Match Stats/Report - Djokovic vs Tsitsipas, French Open final, 2021

[Waspsting]

Novak Djokovic beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7(6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in the French Open final, 2021 on clay

It was Djokovic’s second title at the event and gave him a double career Grand Slam Slam. Tsitsipas was playing his first Slam final. The two had played a 5 set semi at previous years tournament about 7 months ago with Djokovic winning. Djokovic had won the Australian Open, would go onto win Wimbledon and finish runner-up at the US Open for the year

Djokovic won 164 points, Tsitsipas 147

Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (91/134) 68%
- 1st serve points won (71/91) 78%
- 2nd serve points won (23/43) 53%
- Aces 5, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (29/134) 22%

Tsitsipas...
- 1st serve percentage (109/177) 62%
- 1st serve points won (73/109) 67%
- 2nd serve points won (34/68) 50%
- Aces 16 (1 not clean), Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (46/177) 26%

Serve Pattern
Djokovic served...
- to FH 45%
- to BH 55%

Tsitsipas served...
- to FH 41%
- to BH 49%
- to Body 10%

Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 127 (70 FH, 57 BH), including 5 runaround FHs
- 5 Winners (5 FH)
- 29 Errors, comprising...
- 15 Unforced (7 FH, 8 BH)
- 14 Forced (9 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (127/173) 73%

Tsitsipas made...
- 102 (60 FH, 42 BH), including 19 runaround FHs
- 2 Winners (2 FH)
- 23 Errors, comprising...
- 13 Unforced (9 FH, 4 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 10 Forced (6 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (102/131) 78%

Break Points
Djokovic 5/16 (8 games)
Tsitsipas 3/8 (4 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Djokovic 49 (29 FH, 13 BH, 4 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 OH)
Tsitsipas 43 (26 FH, 7 BH, 3 FHV, 3 BHV, 4 OH)

Djokovic's FHs - 9 cc (2 returns, 1 pass), 1 cc/inside-in, 3 dtl (1 pass), 1 dtl/inside-out, 4 inside-out (1 at net), 5 inside-in (2 returns), 1 longline, 2 drop shots, 1 lob and 2 running-down-drop-shot dtl at net (1 pass)
- BHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 4 dtl and 7 drop shots

- 1 FHV was a swinging shot and another can reasonably be called an OH

Tsitsipas' FHs - 4 cc (1 return, 2 passes - 1 a turnaround shot), 7 dtl (1 pass at net), 2 dtl/inside-out, 4 inside-out (1 return), 5 inside-in, 1 inside-in/cc, 1 longline and 2 running-down-drop-shot passes at net (1 cc, 1 dtl)
- BHs - 5 dtl, 1 longline/cc and 1 drop shot

- 2 FHVs were swinging shots and 1 other can reasonably be called an OH
- 1 OH was on the bounce from no-man's land

Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Djokovic 55
- 36 Unforced (21 FH, 12 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)... with 1 non-net swinging FHV
- 19 Forced (12 FH, 5 BH, 1 FH1/2V, 1 BHV)... with 2 FH running-down-drop-shots at net
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.8

Tsitsipas 82
- 49 Unforced (26 FH, 22 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- 33 Forced (22 FH, 10 BH, 1 FHV)... with 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.6

(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 19/33 (58%) at net

Tsitsipas was...
- 21/33 (64%) at net, including...
- 0/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve
---
- 2/4 (50%) forced back

Match Report
Fitness is the key in a historic match where Novak Djokovic completes a double career Grand Slam: Tsitsipas’ legs are close to gone by the end and are ‘going’ considerably before then to a discredit worthy degree, though Djokovic plays a commandingly, bossy match despite a flat phase of his own

As such, match progresses strangely. A nervy double fault from Tsis opens proceedings and he plays a nervy game, before finding himself to finish with 3 aces to hold, saving 2 break points along the way. Djoko meanwhile is cool and collected and wins his first 13 service point. Set ends tensely with Djoko breaking at 11th hour to serve for the set at 6-5, only for Tsis to break back and force tiebreak. Good, tough ‘breaker too, and its Djoko who has the first set point. Tsis muscles a third ball winner against a hefty return on it - just as he’d done in first game of match and takes the set

