Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4 in the Cincinnati final, 2018 on hard court
It was recent Wimbledon winner Djokovic's first title at Cincinnati and he became the first - and to date, only - player to have won all 9 Masters 1000 events. Federer was a 7 time former champion, having beaten Djokovic in 3 previous finals in '09, '12 and '15
Djokovic won 71 points, Federer 59
Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (35/53) 66%
- 1st serve points won (25/35) 71%
- 2nd serve points won (14/18) 78%
- Aces 4
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (25/53) 47%
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (46/77) 60%
- 1st serve points won (31/46) 67%
- 2nd serve points won (14/31) 45%
- Aces 11 (1 second serve)
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (25/77) 32%
Serve Pattern
Djokovic served...
- to FH 39%
- to BH 55%
- to Body 6%
Federer served...
- to FH 45%
- to BH 53%
- to Body 1%
Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 48 (21 FH, 27 BH)
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 14 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 12 Forced (7 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (48/73) 66%
Federer made...
- 26 (8 FH, 18 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 1 Winner (1 FH), a runaround FH
- 21 Errors, comprising...
- 13 Unforced (6 FH, 7 BH)
- 8 Forced (5 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (26/51) 51%
Break Points
Djokovic 3/6 (4 games)
Federer 1/1
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Djokovic 8 (5 FH, 2 BH, 1 OH)
Federer 11 (3 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV, 3 OH)
Djokovic's FHs - 2 cc (1 return, 1 not clean - a Federer whiff), 1 dtl/inside-out pass, 1 inside-in and 1 inside-in/longline
- BHs - 1 dtl and 1 dtl/inside-out
- the OH was on the bounce, hit slightly behind service line but counted a net point
Federer's FHs - 1 dtl, 1 inside-out and 1 runaround inside-in return
- BHs - 1 cc and 1 dtl
- 1 from a serve-volley point - a first volley FHV
- 1 OH was on the bounce
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Djokovic 21
- 12 Unforced (4 FH, 8 BH)
- 9 Forced (3 FH, 6 BH)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.2
Federer 34
- 27 Unforced (16 FH, 8 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV)
- 7 Forced (2 FH, 2 BH, 1 FH1/2V, 2 BHV)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.9
(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 1/1 at net
Federer was...
- 18/28 (64%) at net, including...
- 10/15 (67%) serve-volleying, comprising..
- 9/12 (75%) off 1st serve and...
- 1/3 (33%) off 2nd serve
--
- 0/2 forced back
Match Report
Historic for Djokovic completing the "Golden Masters", but a grey and forgettable match of action. It would be stretching it a bit to describe Djokovic's performance as anything above 'adequate'. That's not his fault - Federer's very poor showing puts a very low ceiling on what Djoko could possibly do beyond adequate
Standout stats are Djoko winning 78% second serve points, having 47% unreturned serves and Federer with 27 unforced errors in play. Even the former two are due to Fed being poor
Serve & Return
What's going on with Djoko having 47% unreturned serves? Fed returning awfully
Federer misses 11/16 second serve returns (Djoko also double faults twice). That's horrendous. 2 of his errors have been marked forced error, which is rare for Djokovic's second serve. Its a fast court (though not even close to being fast enough to justify 47% unreturned serves) and Djoko sends down a decent second serve in that it isn't easy to attack. But its not a weapon mostly. Just very, very poor returning from Federer
Fed also misses 10 first serve returns (other than aces), and 4 have been marked UEs. Djoko's serving is complete potpourri - some strong second serves, some weak first ones - generally, his first serves aren't placed wide or particularly powerful. Plenty of regulation returns to make - only Fed can't make 'em. Among the 8 return FEs is a good lot of 'makeable' returns also
Note Djoko with just 4 aces (Fed has 11) and 3 of them are in one game where he cranked up the serve. Otherwise, his serving is above average at best. Fed's returning horrendously accounts for the rest. He's not even being aggressive with the returns he misses - just misses them playing orthodoxly
On flip side, Fed serves tremendously and Djoko returns the same. Fed hits his spots even with second serves and has 11 aces. Its fair to say he's serve-botting. 23/46 first serves goes unreturned which means he wins 8/23 when the first serve comes back.
