How does Fed/Djoker performance vary so much in a short time span

Just wondering how Fed/Djok get to SFs or thereabouts with dominating performances, but during these final rounds, a lot of times you will get what's termed by the media as an "off" day. How does it vary so much?

Fed: Won Wimbledon with a great performance, around that he had Rome SF, French Open SF and Olympics Final where the UFE were flowing freely. Was it just the immediately preceding matches against JMDP at FO and O that left him with nothing in the tank, or just the opponents performance, or off days?

Djok: Dominating performances in FO and Toronto, with relative stinkers in about the same time frame at Wimby SF, Olympics SF and Olympics Bronze playoff against JMDP. All the reports said he looked off during the matches he lost. Was it simply the respective opponents dominating him in those matches, or physical issues?
 

joeri888

G.O.A.T.
Two players, two different stories:

Federer - he's old. Can't always produce the magic. Recuperates slowly. Has had off days since 2008, and even in 2006 he had the odd bad day even though he usually was still good enough to win. Federer just is not the most consistent player on tour anymore.

Djokovic - just way overrated on grass. By far his worst surface. By the end of his career 2011 will be remembered as the crazy year everything went well and he even won Wimbledon! It will show how good his year was, how high his confidence was, how much he owned Rafa, how weak his draw was etc. etc. Djokovic is worse than current Murray on grass (7-5 7-5 seems a good reflection of Murray's superiority on the surface), let alone Federer (who I still rate higher than Murray on grass, but not by much). Djokovic has performed well on hardcourts this season (W AO; SF Dubai; SF IW; W Miami; W Toronto) and hasn't lost to Federer on an outdoor HC for instance since I think 2010 or even USO09? Outdoor HC is just by far his best surface. Particularly mediumpaced or slowpaced though so don't be surprised if he loses at the quickest outdoor HC around.

No doubt surfaces have become more homogenized and you asking this question about Djokovic (no offense!) is a sign of the bad state tennis is in in this regard.
 
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