Djoko comes out flat and poor in set 2 - and Tsis runs away with it

Djoko takes a bathroom break in between sets. He’s still flat on resumption but steels himself to solidity, before gradually improving to play his best tennis. Tsis isn’t far behind, and its a top class set of tennis with 2 players sharing 25 winners in 64 points (28 including aces), with Djoko the better and winning it

Tsis takes a medical time-out on court between sets. And changes the clay stained shirt he’d been wearing after an early tumble. There doesn’t appear to be much wrong with him other than fatigue, and that doesn’t get better

From then on, Tsis standard falls at linear rate - first his shot tolerance, then his movement. Two go hand in hand, but that’s the order in which things manifest. Djoko hard-hittingly and smartly controls and commands play from then to the end. Tsis to his credit does maintain some excellent shot-making - adventurous, point finishing shots from routine positions, that he usually pulls off. If he’s tempted to go all in looking for winners all the time, he wisely, controls the itch. BHs and drop shots are as prominent in these great shots as much as FH

That’s in context of being handily outplayed on the staple rallying front and Djoko even has luxury of dropping the ‘hard-hitting and commanding’ way of playing to almost keeping ball in court and waiting for Tsis to falter towards the very end (though that’s still smart, given how Tsis outmatched Tsis is rallying). 6-2 scoreline for 4th set is fair indicator of difference between two players and 6-4 in the 5th is deceptive. Not much difference between the two sets. In the decider, Djoko serves 27 points, Tsis 42. On top of being broken, Tsis faces break points in 2 other games and is taken to deuce once more beyond that. Djoko’s only deuce game is a nervy serve out

Djokovic doesn’t face break point in last 3 sets. The only time he’s taken to deuce is the last game of the match. Meanwhile, he’s 4/13 (6 games) on break points over same interval

In a pack of nutshells - good first set, with Tsis overcoming a nervy start to hold even with the cool Djokovic - and snatching tiebreak. Flat second set from Djoko, who continues flat-ish at start of third from where he gradually strengthens himself to top form, and the third is a great set of tennis and finally, Tsis shrinking weaker and weaker beyond that as Djoko dominates

Serve & Return
The two standouts are Tsis’ serve and Djoko’s return

Some very powerful, precise serving from Tsis. He’s got Djoko standing well back to take first returns, which is telling in itself. And he’s got 16 aces (and a service winner) from 109 first serves - or 1 every 6.4 serves. To contrast, the solidly strong serving Djoko can manage just one every 15.2

Djoko returns with more authority as match wears on - both for Tsis’ pace inevitably dropping and Djoko getting more comfortable on the return. Even so, he keeps a respectful backward position to return first serves. Wisely, and to good effect

Both favour returning off the FH. For Tsis, its a good idea because his FH is obviously stronger than the BH. He’s got 19 runaround FH returns, almost as often in ad court as deuce. The ad court runaround stuff probably isn’t worth it. He doesn’t hit hard enough to pressure Djoko and the extra space he gives Djoko to hit third ball into starts the running-around play that wears him down. BH return might not be strong, but its not weak enough that Djoko can finish points on third ball (he rarely looks to) or take complete charge of

Whatever the thinking, runaround FH returning from ad court has more negatives than positives for Tsis

Djoko leading with FH is a sign of aggressive intent. He’s only got 5 runaorund FHs - not high by general standard, but significant for him, who generally (i.e. other matches) takes returns on whichever side it comes. He also invariably moves to take FH return to body and body-ish serves

5 FH return winners for Djoko. 3 are cc to Tsis attacking wide serve first serve in deuce court. 2 are inside-in to cramping serves

Winners make up small part of Djoko’s effectiveness on the return. As match wears on, he returns hard and deep more and more. Tsis second serve is good enough to keep Djoko from pounding returns to the baseline too often - hence the decent 50% second serve points won - and he’s also willing to take on (and makes) winners against hefty returns

Gist - solid serving, good returning from Djokovic. Very good serving and decent returning from Tsis

 

[Waspsting]

Play - Baseline (& Net)
Quality, nature and balance between who has better of play varies some across match, as you’d expect over 5 sets on clay - and with given scoreline