Djoko isn't able to do much damage with the return, but is very good at poking wide serves back in play. Even gets decent depth on them a minority of the time
According to commentary, Fed hadn't lost serve in Cincy since 2014 (he'd missed 2016 and 2017) and reaches 100 straight holds before he's broken here
Play - Baseline & Net
The back-drop of play is large unreturned serves (Djoko getting more) and thus, comfortable to easy holds. Action is below par - poor from Federer, adequate to above average at best from Djokovic
Fed wins just 8/23 off his first serve points that are returned... and the returns are often weak, putting him in good position to start the rally
Neutrally, both players look to play from behind the baseline, making for fairly conservative rallies, especially for a fast court. Neither are particularly consistent neutrally - Djoko has 9 UEs from such shots, Fed 11. Putting that in perspective, Djoko has 8 winners, Fed 11
Fed looks for attacking shots out of regulation positions... and falls flat. He has 16 attacking/winner attempt UEs, Djoko just 3. Some good defending by Djoko against the attacking shots that land in. He's not particularly quick but is able to stretch and hit balls back near firmly from defensive positions. Federer is rarely on the defensive - he loses points before the situation comes up
Good idea for Fed to come to net regularly. Its something he does from the get go, even serve-volleying off a second serve in the opening game. The solid 64% net points won is a bit flattering. Good chunk of it is unreturned serves, which likely would have gone unreturned sans serve-volleying
Coming in from rallying, he wins 8/13. Couple of brave, pressuring dashes to net that pay off, but rarely can he outplay Djoko to come in off strong approach. Hence, possibility of coming in more doesn't really come up... if he had, they'd have had been high-risk dashes from neutral positions. Not the sort of thing he does much of in general and not likely to have ended well against Djokovic
On the volley, he doesn't miss much - just 3 UEs - but also doesn't place volleys away from Djokovic or punch them through. In general, Fed doesn't punch his volleys through too well and is at his best playing controlled drop volleys, which he doesn't do here at all
Good numbers for Djokovic on the FH, on which he finishes with match-high 5 winners and match-low 4 UEs. Federer's 16 FH UEs is about double both put together. That's action in a nutshell... Fed's poor play overshadowing whatever Djoko's doing
Match Progression
Fed holds a 12 point game to start, saving two break points on the way. He misses 3 winner attempts (a FH, a BH and a BHV), but 5 unreturned serves - including 3 aces - sees him through
Break comes in game 7. Missing a regulation first FHV off a serve-volley point and double faulting gives Djoko break point. On it, Fed takes charge after a strong serve Djoko does well to get back and runs Djoko side to side. Djoko hits a decent FH cc on the run but he's out of position and the court is open... and Fed whiffs his attempted FH (he gets the lightest of touches). Odd point. Djoko goes onto hold easily to close out the set
Fed breaks to move ahead 2-0 in the second set. 40-15 down, he draws 2 passing errors with quick dashes to net. From deuce, Djoko misses an attempted third ball FH inside-in winner and double faults.
Fed's in twinkle toed mode next game, and forces action. Still gets broken and still misses third ball FH winner attempts to begin and start the game and the penultimate point is a double fault also. In between, Djoko does some good defending, hits a meaty pass that forces a reflex volley error and does well to get strong returns in play
Djoko's given a warning for time violation at beginning of next game, which follows a changeover. He appears normal paced on the point in question. Umpire explains that he starts the clock when he calls time on the changeover, in other words, when both players stand up to restart action rather than when they're at the baseline preparing for first point
Djoko breaks again in game 8 in a 12 point game. This is one of the better of the match - Fed still makes UEs, but he's at net 6 times and action is forceful. Djoko gains his only break point of the game after a double fault and hits a perfect FH dtl/inside-out pass on it
Summing up, good returning from Djokovic against terrific Federer is the highlight of the match. Djoko also defends ably at times and Fed is smart to attack net regularly. Bulk of action though is ordinary to poor - Federer's returning in particular is abysmal and his groundgame loose. Djoko's groundgame is nondescript - which is all that's needed
- Stats for '09 final - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...rer-vs-djokovic-cincinnati-final-2009.648275/
- Stats for '12 final - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...rer-vs-djokovic-cincinnati-final-2012.608895/
It was recent Wimbledon winner Djokovic's first title at Cincinnati and he became the first - and to date, only - player to have won all 9 Masters 1000 events. Federer was a 7 time former champion, having beaten Djokovic in 3 previous finals in '09, '12 and '15
Djokovic won 71 points, Federer 59
Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (35/53) 66%
- 1st serve points won (25/35) 71%
- 2nd serve points won (14/18) 78%
- Aces 4
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (25/53) 47%
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (46/77) 60%
- 1st serve points won (31/46) 67%
- 2nd serve points won (14/31) 45%
- Aces 11 (1 second serve)
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (25/77) 32%
Serve Pattern
Djokovic served...
