Novak Djokovic beat Mardy Fish 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in the Canadian Open final, 2011 on hard court in Montreal
It was Djokovic's record setting 5th Masters title of the year (previously won Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Rome), which he would top with 6 in 2015. He would shortly after win his first US Open. Fish was playing his 4th and last Masters final, all losses, including in '08 Indian Wells to Djokovic
Djokovic won 94 points, Fish 85
Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (61/96) 64%
- 1st serve points won (43/61) 70%
- 2nd serve points won (18/35) 51%
- Aces 4
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (25/96) 26%
Fish...
- 1st serve percentage (43/83) 52%
- 1st serve points won (31/43) 72%
- 2nd serve points won (19/40) 48%
- Aces 7, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (25/83) 30%
Serve Patterns
Djokovic served...
- to FH 36%
- to BH 53%
- to Body 11%
Fish served...
- to FH 30%
- to BH 61%
- to Body 9%
Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 55 (15 FH, 40 BH)
- 2 Winners (2 BH)
- 17 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (2 FH, 2 BH)
- 13 Forced (8 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (55/80) 69%
Fish made...
- 69 (33 FH, 36 BH), including 5 runaround FHs & 2 return-approaches
- 3 Winners (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 21 Errors, comprising...
- 15 Unforced (7 FH, 8 BH)
- 6 Forced (1 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (69/94) 73%
Break Points
Djokovic 3/8 (5 games)
Fish 2/10 (5 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Djokovic 14 (5 FH, 8 BH, 1 BHV)
Fish 20 (7 FH, 7 BH, 3 FHV, 3 BHV)
Djokovic's FHs - 4 cc (1 at net) and 1 cc/inside-in
- BHs - 2 cc, 5 dtl (2 passes - 1 return, 1 other return) and 1 inside-out
- 1 from a serve-volley point, a third volley BHV
Fish's FHs - 1 cc at net, 1 cc/inside-in, 1 dtl, 1 inside-in, 1 cc/longline pass at net, 1 drop shot and 1 net chord dribbler return
- BHs - 2 cc returns, 4 dtl (1 pass) and 1 dtl/inside-out
- 4 from serve-volley points
- 3 first volleys (1 FHV, 2 BHV)
- 1 third volley (1 FHV)
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Djokovic 38
- 25 Unforced (13 FH, 12 BH)
- 13 Forced (5 FH, 3 BH)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.6
Fish 52
- 39 Unforced (20 FH, 16 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)... with 1 OH on bounce from the baseline
- 13 Forced (6 FH, 4 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.7
(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...
- 8/11 (73%) at net, including...
- 1/2 serve-volleying, both 1st serves
Fish was...
- 26/37 (70%) at net, including...
- 18/23 (78%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 17/22 (77%) off 1st serve and...
- 1/1 off 2nd serve
---
- 1/2 return-approaching
- 1/4 (25%) forced back
Match Report
Flat showing from Djokovic, particularly on the serve, but he retains sizable consistency advantage off the ground. Fish serve superbly and is at his best serve-volleying but returns poorly on a slowish court
Statistically more than of action, the match is interesting. Similar numbers on different service points -
- 1st serve points won - Djoko 70%, Fish 72%
- 2nd serve points won - Djoko 51%, Fish 48%
that overall, largely favours Djoko who serves at 64% to Fish's 52%
A blackmark against Fish's returning for Djoko's 1st serve points won. This is a tame service showing from Djoko and for 1st set in particular, he's serving 2 'second' serves. Even the in the 3rd set when he's serving at his best for the match, very returnable, in-swing zone stuff but a bit heftier than early in match
Fish returns at just 73% against it. 80-85% is managable against what he's up against. 15/21 of his return errors have been marked UEs. Most of the 6 FEs are on makeable side too. Fish looks to return orthodoxly - not with aggression. Just can't put the ordinary serves in play
On flip side, excellent serving from Fish. The 1st serves are very powerful. Change-ups are slower but very wide. Plenty of forcefully wide 2nd serves too and the kickers (both 1st and 2nd serves) get up to Djoko at least shoulder high
7 aces and a service winner from Fish - and good lot of the return FEs he draws aren't far off service winner calibre strong. He serves an unreturnable every 5.4 first serves. Djoko by contrast manages 1 every 15.3. Fair indicator of relative strenght of serves
Throw in Fish serve-volleying regularly (63% of the time off first serves), and his leading unreturned rate by just 4% is relative loss for him. That's down to his inability to return very ordinary serves
Fish serve-volleys 63% of time off first serves
He wins 17/22 or 77% serve-volleying and 6/13 or 46% staying back (excluding aces and service winners)
Just the 1 second serve-volley that he wins. Excluding that and double faults (in other words, 2nd serve points starting on baseline), Fish wins 18/36 or 50%
Fish is 18/23 serve-volleying (all but 1/1 are first serves). Djoko usually can't make the return. When he can, Fish is sharp on the volley. Its a tough serve to return even sans serve-volley. Fish would probably be better of serve-volleying more, including behind 2nd serves. Its strong enough to
Basically, despite the great serve, Fish is at best 50-50 when starting points on baseline. No great returning from Djoko involved in that. Djoko returns normally, putting balls in play at best, without leaving easy 3rd balls. He doesn't neutralize or snatch initiatve with the shot.