Djoko shifts through standard solid to start, going flat, improving gradually to strongly hard hitting cum sound attacking and finally, winding down to soundly solid (in response to Tsis being weak). On the whole, he plays superbly

Tsis has a brief nervy start, grows from that to matching Djoko’s standard solid (with more power and damaging ability with his FH), is close to matching Djoko’s best hard hitting cum attacking play and then, loses his legs. His movement and shot tolerance goes down at steady rate for last 2 sets where he’s handily outplayed. Doesn’t lose his head though, and still engages some outstanding shotmaking, including off the BH

Well as Djoko plays, Tsis’ weakening shapes result more. Djoko’s hard hitting and moves Tsis around early on - and Tsis ability to resist power and depth or make ‘gets’ on the run and slide is excellent. As good as Djoko’s own, which isn’t tested as much. Defensively and of counter-punching, very good from both early on

That’s where Tsis fades. And when he does, its Djoko pounding him down and moving him around - and not much resistance to it

To be clear Djoko plays extremely well. Last two sets are something of a mismatch. Tsis being outplayed by Novak Djokovic isn’t eye-brow raising, but being outright mismatched is odd - and discredit to Tsis for that. Seems to be a stamina issue. Its hot and play is tough, with Tsis doing most of the running. Tsis is never a ‘gone’ case, but is far along on the ‘going’ spectrum for last 2 sets

Play is baseline based, with Djokovic usually leading. He chooses to do so primarily off the FH. That’s bold a choice give how groundies match up

When both are playing well (which is situation when Djoko starts the leading), Tsis has more powerful, damaging FH. Enough to simply overpower Djoko from standard positions, though Djoko’s shot resistance is high enough to temper that and as ever, he’s strong in defence. Not much faltering from Tsis when has Djoko on defensive and he’s able to keep at it to winning points, unless Djoko comes up with a rare counter-attackingly deep shot to snatch initiative or end point

Djoko for his part hits solidly hard and goes attackingly wide cc. Not to hitting winner degree, but enough to ‘force errors’ (which usually don’t come either because Tsis is good defensively too)

Djoko’s BH is typically rock-like solid. Tsis’ is the softest hit shot out there and not confidence inspiring. Nonetheless, Tsis BH holds up better than the FH early on

Point is, leading with BH cc seems like good plan but Djoko actively chooses a livlier way

Djokovic genuinely attacks with BH dtl in selective, sound way. In general, he tends not to and hits longline as midly attacking change-ups. Plenty of that here too - but also bona fida point finishing dtl BHs by Djoko. He rarely misses when he goes for it and Tsis ability to handle it varies across match.

With wide FH cc and BH dtl shots, its Tsis’ FH that’s mainly under the hammer. While BH-BH rallies have feel of Djoko pressing ahead, Tsis resisting

Both players utilize drop shots well. Tsis does so more - particularly when tiring and not feeling like continuing a bruising rally and follows it to net. Djoko does so better. He’s in better position as he pushes Tsis back. Djoko goes cc more often than line with the drop shot, contrary to his usual habit. Its a huge improvement - and rewards follow

How does it look numbers? Outrageously good from Djoko (to flattering extent) and good from Tsis (also slightly flattering) - the flattery coming from Tsis flagging movements and shot resistance as match wears on

- Winners - Djoko 49, Tsis 43
- Errors Forced - Djoko 33, Tsis 19
- UEs - Djoko 36, Tsis 49

For starters, 49 winners, 36 UEs from Djoko is beyond outstanding for 5 sets of baseline clay tennis, leaving aside forcing 33 errors

He’s in the positives off both wings -
- FH 29 winners, 21 UEs
- BH 13 winners, 12 UEs

And Tsis with -
- FH 26 winners and UEs apiece
- BH 7 winners, 22 UEs

I can’t think of another baseline match of such lenght - let alone one on clay - where a players is in positives on winners/UEs differential off both wings

Both doing very well off the FH, and looks roughly. What puts it in Djoko’s favour is Tsis by far match high 22 FH FEs (Djoko has 19 total, Tsis other FEs total 11). Most are drawn by Djoko’s powerful, wide FH cc, though BH dtl draw errors too

