federer fan but I have taken notice of this. It's the only thing that I credit Federer for: he seems to give equal urgency to all players, not just his main rivals. Djokovic's ears go up mainly for Federer (and Nadal), and he seems to get complacent with everyone else (which explains his inexplicable losses over the years).

 

[ABCD]

Something about Federer that triggers him deeply inside.

It is difficult to understand what it could be?

 

[T007]

Well he also has played Federer 50 times which is by far the all time most matches Federer has played vs. an opponent.

Matchups and especially matchup experience matter so much in these fine margin matches (also a reason why I find hypothetical matchups to be mostly BS, the experience factor is very important) - and Djokovic's defensive style especially improved over time vs. Roger.

I think part of the reason why Djokovic is such a difficult opponent is that he's one of like 3 players who has been able to read Federer's serve consistently. That doesn't happen overnight. So it's not like he's magically raising his level, he just takes the matchup extremely seriously and got better with experience.

But djokovics weakness against Federer is his return. At wimbledon 2019 he broke Federer for the first time in tale end of 4th set and overall won less return points than Federer.

At big points he goes clutch returning well but very often he struggles to break Federers serve. That is why Federer has won more starightforward matches and Djokovic won the most close encounters.

 

[Rafa4LifeEver]

Any other Federer fans not like Djokovic because it seems he always plays up to Federer but down to other opponents?

Defeats Federer at 2008 and 2011 Australian Open in straight sets - in the two years between loses to Roddick and Tsonga

Defeats Federer in epic 2014 Wimbledon final, loses US Open semifinal later that summer to Nishikori

Hasn't lost to Federer at a Grand Slam since 2012 Wimbledon. Since then Djokovic has lost twice to Murray and four times to Wawrinka.

Not his fault that federer faulters on every single important point.

 

[Deleted member 771911]

The best players raise your game.
Btw, when did this place get so obsessed with Nole?

 

[paolo2143]

Well he also has played Federer 50 times which is by far the all time most matches Federer has played vs. an opponent.

Matchups and especially matchup experience matter so much in these fine margin matches (also a reason why I find hypothetical matchups to be mostly BS, the experience factor is very important) - and Djokovic's defensive style especially improved over time vs. Roger.

I think part of the reason why Djokovic is such a difficult opponent is that he's one of like 3 players who has been able to read Federer's serve consistently. That doesn't happen overnight. So it's not like he's magically raising his level, he just takes the matchup extremely seriously and got better with experience.

That was one of the reasons Roger gave him so much trouble at Wimbledon in 2019 final as for once Novak couldn't read Roger's serve at all and Roger was serving out of his skin up until the famous 40-15 incident.

 

[Kralingen]

But djokovics weakness against Federer is his return. At wimbledon 2019 he broke Federer for the first time in tale end of 4th set and overall won less return points than Federer.

At big points he goes clutch returning well but very often he struggles to break Federers serve. That is why Federer has won more starightforward matches and Djokovic won the most close encounters.

That's just one match though. Wimby 2014/15 he broke Federer a few times and critically in TBs he reads serve extremely well. Djokovic's ability to consistently force Roger to Deuce on service games and rack up BPs is unmatched, aside from obviously young Nadal. Nadal is an excellent illustration of my point, late career Federer changed up his tactics and is undefeated against Nadal in over 6 years: despite having movement declining and less power his revamped BH and better strategy allowed him to turn around the H2H record post- 2013.

The other big one with Djokovic is he can redirect Federer's injections of pace very well and in ways his retriever mode baseline game works better against Federer, as he can be a counterpuncher rather than press and make mistakes.

The obvious difference between post 2012 Fedovic and pre-2012 is Federer's movement declining and misses on big points. But there are inner struggles within these matches behind the results that started to favor Djokovic especially on slower courts.

 

[wang07]

At some point it was really frustrating and I get your point. Just felt like the guy was ALWAYS there to deny Fed. There are many examples, I vividly remember how annoyed I was at 2016 AO - survives one of his worst-ever AO matches against Seppi (the infamous 100 unforced errors match IIRC), only a week later he plays one of the best matches of his life against Fed. Not to mention 2015 W-USO sequence and then a year later when Fed was out Djokovic was losing to Querrey and Waw lol. Back then it was like whenever Fed had a chance to win a Slam he just always ran into peaking Djoker.

But then again I think it's just what makes Djokovic exceptionally great: he did this so many times and against other great opponents as well, when it really mattered. Murray suffered the most by this.

 

[BeatlesFan]

I don't like Djokovic primarily because he takes too long between points. I dislike that about Rafa as well. If Djokovic ups his game against Federer, then Roger should have figured out how to counter it after all these years. I don't understand how a Fed fan can blame Djokovic for beating him in many big matches, that's Roger's responsibility to up his physical or mental game.

 

[T007]

That's just one match though. Wimby 2014/15 he broke Federer a few times and critically in TBs he reads serve extremely well. Djokovic's ability to consistently force Roger to Deuce on service games and rack up BPs is unmatched, aside from obviously young Nadal. Nadal is an excellent illustration of my point, late career Federer changed up his tactics and is undefeated against Nadal in over 6 years: despite having movement declining and less power his revamped BH and better strategy allowed him to turn around the H2H record post- 2013.

The other big one with Djokovic is he can redirect Federer's injections of pace very well and in ways his retriever mode baseline game works better against Federer, as he can be a counterpuncher rather than press and make mistakes.

The obvious difference between post 2012 Fedovic and pre-2012 is Federer's movement declining and misses on big points. But there are inner struggles within these matches behind the results that started to favor Djokovic especially on slower courts.

In their last 5 matches he is able to break roger 8 times where as Federer broke him 14 times. If you look at their match ups Federer has won more decisive sets like 6-1/6-2/6-3 while djokovic has been able to win more closer ones 7-5 7-6. Federer in his early years used to be clutch snatching those tight sets but at present he lost 6 TBs in a row to djokovic given how great TB player he is.

Its just mental block against djokovic after losing so many close matches which he should have won and nothing more weaker than that federer has to improve to beat djoker. Because his game style is the perfect kryptonite for Djoker.

 

[daphne]

Something about Federer that triggers him deeply inside.

It's his inner Srdjan telling him to kick arse.

 

[TheNachoMan]

Something about Federer that triggers him deeply inside.

It’s the elitist crowds. They fuel him

 

[Kralingen]

Because his game style is the perfect kryptonite for Djoker.

The one thing I am certain about is that Djokovic has always been a bad matchup for Federer and Federer always a bad matchup for Djokovic.

There are ebbs and flows and new tactics both use within the rivalry. Federer's performance against his Big 3 rivals since turning 33 or so has been exemplary as well, which I think shows the value of experience and tactical tweaks.

 

[duaneeo]

Any other Federer fans not like Djokovic because it seems he always plays up to Federer but down to other opponents?

I'm happy about this. Imagine how many slams Djokovic would have if he didn't play down to other opponents (1-4 vs Wawrinka at the slams since 2014; 2-7 vs Nadal at Roland Garros).

 

[SonnyT]

Djokovic considers Murray and Wawrinka his personal friends. I used to hate it when he faced friends and practice partners in real Slam matches. He practiced with Cechinnato, just before losing to him at '18 RG. He practiced with Mussetti, just before having to go 5 with him at '21 RG.

Outside of RG, Nadal didn't have that much Slam success against Djokovic either. Since 2011, Nadal only has one non-clay Slam win, at '13 USO.