From baseline, UEs are key stat. Djoko has 25, Fish 36, which speaks for itself. Ordered by consistency -
- Djoko BH 12
- Djoko FH 13
- Fish BH 16
- Fish FH 20
Fairly bland play from the back. Normal power and depth from Djoko. Some moving Fish around and near end, the odd great defensive get on the run. Simply, he's just more consistent in keeping ball in play
Fish perhaps errs when he has chances on return by going for attacking FHs. He looks a BH>FH player, but looks for the bigger FHs at crunch time. Usually misses. Not necessarily bad thinking - clearly, rallying 'til an error comes up isn't a good strategy for him, so better to attack. And he doesn't attack wildly for winners, but moderately to possibly force an error or put Djoko on defensive for next shot. Rallying to net isn't great either - he's 7/12 so doing
Djoko doesn't unduly target FH or look to keep things FH-FH or play undue number of BH longlines. Happy to just hit firm groundies of either wing, if anything, going FH longline more often than BH. Some improper footwork from Djoko for much of match and he's hitting shots from more wide of his body than is advisable. Doesn't matter much - he's still more able to keep ball in court
BH baseline-to-baseline winners read Djoko 5, Fish 4. Fish has his moments and looks able to keep up with a below par Djoko BH-BH. He'd have done well to proactively look to keep things on that side (which he doesn't), and Djoko to keep things on FH, where Fish is unthreatening and loose (which he doesn't)
With near 2 'second' serves, Djoko's service games feature baseline rallies where he's better at keeping ball in court, without being particularly great at it
Break points read - Djoko 3/8, Fish 2/10 with both having them in 5 games, so things are close
Large lot of games where servers with big leads - 40-0 or 40-15 - turn out to be a struggle to hold
Djoko is not just flat but is tending to his right arm slightly particularly early in match when he's serving most harmlessly. He'd be even worse in the Cincinnati final shortly after, where he'd end up retiring in the final
Match Progression
Fish has much better of things early on. Djoko's extended to 10 points (2 break points) and 14 points (3 break points) in successive holds as he moves ahead 3-2, with Fish holding comfortably
Things turn on a dime though, with Djoko winning 12/15 remaining points in set to break twice and take the set. Scores his first break by forcing errors out of net rushing Fish and second is a pretty game from Djoko too
Second set is fairly tough. Djoko saves a break point to open. And there are 4 successive deuce games leading upto the end. Fish grabs first break to move ahead 3-2, with his BH firing some wonderful shots. He breaks to end the set too - a terrible game from Djoko with 4 ground UEs to lose to love.
Fish is strained to hold off 3 break points in 14 point game to start the decider, with his serve getting him out of trouble. Djoko plays his best tennis of the match here - he serves better (still not particularly well, but at least not 2 'second' serves stuff), hits with more care (much of his groundgame early in match looks loose) and moves well to defend
Djoko gains the break to love. A half-luck return leaves Fish an awkward high BHV that he puts in play and retreats to baseline against before going on to lose the point to bring up break point. On it, an excellent, full running defensive lob sends Fish back to baseline again next point and Fish misses his OH on the bounce from there
Djoko has 40-0 serving for match, before loose errors seems Fish even, before Djoko wins last 2 points to end it. Appropriately, match ends with Fish missing a regulation return
Summing up, a forgettable match. Djokovic is better at keeping ball in court, but his serve is distinctly ordinary and footwork often shoddy. Some great serving from Fish and sharp volleying behind it, but he's outmatched from the back and falters on regulation returns
It was Djokovic's record setting 5th Masters title of the year (previously won Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Rome), which he would top with 6 in 2015. He would shortly after win his first US Open. Fish was playing his 4th and last Masters final, all losses, including in '08 Indian Wells to Djokovic
Djokovic won 94 points, Fish 85
Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (61/96) 64%
- 1st serve points won (43/61) 70%
- 2nd serve points won (18/35) 51%
- Aces 4
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (25/96) 26%
Fish...