Higher lot of Tsis’ FH winners would be set up by serve too, while Djoko outhits him from rallies to set up his winners. Tsis also nails winners - even off BH - against hefty returns, particularly on crucial points

Tsis BH figures are normal enough for a long clay court match. Djoko’s are extraordinary and particularly the low UE count. 7/13 of his BH winners are drop shots, which he executes beautifully, usually going cc which makes the odd line stand out as even more sublime. Hitting more power BH winners than making UEs over 5 sets would be just about unprecedented (what he’s done might be anyway)

Djoko +16 winners/UE differential, +46 winners + errors forced/UE differential

Well as he plays, he doesn’t play that well. Tsis’ movement problems, giving up forced errors without much resistance for much of match and getting out hit to give up weak balls has hand in all of the above Djoko numbers

What those numbers are accurately capturing is Djoko doesn’t sit back and play who-blinks-first (which he did in getting trounced by a similar opponent in the ‘15 final). He has hitting advantage (which he does over most opponents) and utilizes it to attack both soundly and extremely well

Forcing 33 errors to hitting 49 winners shows a very good balance from Djoko in how vigorously he attacks. He’s not one to overdo going for lines and winners. His neutral UE advantage is 15-24, he’s the harder hitter off the BH and off the FH, can resist Tsis’ slight hitting advantage or go attackingly wide cc to put Tsis on defensive from routine positions

UE breakdown -
- Defensive - Tsis 1
- Neutral - Djoko 15, Tsis 24
- Attacking - Djoko 14, Tsis 9
- Winner Attempts - Djoko 7, Tsis 15

The neutral UEs would be mostly BHs, on which wing Djoko leads 12-22. Could readily play a BH-BH outlasting game, but leads with FH instead

14 attacking UEs while forcing 33 errors by Djoko. On clay, most ‘attacking’ shots don’t actually draw errors and as often as not, the ones they do are marked UEs. 14 is a decent price to pay, though well worth it, and speaks to Djoko pressing forward. Even early on whenTsis defensive retrieving, running and putting attacking shots back in play is excellent, Djoko forces errors more often than missing attacking shots. The success rate shoots up as match goes on and Tsis resistance falls

To be clear, they’re still very much ‘forced errors’, tough shots against some combo of hard hit, wide and/or deep balls - great credit to Djoko for it, more so than a considerable blackmark against Tsis

Finally, the balance of aggresively ended points
- Djoko 49 winners, forcing 33 errors
- Tsis 43 winners, forcing 19 errors

While defensive capability has large hand in FE gap, Djoko’s sober attacking vigour comes out too. A general strenght of his - he rarely goes overboard attacking and avoids error spurts that come with that. As is, 7 winner attempt UEs for 49 winners is top notch - still, it doesn’t make him overconfident. If anything, he cools it down a bit to let neutral consistency advantage work for him

Tsis’ ratio of hitting winners to forcing errors is typical of an attacking player with little middle ground (and in this case, against a strong defender) and tends to come at high cost of errors. As such, he’s done well too - 15 winner attempt UEs is very good for 43 winners, especially since he takes on some difficult ones and 9 attacking errors for forcing 19 errors against a tough defender on clay isn’t bad either. His problem is being relagated to reactive and defensive positon more often than not

 

[Waspsting]

Match Progression
Tsis opens his first Slam final with a double fault and faces break point soon after as Djoko smacks a FH cc return winner. Tsis responds by muscling a third ball BH dtl winner against a decent return; He takes on shots like these at times like these all match, usually pulling them off

Tsis responds to second break point with 3 aces to hold. Gradually, Tsis settles into match from nervy start, which among other things, sees Djoko win his first 13 service points. Djoko’s a bit lead footed on some returns but covers the court in rally effortlessly. Tsis slides and retrieves well too in the baseline rallies

Tsis BH looks softest shot on show, his FH the most powerful. Djoko is solid of shot off both sides. In fact, its Tsis FH that gives up most errors and his BH holds up well. Play is moving-around of nature, with Tsis doing more of the running. Djoko switches to more back-away FH hitting to augment his BH superiority

Comfy holds after the opener turns on its head towards the end. Serving at 4-5, Djoko’s down break point, which he erases with a wide BH cc. Then breaks in an error riddled game by Tsis to leave himself serving for the set. Couple of attacking errors proves costly as Tsis breaks back to send set into ‘breaker

Tsis races into 4-0 lead with Djoko double faulting a point ending BH dtl. Djoko takes net to equalize in time and has the first set point at 5-6. On it, gets a deep return off, but like in first game, Tsis takes on the winner and makes it FH inside-in. Couple points later, its Tsis’ first set point where a rally develops, where Djoko misses an attacking FH against a deep ball.