- to FH 39%
- to BH 55%
- to Body 6%
Federer served...
- to FH 45%
- to BH 53%
- to Body 1%
Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 48 (21 FH, 27 BH)
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 14 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 12 Forced (7 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (48/73) 66%
Federer made...
- 26 (8 FH, 18 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 1 Winner (1 FH), a runaround FH
- 21 Errors, comprising...
- 13 Unforced (6 FH, 7 BH)
- 8 Forced (5 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (26/51) 51%
Break Points
Djokovic 3/6 (4 games)
Federer 1/1
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Djokovic 8 (5 FH, 2 BH, 1 OH)
Federer 11 (3 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV, 3 OH)
Djokovic's FHs - 2 cc (1 return, 1 not clean - a Federer whiff), 1 dtl/inside-out pass, 1 inside-in and 1 inside-in/longline
- BHs - 1 dtl and 1 dtl/inside-out
- the OH was on the bounce, hit slightly behind service line but counted a net point
Federer's FHs - 1 dtl, 1 inside-out and 1 runaround inside-in return
- BHs - 1 cc and 1 dtl
- 1 from a serve-volley point - a first volley FHV
- 1 OH was on the bounce
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Djokovic 21
- 12 Unforced (4 FH, 8 BH)
- 9 Forced (3 FH, 6 BH)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.2
Federer 34
- 27 Unforced (16 FH, 8 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV)
- 7 Forced (2 FH, 2 BH, 1 FH1/2V, 2 BHV)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.9
(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 1/1 at net
Federer was...
- 18/28 (64%) at net, including...
- 10/15 (67%) serve-volleying, comprising..
- 9/12 (75%) off 1st serve and...
- 1/3 (33%) off 2nd serve
--
- 0/2 forced back
Match Report
Historic for Djokovic completing the "Golden Masters", but a grey and forgettable match of action. It would be stretching it a bit to describe Djokovic's performance as anything above 'adequate'. That's not his fault - Federer's very poor showing puts a very low ceiling on what Djoko could possibly do beyond adequate
Standout stats are Djoko winning 78% second serve points, having 47% unreturned serves and Federer with 27 unforced errors in play. Even the former two are due to Fed being poor
Serve & Return
What's going on with Djoko having 47% unreturned serves? Fed returning awfully
Federer misses 11/16 second serve returns (Djoko also double faults twice). That's horrendous. 2 of his errors have been marked forced error, which is rare for Djokovic's second serve. Its a fast court (though not even close to being fast enough to justify 47% unreturned serves) and Djoko sends down a decent second serve in that it isn't easy to attack. But its not a weapon mostly. Just very, very poor returning from Federer
Fed also misses 10 first serve returns (other than aces), and 4 have been marked UEs. Djoko's serving is complete potpourri - some strong second serves, some weak first ones - generally, his first serves aren't placed wide or particularly powerful. Plenty of regulation returns to make - only Fed can't make 'em. Among the 8 return FEs is a good lot of 'makeable' returns also
Note Djoko with just 4 aces (Fed has 11) and 3 of them are in one game where he cranked up the serve. Otherwise, his serving is above average at best. Fed's returning horrendously accounts for the rest. He's not even being aggressive with the returns he misses - just misses them playing orthodoxly
On flip side, Fed serves tremendously and Djoko returns the same. Fed hits his spots even with second serves and has 11 aces. Its fair to say he's serve-botting. 23/46 first serves goes unreturned which means he wins 8/23 when the first serve comes back.
