Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer 6-2, 7-6(4) in the Rome semi-final, 2012 on clay
Djokovic was the defending champion but would go onto lose the final to Rafael Nadal
Djokovic won 71 points, Federer 60
Serve Stats
Djokovic....
- 1st serve percentage (38/66) 58%
- 1st serve points won (31/38) 82%
- 2nd serve points won (16/28) 57%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (15/66) 23%
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (32/65) 49%
- 1st serve points won (25/32) 78%
- 2nd serve points won (16/33) 48%
- Aces 6
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (17/65) 26%
Serve Pattern
Djokovic served...
- to FH 29%
- to BH 71%
Federer served...
- to FH 34%
- to BH 66%
Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 48 (14 FH, 34 BH), including 2 return-approaches
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 11 Errors, comprising...
- 3 Unforced (3 BH)
- 8 Forced (5 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (48/65) 74%
Federer made...
- 50 (16 FH, 34 BH), including 1 runaround FH and 1 return-approach
- 14 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (6 BH)
- 8 Forced (3 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (50/65) 77%
Break Points
Djokovic 3/6 (4 games)
Federer 1/1
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Djokovic 12 (9 FH, 3 BH)
Federer 16 (10 FH, 2 BH, 3 FHV, 1 OH)
Djokovic's FHs - 3 cc, 1 dtl, 2 inside-out and 3 inside-in (1 return)
- BHs - 1 dtl and 2 dtl/inside-out
Federer's FHs - 3 cc, 6 inside-out and 1 dtl/inside-out
- BHs - 1 dtl and 1 inside-out
- the OH was off a return-approach point
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Djokovic 26
- 13 Unforced (5 FH, 7 BH, 1 BHV)
- 13 Forced (5 FH, 7 BH, 1 Tweener)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.5
Federer 44
- 35 Unforced (17 FH, 17 BH, 1 FHV)
- 9 Forced (6 FH, 3 BH)
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...
- 2/4 at net, with...
- 0/2 return-approaching
- 0/1 forced back
Federer was...
- 7/8 (88%) at net, including...
- 1/2 serve-volleying, both first serves (1 delayed)
---
- 1/1 return-approaching
Match Report
Superb from Djokovic, poor from Federer. The keys are Federer's low first serve percentage and inconsistency off the ground
Serve percentage often doesn't matter much on clay, but here, it clearly does..... Djoko wins 82% first serve points to 57% second serve, while Federer wins 78% first serve points and 48% second.... The court looks quick for clay
And Federer only manages to serve at 49% (Djoko 58%)… this isn't good for Federer
The key to playing dynamics, as is usually the case on clay, is frequency of errors. Fed is poor in making 35 unforced errors (Djokovic just 13)
Djokovic is well nigh flawless in the first set. In neutral rallying situations, his regulation groundies are deep (and powerful), not placed particularly far away from Fed and very consistent. He barely misses a ball. Anything hit back not strongly (as opposed to weakly) by Federer, Djoko amps up the aggression, stepping up and hitting even more deeply and powerfully - without looking like he's attacking and while maintaining his low error rate. And Fed struggles with these
Federer typically looks to use finer angles to attack and open the court.... and here Djoko shines even more. Not only does he get these moderately attacking shots he has to run down back, but he gets them back almost as deeply and powerfully as his regulation shots. Most of these would have been marked forced error if Djoko missed.... and such balls usually come back at best, neutrally and usually weakly
And this puts Fed in the same position he finds himself in neutral situations. The only way he can maintain control is when he has a strong positional advantage... and even then, Djoko gets more balls back then one might expect and forces Fed to hit one or two more shots.
Fed's FH errors tend to be attacking shots (though he doesn't react to Djoko's great defence by going for too much on attacking shots), while his BH errors tend to be neutral shots
Second set is a bit more mundance. Djoko is 'just' very consistent, without the added layer of tremendous on defence. Fed though, starts making more and more regulation errors in neutral rallies, even off the FH. Djoko holds easily, Fed is pushed on serve. Inevitably, Djoko breaks and steps up to serve out the match. At that stage, he'd won 24/25 first serve points(!)
Fed however, wakes up and against the run of play, breaks back. For the next 3 games, he hangs even with Djoko from the baseline (not making errors wise) and the rallies are longer
Tiebreak though sees him return to normal. The first point is a gruelling 20+ shot rally, ending with a Federer FH error. And that's the only mini-break in the game. Fed does make 3 more errors in the game (all on Djoko's service points)
Summing up, good-to-great from Djoko (its hard to be great all out when the opponent is playing as badly as Fed does), poorly error strewn from Fed. All in all, I would still credit Djoko more than discredit Fed.... especially in the first set, the Serb is first class
I would think Fed would have looked to come to net more when they met again at the next tournament, the French Open as that's where he'd been most successful (7/8 points won) and how he'd been outmatched from the baseline. Instead...
