Match Stats/Report - Djokovic vs Davydenko, Year End Championship final, 2008

Waspsting

Hall of Fame
Novak Djokovic beat Nikolay Davydenko 6-1, 7-5 in the Year End Championship (Tennis Masters Cup) final, 2008 on indoor hard court in Shanghai, China

It was Djokovic's first of to date 5 titles at the event. Davydenko would go onto win the following year. This was the last edition of the tournament to be held in Shanghai

Djokovic won 72 points, Davydenko 49

Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (34/55) 62%
- 1st serve points won (25/34) 74%
- 2nd serve points won (14/21) 67%
- Aces 4 (1 not clean)
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (12/55) 22%

Davydenko....
- 1st serve percentage (31/66) 47%
- 1st serve points won (20/31) 65%
- 2nd serve points won (13/35) 37%
- Aces 5, Service Winners 2
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (16/66) 24%

Serve Patterns
Djokovic served...
- to FH 46%
- to BH 48%
- to Body 6%

Davydenko served...
- to FH 38%
- to BH 43%
- to Body 18%

Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 49 (22 FH, 27 BH)
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 9 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 7 Forced (5 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (49/65) 75%

Davydenko made...
- 40 (19 FH, 21 BH), including 1 runaround BH
- 8 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (2 FH)
- 6 Forced (3 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (40/52) 77%

Break Points
Djokovic 4/11 (6 games)
Davydenko 1/4 (2 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Djokovic 17 (8 FH, 4 BH, 4 FHV, 1 BHV)
Davydenko 8 (2 FH, 1 FHV, 3 BHV, 2 OH)

Djokovic's FHs - 2 cc (1 return pass), 1 dtl/inside-out, 1 inside-out, 1 inside-in, 1 inside-in/cc, 1 longline/cc and 1 lob
- BHs - 4 cc (1 pass)

Davydenko's FHs - 1 cc and 1 dtl

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Djokovic 22
- 13 Unforced (5 FH, 7 BH, 1 BHV)
- 9 Forced (5 FH, 3 BH, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 50

Davydenko 42
- 26 Unforced (8 FH, 14 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)... with 1 non-net swinging FH from no-man's land
- 16 Forced (8 FH, 5 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV)... with 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.9

(Note 1: All 1/2 volleys refer to such shots played at net. 1/2 volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke numbers)

(Note 2: the Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented for these two matches are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Djokovic was...
- 10/13 (77%) at net, with...
- 0/1 retreated

Davydenko was...
- 10/20 (50%) at net, including...
- 0/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve

Match Report
Straight out, hard hitting baseline match on a fast court, with both players playing the same way. Djokovic is much better at it than Davydenko.

Even the close 7-5 second set scoreline is deceptive. Djokovic is thoroughly in command of that too

Djokovic has as many winners as Davy has winners + errors forced (17), while on the unforced error front, Djoko has exactly half as many as Davy

Winners - Djoko 17, Davy 8
Errors Forced - Djoko 16, Davy 9
Unforced Errors - Djoko 13, Davy 26

... coupled with similar unreturned rates (Djoko 22%, Davy 24%) are a fair reflection of how one sided action is

The numbers are a fair reflection of Djokovic's quality but Davy plays better then it looks. Baseline action is hard hitting and in that light, rallies go on for decent amount of time before UEs end points. Davy hits hard, deep and well... Djoko just happens to hit harder, deeper and better still. Action is primarily beat-down style with some moving-opponent-around thrown in. Certainly not outlasting play

On the forced error front, superior defence and court coverage by Djoko show their hand. He's able to cover Davy's wide, hard hit shots and whack them back in play on the run. In other words, its difficult to force an error out of him. Davy's movements are good too, but suffers by comparison to Djoko's exceptional footspeed. And when he can hard hit back a shot on the run... the next one is hit back the same way. Sooner or later (usually sooner when running around is concerned), he's forced into errors or beat down by deep shots

The two hit about equally hard. Djoko is more consistent doing so and has superior depth. Again, Davy's isn't bad by any means, but Djoko is particularly good

As Djoko gains in confidence, he starts opening up court and looking for winners too. And pulls it off. Despite healthy 17 winners, he only misses 3 winner attempts - the same number of neutral errors

Unforced Error break down
- Defensive - Djoko 0, Davy 2
- Neutral - Djoko 3, Davy 9
- Attacking - Djoko 7, Davy 8
- Winner Attempts - Djoko 3, Davy 7

BH dtl or even longline from Djoko is very effective in giving him command of points or even ending them. No winners, but it forces a good lot of Davy's 8 FH FEs

Davy does adjust and try new things to his credit. Particularly initially, Djoko has the stronger serve (he has the stronger return throughout - that's probably set in stone) and is able to returning damagingly deep and hard. Davy adjust and serves harder still. That's partially the reason for low 47% in court but he does have 5 aces and 2 service winners from 31 first serves. Djoko has 4 aces from 34

Beat down from the back, Davy looks to come forward as an alternative. That doesn't work well either. Just 50% net points won - he's not too good on the volley, but more credit to Djoko's thundering passes (which are basically the same as his regular groundstrokes for the match) than discredit Davy's net play. Coming in when being beaten from the back is an obviously logical move that many players miss

Djoko is 10/13 at net. He comes in from commanding positions and has easy finishing volleys... its an extension of his superiority from the back rather than a sign of great net play

There are plenty of BH-BH rallies and Djoko is the more consistent (7 UEs to 14), though hitting itself is about a wash. Djoko also has the powerful dtl change up that causes plenty of damage
The star of the show would be the Djoko FH which has 8 winners. Note the variety - all 8 are different shots

Match Progression
Djokovic races out to a 5-0 lead. He gains the first break by winning BH-BH battles. The second comes from attacking errors from Davy and successful attacking play from Djoko - against the background of hard hitting rallies developing into Djoko taking command

Davy has a couple of break points with Djoko serving for set, but unreturned serves and forced errors see Djoko over

Point of the match comes early in the second set. Djoko drop shots Davy to net, who runs the ball and responds in kind. A couple of angled shot exchanges net-to-net leads to both players retreating to baseline in a now open court rally from where Davy's able to force a weak get that he can run up and dispatch with a BHV

Djoko breaks early to go up 2-1 though and continues to dominate play, even with Davy serving harder and at higher percentage in and coming to net. Davy ends up having to serve 47 points in the set to Djoko's 32

Djoko fails to serve out match in a poor game that he opens with 2 inside-out UEs (1 of each wing) and ends with a double fault. No matter as he just breaks right back to 15 - 2 winners and 2 UEs from Davy, the first a BH dtl winner attempt, the second a regulation FH. And Djoko serves out to love this time

Summing up, very impressive from Djokovic who hits hard, deep and with variety while running down hard hit balls with vigour. Davydenko plays the same way and not badly... just out of his weight division for the match

Stats for '12 final between Djokovic and Roger Federer - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...mpionship-final-2012-round-robin-2013.657323/
 
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Now here's a match I completely forgot about...thanks again for the report. I'm going to watch some highlights or something when I get home tonight.
 
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