Djoko isn't able to do much damage with the return, but is very good at poking wide serves back in play. Even gets decent depth on them a minority of the time
According to commentary, Fed hadn't lost serve in Cincy since 2014 (he'd missed 2016 and 2017) and reaches 100 straight holds before he's broken here
Play - Baseline & Net
The back-drop of play is large unreturned serves (Djoko getting more) and thus, comfortable to easy holds. Action is below par - poor from Federer, adequate to above average at best from Djokovic
Fed wins just 8/23 off his first serve points that are returned... and the returns are often weak, putting him in good position to start the rally
Neutrally, both players look to play from behind the baseline, making for fairly conservative rallies, especially for a fast court. Neither are particularly consistent neutrally - Djoko has 9 UEs from such shots, Fed 11. Putting that in perspective, Djoko has 8 winners, Fed 11
Fed looks for attacking shots out of regulation positions... and falls flat. He has 16 attacking/winner attempt UEs, Djoko just 3. Some good defending by Djoko against the attacking shots that land in. He's not particularly quick but is able to stretch and hit balls back near firmly from defensive positions. Federer is rarely on the defensive - he loses points before the situation comes up
Good idea for Fed to come to net regularly. Its something he does from the get go, even serve-volleying off a second serve in the opening game. The solid 64% net points won is a bit flattering. Good chunk of it is unreturned serves, which likely would have gone unreturned sans serve-volleying
Coming in from rallying, he wins 8/13. Couple of brave, pressuring dashes to net that pay off, but rarely can he outplay Djoko to come in off strong approach. Hence, possibility of coming in more doesn't really come up... if he had, they'd have had been high-risk dashes from neutral positions. Not the sort of thing he does much of in general and not likely to have ended well against Djokovic
On the volley, he doesn't miss much - just 3 UEs - but also doesn't place volleys away from Djokovic or punch them through. In general, Fed doesn't punch his volleys through too well and is at his best playing controlled drop volleys, which he doesn't do here at all
Good numbers for Djokovic on the FH, on which he finishes with match-high 5 winners and match-low 4 UEs. Federer's 16 FH UEs is about double both put together. That's action in a nutshell... Fed's poor play overshadowing whatever Djoko's doing
Match Progression
Fed holds a 12 point game to start, saving two break points on the way. He misses 3 winner attempts (a FH, a BH and a BHV), but 5 unreturned serves - including 3 aces - sees him through
Break comes in game 7. Missing a regulation first FHV off a serve-volley point and double faulting gives Djoko break point. On it, Fed takes charge after a strong serve Djoko does well to get back and runs Djoko side to side. Djoko hits a decent FH cc on the run but he's out of position and the court is open... and Fed whiffs his attempted FH (he gets the lightest of touches). Odd point. Djoko goes onto hold easily to close out the set
Fed breaks to move ahead 2-0 in the second set. 40-15 down, he draws 2 passing errors with quick dashes to net. From deuce, Djoko misses an attempted third ball FH inside-in winner and double faults.
Fed's in twinkle toed mode next game, and forces action. Still gets broken and still misses third ball FH winner attempts to begin and start the game and the penultimate point is a double fault also. In between, Djoko does some good defending, hits a meaty pass that forces a reflex volley error and does well to get strong returns in play
Djoko's given a warning for time violation at beginning of next game, which follows a changeover. He appears normal paced on the point in question. Umpire explains that he starts the clock when he calls time on the changeover, in other words, when both players stand up to restart action rather than when they're at the baseline preparing for first point
Djoko breaks again in game 8 in a 12 point game. This is one of the better of the match - Fed still makes UEs, but he's at net 6 times and action is forceful. Djoko gains his only break point of the game after a double fault and hits a perfect FH dtl/inside-out pass on it
Summing up, good returning from Djokovic against terrific Federer is the highlight of the match. Djoko also defends ably at times and Fed is smart to attack net regularly. Bulk of action though is ordinary to poor - Federer's returning in particular is abysmal and his groundgame loose. Djoko's groundgame is nondescript - which is all that's needed
- Stats for '09 final - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...rer-vs-djokovic-cincinnati-final-2009.648275/
- Stats for '12 final - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...rer-vs-djokovic-cincinnati-final-2012.608895/