Djokovic was the defending champion but would go onto lose the final to Rafael Nadal
Djokovic won 71 points, Federer 60
Serve Stats
Djokovic....
- 1st serve percentage (38/66) 58%
- 1st serve points won (31/38) 82%
- 2nd serve points won (16/28) 57%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (15/66) 23%
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (32/65) 49%
- 1st serve points won (25/32) 78%
- 2nd serve points won (16/33) 48%
- Aces 6
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (17/65) 26%
Serve Pattern
Djokovic served...
- to FH 29%
- to BH 71%
Federer served...
- to FH 34%
- to BH 66%
Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 48 (14 FH, 34 BH), including 2 return-approaches
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 11 Errors, comprising...
- 3 Unforced (3 BH)
- 8 Forced (5 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (48/65) 74%
Federer made...
- 50 (16 FH, 34 BH), including 1 runaround FH and 1 return-approach
- 14 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (6 BH)
- 8 Forced (3 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (50/65) 77%
Break Points
Djokovic 3/6 (4 games)
Federer 1/1
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Djokovic 12 (9 FH, 3 BH)
Federer 16 (10 FH, 2 BH, 3 FHV, 1 OH)
Djokovic's FHs - 3 cc, 1 dtl, 2 inside-out and 3 inside-in (1 return)
- BHs - 1 dtl and 2 dtl/inside-out
Federer's FHs - 3 cc, 6 inside-out and 1 dtl/inside-out
- BHs - 1 dtl and 1 inside-out
- the OH was off a return-approach point
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Djokovic 26
- 13 Unforced (5 FH, 7 BH, 1 BHV)
- 13 Forced (5 FH, 7 BH, 1 Tweener)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.5
Federer 44
- 35 Unforced (17 FH, 17 BH, 1 FHV)
- 9 Forced (6 FH, 3 BH)
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...
- 2/4 at net, with...
- 0/2 return-approaching
- 0/1 forced back
Federer was...
- 7/8 (88%) at net, including...
- 1/2 serve-volleying, both first serves (1 delayed)
---
- 1/1 return-approaching
Match Report
Superb from Djokovic, poor from Federer. The keys are Federer's low first serve percentage and inconsistency off the ground
Serve percentage often doesn't matter much on clay, but here, it clearly does..... Djoko wins 82% first serve points to 57% second serve, while Federer wins 78% first serve points and 48% second.... The court looks quick for clay
And Federer only manages to serve at 49% (Djoko 58%)… this isn't good for Federer
The key to playing dynamics, as is usually the case on clay, is frequency of errors. Fed is poor in making 35 unforced errors (Djokovic just 13)
Djokovic is well nigh flawless in the first set. In neutral rallying situations, his regulation groundies are deep (and powerful), not placed particularly far away from Fed and very consistent. He barely misses a ball. Anything hit back not strongly (as opposed to weakly) by Federer, Djoko amps up the aggression, stepping up and hitting even more deeply and powerfully - without looking like he's attacking and while maintaining his low error rate. And Fed struggles with these
Federer typically looks to use finer angles to attack and open the court.... and here Djoko shines even more. Not only does he get these moderately attacking shots he has to run down back, but he gets them back almost as deeply and powerfully as his regulation shots. Most of these would have been marked forced error if Djoko missed.... and such balls usually come back at best, neutrally and usually weakly
And this puts Fed in the same position he finds himself in neutral situations. The only way he can maintain control is when he has a strong positional advantage... and even then, Djoko gets more balls back then one might expect and forces Fed to hit one or two more shots.
Fed's FH errors tend to be attacking shots (though he doesn't react to Djoko's great defence by going for too much on attacking shots), while his BH errors tend to be neutral shots
Second set is a bit more mundance. Djoko is 'just' very consistent, without the added layer of tremendous on defence. Fed though, starts making more and more regulation errors in neutral rallies, even off the FH. Djoko holds easily, Fed is pushed on serve. Inevitably, Djoko breaks and steps up to serve out the match. At that stage, he'd won 24/25 first serve points(!)
Fed however, wakes up and against the run of play, breaks back. For the next 3 games, he hangs even with Djoko from the baseline (not making errors wise) and the rallies are longer
Tiebreak though sees him return to normal. The first point is a gruelling 20+ shot rally, ending with a Federer FH error. And that's the only mini-break in the game. Fed does make 3 more errors in the game (all on Djoko's service points)
Summing up, good-to-great from Djoko (its hard to be great all out when the opponent is playing as badly as Fed does), poorly error strewn from Fed. All in all, I would still credit Djoko more than discredit Fed.... especially in the first set, the Serb is first class
I would think Fed would have looked to come to net more when they met again at the next tournament, the French Open as that's where he'd been most successful (7/8 points won) and how he'd been outmatched from the baseline. Instead...
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