Match Stats/Report - Djokovic vs Nishikori, Year End Championship semi-final, 2014

[Waspsting]

Novak Djokovic beat Kei Nishikori 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 in the Year End Championship semi-final, 2014 on indoor hard court in London, England

Djokovic would win the title when his would-be opponent, Roger Federer, withdrew from the final. It was Djokovic's 4th title and thrid in a row at the event and he'd go on to win the following year also. He had won his 3 round robin encounters for loss of 9 games. Nishikori, who had qualified for the event for the first time, had recently beaten Djokovic in the US Open semi-final

Djokovic won 74 points, Nishikori 51

Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (34/58) 59%
- 1st serve points won (28/34) 82%
- 2nd serve points won (13/24) 54%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (20/58) 34%

Nishikori...
- 1st serve percentage (28/67) 57%
- 1st serve points won (29/38) 76%
- 2nd serve points won (5/29) 17%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 6
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (16/67) 24%

Serve Patterns
Djokovic served...
- to FH 48%
- to BH 41%
- to Body 11%

Nishikori served...
- to FH 26%
- to BH 61%
- to Body 13%

Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 45 (15 FH, 30 BH)
- 13 Errors, comprising...
- 3 Unforced (3 BH)
- 10 Forced (6 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (45/61) 74%

Nishikori made...
- 36 (20 FH, 16 BH)
- 17 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 15 Forced (9 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (36/56) 64%

Break Points
Djokovic 6/9 (6 games)
Nishikori 2/4 (3 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Djokovic 10 (6 FH, 3 BH, 1 FHV)
Nishikori 13 (10 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV)

Djokovic's FHs - 3 cc (1 pass at net), 1 dtl pas and 2 inside-out
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 1 dtl and 1 net chord dribbler

Nishikori 's FHs - 5 cc (2 passes - 1 at net), 3 dtl, 1 inside-out pass and 1 longline/inside-out
- BHs - 2 cc

- the FHV was a net chord dribbler

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Djokovic 20
- 10 Unforced (3 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV)
- 10 Forced (5 FH, 4 BH, 1 FHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45

Nishikori 38
- 26 Unforced (10 FH, 15 BH, 1 BHV)
- 12 Forced (7 FH, 5 BH)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.3

(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...
- 9/14 (64%) at net, including...
- 0/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve

Nishikori was 6/11 (55%) at net

Match Report
Great showing from Djokovic on all fronts, dominating Nishikori and forcing him beyond his comfort zone to cope, on a tilted to quick court

With excellent serving and returning in the background, Djoko indulges in his best, beat-down seamless blend of pressuring-cum-high percentage attacking tennis to brush Nish aside in first set
He carries on in same vein in the second, but Nish steps up his game out of necessity to cope by taking ball earlier and hitting wider before Djoko can push him around and back. He also serves exceptionally well and snatches the set with a late break

Nish has 2 break points in opening game of the third. Misses a routine FH on the first, and a BH dtl winner attempt on the second - not a bad shot choice. Its all downhill from there as he starts missing the attacking shots he'd shifted to playing to stay even in the second set to lose serve, and Djoko reasserts supremacy to tune of a bagel, without Nish playing badly

All aspects of Djoko's game is turned up. Serves well and just wide enough. Just 3 aces, but forcing 15/17 return errors for a healhty 34% unreturned rate speaks to his getting the placement just right. And not just 1st serves. Some wonderful, forcefully high kicked 2nds too

Nishi also had 3 aces and draws similar 10/13 FE heavy yield of return errors. Its quick enough court to reward good serving, but Nishi above personal par in hitting his spots. Unlike Djoko though, his 2nd serves are average

Still, exceptionally good, attacking returning by Djoko against it, leading to Nishi winning just 17% 2nd serve points. Djoko barely misses a 2nd return, and firmly struck, deep-ish are his weakest ones. Most are a step or 2 beyond - powerful and deep or even attackingly wide. 6 double faults from Nishi don't help and many are at crucial stages. He is under intense pressure on the 2nd serve though

In short, excellent spot 1st serving from both. Good 2nd serving and very good 2nd returning by Djoko - all credit to him

Djoko leads baseline rallies with beat-down strong hitting and typical depth off both sides, with regular attacking longline change-ups thrown in (especially off BH). And he comes in after pushing Nishi back to finish. Not much need to volley and good lot of his 9/14 at net are near token approaches

Just 10 winners and a bit unusually, he's forced more errors at 12 than that. That ratios the 'just-enough-and-no-more' way of attacking. The low 10 UEs is the cleaniness of his game