- 1st serve percentage (43/83) 52%
- 1st serve points won (31/43) 72%
- 2nd serve points won (19/40) 48%
- Aces 7, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (25/83) 30%
Serve Patterns
Djokovic served...
- to FH 36%
- to BH 53%
- to Body 11%
Fish served...
- to FH 30%
- to BH 61%
- to Body 9%
Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 55 (15 FH, 40 BH)
- 2 Winners (2 BH)
- 17 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (2 FH, 2 BH)
- 13 Forced (8 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (55/80) 69%
Fish made...
- 69 (33 FH, 36 BH), including 5 runaround FHs & 2 return-approaches
- 3 Winners (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 21 Errors, comprising...
- 15 Unforced (7 FH, 8 BH)
- 6 Forced (1 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (69/94) 73%
Break Points
Djokovic 3/8 (5 games)
Fish 2/10 (5 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Djokovic 14 (5 FH, 8 BH, 1 BHV)
Fish 20 (7 FH, 7 BH, 3 FHV, 3 BHV)
Djokovic's FHs - 4 cc (1 at net) and 1 cc/inside-in
- BHs - 2 cc, 5 dtl (2 passes - 1 return, 1 other return) and 1 inside-out
- 1 from a serve-volley point, a third volley BHV
Fish's FHs - 1 cc at net, 1 cc/inside-in, 1 dtl, 1 inside-in, 1 cc/longline pass at net, 1 drop shot and 1 net chord dribbler return
- BHs - 2 cc returns, 4 dtl (1 pass) and 1 dtl/inside-out
- 4 from serve-volley points
- 3 first volleys (1 FHV, 2 BHV)
- 1 third volley (1 FHV)
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Djokovic 38
- 25 Unforced (13 FH, 12 BH)
- 13 Forced (5 FH, 3 BH)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.6
Fish 52
- 39 Unforced (20 FH, 16 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)... with 1 OH on bounce from the baseline
- 13 Forced (6 FH, 4 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.7
(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...
- 8/11 (73%) at net, including...
- 1/2 serve-volleying, both 1st serves
Fish was...
- 26/37 (70%) at net, including...
- 18/23 (78%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 17/22 (77%) off 1st serve and...
- 1/1 off 2nd serve
---
- 1/2 return-approaching
- 1/4 (25%) forced back
Match Report
Flat showing from Djokovic, particularly on the serve, but he retains sizable consistency advantage off the ground. Fish serve superbly and is at his best serve-volleying but returns poorly on a slowish court
Statistically more than of action, the match is interesting. Similar numbers on different service points -
- 1st serve points won - Djoko 70%, Fish 72%
- 2nd serve points won - Djoko 51%, Fish 48%
that overall, largely favours Djoko who serves at 64% to Fish's 52%
A blackmark against Fish's returning for Djoko's 1st serve points won. This is a tame service showing from Djoko and for 1st set in particular, he's serving 2 'second' serves. Even the in the 3rd set when he's serving at his best for the match, very returnable, in-swing zone stuff but a bit heftier than early in match
Fish returns at just 73% against it. 80-85% is managable against what he's up against. 15/21 of his return errors have been marked UEs. Most of the 6 FEs are on makeable side too. Fish looks to return orthodoxly - not with aggression. Just can't put the ordinary serves in play
On flip side, excellent serving from Fish. The 1st serves are very powerful. Change-ups are slower but very wide. Plenty of forcefully wide 2nd serves too and the kickers (both 1st and 2nd serves) get up to Djoko at least shoulder high
7 aces and a service winner from Fish - and good lot of the return FEs he draws aren't far off service winner calibre strong. He serves an unreturnable every 5.4 first serves. Djoko by contrast manages 1 every 15.3. Fair indicator of relative strenght of serves
Throw in Fish serve-volleying regularly (63% of the time off first serves), and his leading unreturned rate by just 4% is relative loss for him. That's down to his inability to return very ordinary serves
Fish serve-volleys 63% of time off first serves
He wins 17/22 or 77% serve-volleying and 6/13 or 46% staying back (excluding aces and service winners)
Just the 1 second serve-volley that he wins. Excluding that and double faults (in other words, 2nd serve points starting on baseline), Fish wins 18/36 or 50%
Fish is 18/23 serve-volleying (all but 1/1 are first serves). Djoko usually can't make the return. When he can, Fish is sharp on the volley. Its a tough serve to return even sans serve-volley. Fish would probably be better of serve-volleying more, including behind 2nd serves. Its strong enough to
Basically, despite the great serve, Fish is at best 50-50 when starting points on baseline. No great returning from Djoko involved in that. Djoko returns normally, putting balls in play at best, without leaving easy 3rd balls. He doesn't neutralize or snatch initiatve with the shot.