Excellent start to match. Other than nervy first game, little in it between the 2. Tsis serves 47 points, to Djoko’s 38 and wins 43 points to 42

Djoko’s a bit flat in the second set. Play is FH based and Tsis more powerful and damaging, and also hits his BH cleaner, with full sweep BHs than earlier. Some good attacking BH dtl shots from Djoko and exemplary ‘gets’ of them by Tsis

Poor game to be broken at start by Djoko but he pushes Tsis to deuce right after. For third time at least, Tsis putsaway a winner against a good return to end the game. Djoko’s ‘flatness’ doesn’t cost him much, other than Tsis holding readily. The second break is good game from Tsis with 3 winners, with the running-down-drop-shot cc one particularly good. Doesn’t seem likely, but this turns out to be last break point Tsis has in the match

Djoko tanks the last game of the set to fall behind 2 sets

Third is best tennis of the match, a great baseline contest. Djok’s still flat to start and declines chasing a small number of retrievable balls. The turning point of match is game 4, and even more keenly, 40-15 of that game. On that point, Djoko nails a difficult BH dtl winner from tough position - the shot choice, let alone his making it come as a surprise in light of how he’d been playing. Game goes on for 18 points. Tsis continues hitting winners down break point. Having done so 3/4 times (Djoko misses a FH winner he’d set up perfectly on the exception), Tsis finally misses 1, a BH dtl third ball on fifth break point

No more breaks, but fantastic tennis of heavy hitting cum attacking tennis. Djoko excels with wide attacking FH cc’s and Tsis’ resistance to such shots drops a bit. Couple of top class drop shot winners from Djoko too

The 2 share 8 winners in successive points at one stage and 10/11. Tsis’ BH miss on break point is last UE in the set - there are 31 more points and 13 winners after it (there are 3 double faults and 4 return UEs though). The flatness has left Djoko, though he continues to be undemonstrative

Tsis takes a medical time out between sets, lies down and has his back and legs gone over. There’s nothing obviously wrong with him. He’s been made to run a lot

Rest of match, its Tsis that’s flat, particularly the 4th set. His movement drops off, his shot tolerance drops off and his timing is not good. Djoko though presses things home in a big way - pulling Tsis wide, hitting dtl winners or attacking shots, still throwing in the odd gorgeous drop shot, thumping returns

Top class play from Djoko, similar to previous set, but against a weakened opponent. Poor game to be broken to open, and a strong one by Djoko to break again before first change over (16 point game, ending with a line BH drop shot winner from out of nowhere) leaves Tsis down 0-3. Djoko wisely keeps him under the gun and on the move for rest of set too, though there are no more breaks. Djoko wraps up set with a third ball BH dtl winner

With Tsis weakening, prospects would favour Djoko in the decider. So it proves, despite respectable 6-4 scoreline, set is about as one sided as the previous 6-2

Djoko serves 27 points, Tsis 42. Djoko’s 1/4 (3 games) on break points, Tsis 0. Tsis takes Djoko to deuce in a nervy serve-out for the first time since end of second set. Djoko takes Tsis to 10 point game in opener (1 break point, saved with a FH dtl winner), and breaks him in third game to take early lead, hitting a very deep shot from defensive position that forces error on break point, to go up early break that he nurses to the end

To Tsis’ credit, despite his legs not being far from gone, poor footwork and still low shot resistance, he hangs tough. And continues taking on and making winners at crucial times. Uses drop shot to good effect. Djoko though continues to command play hard-hittingly for first half of set and defends as needed

Second half of set, Djoko pulls back to keep-ball-in-court stroking. It somewhat brings home how he hadn’t done so earlier. And its enough to keep his nose in front, allied to high in-count with well-measured, just enough strong serving