In first set, Nishi gets pushed around and back and rendered helpless, with Djoko hitting harder and earlier. From 2nd set on, Nishi serves better and pointedly takes charge of rallies (actively looking to do so) by hitting wider and earlier. There are some wonderful, open court rallies with one, the other or both run side to side, and good lot of them end with Nishi lashing a winner

Spectacular as the points are, it also speaks to how much Nishi has to do win points against the should be on defence Djoko. He doesn't have to do an unsustainable amount to finish, but would need to play very, very well to keep it up. The UEs come too trying to force the pace. He's strained to be this aggressive, whereas Djoko seems to be playing within himself and un-riskily

Nishi's got 13 winners (3 more than his more clinical opponent) and forces 10 errors (2 fewer than the defensively rabid Djoko). He holds equal on aggressive front

 

[Waspsting]

His 26 UEs to Djoko's 10 is biggest difference in play. Djoko is simply, very clean - even in defence, he's hard to get a ball past. Nishi's errors are beat out of him, or products of straining for more on his shots. He's rarely sloppy (i.e. missing routine balls), and doesn't face to many 'routine' balls, with Djoko pressing towards taking charge from neutral rallies at the least. Breakdown of UEs -

- Defensive - Nishi 1
- Neutral - Djoko 7, Nishi 12
- Attacking - Djoko 1, Nishi 5
- Winner attempts - Djoko 2, Nishi 8

Both players doing well off thier FH usually leads to good action. Djoko with miserly 3 UEs, while hitting 6 winners is top notch. Nishi with 10 winnners and UEs apiece is excellent also. Of the winners, equal 3 cc and dtl is a bit unusual (exluding 2 cc passes). The cc shots are wrong-footers or end the finisher of corner to corner 1-2s. The dtl is classic, shot making. Djoko has 0 dtl winners and doesn't look to hit winners with the shot, preferring a hard hit, deep shot instead

Major problem for Nish is being outhit BH-BH. Groundstroke UEs read -

- Djoko FH 3
- Djoko BH 6
- Nishi FH 10
- Nishi BH 15

Clean all around from Djoko, amidst hard hitting, pressuring play with eye to take charge while strong in defence also. Nishi's FH doing a lot of damage. BH-BH, though Nishi is out. Djoko has hitting advantage and presses it home by beat-down play (including with longline change-ups), Nishi can't get his BH wide enough to counter-attack. Straight hit for hit, he can't match Djoko's pace and depth for long, so his potential counter is hitting wide. Something he does well in general. Here, he tries, but can't get it wide enough to keep from Djoko moving over and pounding the next shot just as hard

Match Progression
From 1-1, Djoko reels of 6 games in a row. His serve is on point - he loses 1 point in the 3 holds during the run, with 7/12 serves unreturned - and beats Nishi down from the back, while coming forward to finish points on top of it

Nishi breaks back to level 2nd set 1-1, with some attacking returns. And then ups his attacking play for rest of set, including the serve. 9/21 of his serves are unreturned for rest of set and he's able to hit wide returns against Djoko's not-inviting 2nd serves. There are some spectacular points and open court rallies in this part of match, with Nishi usually winning them. He grabs the sole break to take lead 5-3, finsihing the game with a FH dtl winner to end an open court rally and then a FH inside-out pass winner after drop shotting Djoko in and drawing a defensive touch OH with a lob

Easy serve out, with 2/3 of his aces coming in the game level match at 1 set all with momentum on Nishi's side

Nishi's continues with strong returns and groundies in 3rd set opener to point of Djoko going for an unlikely FH inside-in winner that he misses to go down 2 break points. Nishi misses FH against powerful shot on first, and misses a BH dtl winner attempt on the second. Djoko goes on to hold

And then Djoko runs away with match. 0 UEs for rest of it and he again takes to beating Nishi down. The first break comes from a poor game from Nish, with 1/6 first serves in, a double fault and 3 groundstroke UEs. There's a pair of double faults in the next break and Nishi doubles down match point too. Just 1/12 second serve points won for the set by Nishi. Double faults aside, he doesn't play badly and his second serve is under pressure, with Djoko cracking returns

Summing up, great, seamless showing from Djokovic - contained in both his pressuring and attacking hitting and in defending/counter-attacking with vigour when needed. Before any of that, he also hits his spots with the serve and returns with lusty force, while again, appearing to be in complete control. Not bad from Nishikori, who ups his attacking play beyond his comfort zone to hang about even, but he can't sustain it and he's outhit when doing anything less than that