From baseline, UEs are key stat. Djoko has 25, Fish 36, which speaks for itself. Ordered by consistency -
- Djoko BH 12
- Djoko FH 13
- Fish BH 16
- Fish FH 20
Fairly bland play from the back. Normal power and depth from Djoko. Some moving Fish around and near end, the odd great defensive get on the run. Simply, he's just more consistent in keeping ball in play
Fish perhaps errs when he has chances on return by going for attacking FHs. He looks a BH>FH player, but looks for the bigger FHs at crunch time. Usually misses. Not necessarily bad thinking - clearly, rallying 'til an error comes up isn't a good strategy for him, so better to attack. And he doesn't attack wildly for winners, but moderately to possibly force an error or put Djoko on defensive for next shot. Rallying to net isn't great either - he's 7/12 so doing
Djoko doesn't unduly target FH or look to keep things FH-FH or play undue number of BH longlines. Happy to just hit firm groundies of either wing, if anything, going FH longline more often than BH. Some improper footwork from Djoko for much of match and he's hitting shots from more wide of his body than is advisable. Doesn't matter much - he's still more able to keep ball in court
BH baseline-to-baseline winners read Djoko 5, Fish 4. Fish has his moments and looks able to keep up with a below par Djoko BH-BH. He'd have done well to proactively look to keep things on that side (which he doesn't), and Djoko to keep things on FH, where Fish is unthreatening and loose (which he doesn't)
With near 2 'second' serves, Djoko's service games feature baseline rallies where he's better at keeping ball in court, without being particularly great at it
Break points read - Djoko 3/8, Fish 2/10 with both having them in 5 games, so things are close
Large lot of games where servers with big leads - 40-0 or 40-15 - turn out to be a struggle to hold
Djoko is not just flat but is tending to his right arm slightly particularly early in match when he's serving most harmlessly. He'd be even worse in the Cincinnati final shortly after, where he'd end up retiring in the final
Match Progression
Fish has much better of things early on. Djoko's extended to 10 points (2 break points) and 14 points (3 break points) in successive holds as he moves ahead 3-2, with Fish holding comfortably
Things turn on a dime though, with Djoko winning 12/15 remaining points in set to break twice and take the set. Scores his first break by forcing errors out of net rushing Fish and second is a pretty game from Djoko too
Second set is fairly tough. Djoko saves a break point to open. And there are 4 successive deuce games leading upto the end. Fish grabs first break to move ahead 3-2, with his BH firing some wonderful shots. He breaks to end the set too - a terrible game from Djoko with 4 ground UEs to lose to love.
Fish is strained to hold off 3 break points in 14 point game to start the decider, with his serve getting him out of trouble. Djoko plays his best tennis of the match here - he serves better (still not particularly well, but at least not 2 'second' serves stuff), hits with more care (much of his groundgame early in match looks loose) and moves well to defend
Djoko gains the break to love. A half-luck return leaves Fish an awkward high BHV that he puts in play and retreats to baseline against before going on to lose the point to bring up break point. On it, an excellent, full running defensive lob sends Fish back to baseline again next point and Fish misses his OH on the bounce from there
Djoko has 40-0 serving for match, before loose errors seems Fish even, before Djoko wins last 2 points to end it. Appropriately, match ends with Fish missing a regulation return
Summing up, a forgettable match. Djokovic is better at keeping ball in court, but his serve is distinctly ordinary and footwork often shoddy. Some great serving from Fish and sharp volleying behind it, but he's outmatched from the back and falters on regulation returns
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