Bit of a flutter in serve-out as Djoko misses easy BHV winner and a regulation BH to go to 30-30. Tsis strikes a corner to corner BH dtl winner to take things to deuce. Djoko though, wraps up with Fh dtl/inside-out winner and a swinging FHV one on his second match point

Summing up, a match of oddly divided parts - with Djokovic oddly flat for a awhile and Tsitsipas less so but for longer and for clearer reason of fatigue. When both players are in good condition, the tennis is good to excellent. When either is flat, the other surges ahead playing well to excellently

On the whole, Djokovic plays superbly. He leads play with hard-hitting, attacking FHs and the battle with Tsitsipas' bigger FH is tough fight - Tsitsipas more powerful and more able to hit unanswerable shots, Djokovic strongly resistant to the greater power, powerful in his own right and able to move Tsitsipas around, particularly with wide angled cc shots. Off the BH, Djokovic has hitting and consistency advantage and goes for his dtl point finishers with sound judgement. Drop shots are icing on the cake and the winners use of the shots after pushing opponent back is exquisite

Tsitsipas' showing is clearly differentiated into fresh and not fresh. When fresh, he gives as good as he gets off the FH and hangs in reasonably well off the BH. Big, unanswerable serving completes his offence and he defends ably. When not so fresh, his movements, footwork and resistance to hard-hitting wide play drop and he's almost outmatched against Djokovic's contained, pressuring attacking play. Plays sensibly and is clutch with his shotmaking at choice times, while utilizing drop shots of his own to good effect, but clearly weaker player and gets run over

For Djokovic, a worthy showing to seal a landmark career achievement

 

[mike danny]

Tsitsipas's play after the first 2 sets was embarrassing. Especially as the circumstances were in his favor.

 

[toth]

I only have seen the deciding set.
Tsitsipas missed a lot of first serves in this set.

 

[TheNachoMan]

The first sets had me facepalming. I really thought he was going to choke it again after beating Nadal at RG

 

[BeatlesFan]

One serve and volley point between the both of them in 5 sets.

 

[Third Serve]

One serve and volley point between the both of them in 5 sets.

I mean it’s clay…

 

[Third Serve]

Many of the close matches the next gen (+Thiem) have lost against Djokovic and Nadal in the Slams have come down to the mental aspect. You’ve got Thiem fading away mentally after strong starts in his 2020 AO final or Zverev letting all those opportunities slip away in his 2021 matches with Djokovic or Medvedev imploding in the 2021 AO final and after being 2 sets up in the next year’s final (though that last one had a physical component to it).

This one, however, was more physical than mental. I’ve always thought Stef’s fitness is fairly questionable and this match demonstrates it best. His timing as you noted was falling off in the last three sets and he was getting to his shots way too late. This was still a bit surprising to me as the first few sets weren’t unusually grueling and of course Tsitsipas had youth on his side. You can’t even use the pre-final paths as explanations either as Djokovic had the much tougher draw headed into the final, a draw that included a fairly long four setter against Nadal in the semis.

 

[mike danny]

Many of the close matches the next gen (+Thiem) have lost against Djokovic and Nadal in the Slams have come down to the mental aspect. You’ve got Thiem fading away mentally after strong starts in his 2020 AO final or Zverev letting all those opportunities slip away in his 2021 matches with Djokovic or Medvedev imploding in the 2021 AO final and after being 2 sets up in the next year’s final (though that last one had a physical component to it).

This one, however, was more physical than mental. I’ve always thought Stef’s fitness is fairly questionable and this match demonstrates it best. His timing as you noted was falling off in the last three sets and he was getting to his shots way too late. This was still a bit surprising to me as the first few sets weren’t unusually grueling and of course Tsitsipas had youth on his side. You can’t even use the pre-final paths as explanations either as Djokovic had the much tougher draw headed into the final, a draw that included a fairly long four setter against Nadal in the semis.

Yeah, this one was a big fail from Tsitsipas, I don't care what others say.

 

[TheAssassin]

The first sets had me facepalming. I really thought he was going to choke it again after beating Nadal at RG

Meanwhile I already started preparing the champagne when he broke the Philosopher in the third set lol...