Match Stats/Report - Federer vs Djokovic, Cincinnati Final 2012

[Waspsting]

Roger Federer beat Novak Djokovic 6-0 7-6(7) in the Cincinnati final 2012 on hard court.

It was Federer's 5th title at the venue and Djokovic's 4 runner-up showing, at the one Masters venue where to date, he has yet to win the title

The two players were engaged in a tight race for #1 for the year. At the time of the match, Federer, who had won Wimbledon beating Djokovic in the semi-finals, was ranked #1. Djokovic went on to finish the year at the top spot

Federer won 67 points, Djokovic 50


Serve Stats
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (33/56) 59%
- 1st serve points won (27/33) 82%
- 2nd serve points won (15/23) 65%
- Aces 8, Service Winners 3
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (19/56) 34%

Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (35/61) 57%
- 1st serve points won (23/35) 66%
- 2nd serve points won (13/26) 50%
- Aces 2, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (16/61) 26%

Serve Pattern
Federer served...
to FH 53%
to BH 38%
to Body 9%

Djokovic served...
to FH 34%
to BH 64%
to Body 1%

Return Stats
Federer made...
- 40 returns (14 FH, 26 BH) with 2 run around FH
- 1 winner (1 FH)
- Errors 13 (5 FH, 8 BH), comprising. ..
- Unforced 5 (2 FH, 3 BH)
- Forced 8 (3 FH, 5 BH)
- Aced/SW'd 3 (2 FH, 1 BH)
- Return Rate (40/56) 71%

Djokovic made...
- returns 36 (20 FH, 16 BH)
- Errors 8 (5 FH, 3 BH), comprising...
- Unforced 2 (1 FH, 1BH)
- Forced 6 (4 FH, 2 BH)
- Aced/SW'd 11(6 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (36/55) 65%

Break Points
Federer 3/4 (3 games)
Djokovic 0

Winners (including returns)
Federer 17 (11 FH, 1 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BH1/2V, 2 OH)
Djokovic 8 (6 FH, 2 BH)

- Federer had 2 passes (1 FH, 1 BH), both cross court

- of his 11 FHs, 5 were cross court, 3 down the line, 2 inside-out and 1 inside-in

- Djokovic had 2 passes (1 FH, 1 BH). Both were sitters. He seemed to direct the BH one at Federer and narrowly missed him

- 1 FH was hit from the middle of the court

- of his 6 non-passes, 4 were cc and 2 (including the sole BH) were dtl


Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Federer made...
- 25 Errors (16 FH, 8 BH, 1 BHV) comprising...
- 16 Unforced (9 FH, 6 BH, 1 BHV)
- 9 Forced (7 FH, 2 BH)

Djokovic made...
- 24 Errors (13 FH, 11 BH), comprising. ..
- 12 Unforced (7 FH, 5 BH)
- 12 Forced (6 FH, 6 BH)


Net Points & Serve-Volley
Federer was 12/15 at net, including 1/1 serve-volleying

Djokovic was 0/6 (no serve-volley points)

4 of the approaches were forced (i.e. had to come in to intercept shots)
the 2 voluntary approaches both resulted in passing shot winners from his opponent

 

[Waspsting]

Match Report
The first set was - and to date remains - the only bagel between these two players. And apparently, it came way out of left field

Both players were unbroken coming into the final, according to the commentators, Federer having held 34 times, Djokovic 31

20 minutes later, Fed had advanced to 37, while Djokovic remained on 31

Amidst the horror that was Djokovic's showing in the opener, highlighted by 4 double faults, Federer had his typical sublime moments... a backhand volley finish after moving the Serb around with forehands from the baseline, a lovely backhand drop shot and a powerful inside-out forehand winner set up with a slice that clung to the ground

And a 1 minute service hold consisting of 3 aces and a service winner

Fortunately, Set 2 was competitive all the way with neither player reaching deuce, much less having a break point

Federer looked to play forehands as much as possible and regularly backed away to hit inside-out forehands from the backhand side of the court. He made several errors in doing so, usually going for the winner

He also looked slow to me, certainly compared to Djokovic. A number of what I've judged 'forced errors' from the Swiss were a result of his moving to the ball late... one senses if Djokovic 'error-ed' on those balls, they would have been categorized as 'unforced' because he would have gotten into position for a regulation shot. It should be kept in mind though that Djokovic's court coverage was very good

There weren't many backhand-to-backhand rallies and this is where Djokovic failed to challenge for control. With Fed often leaving the court open by playing inside-out forehands, Djok had the opportunity to take charge with backhand down the line

He rarely did

Instead, he seemed keen to take on Fed forehand to forehand. He was reasonably successful and by no stretch disgraced himself. .. but perhaps would have been better off channeling that gusto to exploiting Federer leaving the court open in backhand scenarios

Federer was at his best at net. He usually worked his way in and showed fine touch on the volley. That and some superb pinpoint serving put him over in the second set

A sloppy match by the standards of the two great champions. Even with the first set blow out, Federer finished just +1 on winners over unforced errors. Still, one of the pairs more significant non-Slam encounters

(One interesting tidbit regarding Djokovic's second serve points. He lost 12/15, before finishing off by winning 10/11 to finish 50-50)

 

[KG1965]

Match Report
The first set was - and to date remains - the only bagel between these two players. And apparently, it came way out of left field

Both players were unbroken coming into the final, according to the commentators, Federer having held 34 times, Djokovic 31

20 minutes later, Fed had advanced to 37, while Djokovic remained on 31

Amidst the horror that was Djokovic's showing in the opener, highlighted by 4 double faults, Federer had his typical sublime moments... a backhand volley finish after moving the Serb around with forehands from the baseline, a lovely backhand drop shot and a powerful inside-out forehand winner set up with a slice that clung to the ground

And a 1 minute service hold consisting of 3 aces and a service winner

Fortunately, Set 2 was competitive all the way with neither player reaching deuce, much less having a break point

Federer looked to play forehands as much as possible and regularly backed away to hit inside-out forehands from the backhand side of the court. He made several errors in doing so, usually going for the winner

He also looked slow to me, certainly compared to Djokovic. A number of what I've judged 'forced errors' from the Swiss were a result of his moving to the ball late... one senses if Djokovic 'error-ed' on those balls, they would have been categorized as 'unforced' because he would have gotten into position for a regulation shot. It should be kept in mind though that Djokovic's court coverage was very good

There weren't many backhand-to-backhand rallies and this is where Djokovic failed to challenge for control. With Fed often leaving the court open by playing inside-out forehands, Djok had the opportunity to take charge with backhand down the line

He rarely did

Instead, he seemed keen to take on Fed forehand to forehand. He was reasonably successful and by no stretch disgraced himself. .. but perhaps would have been better off channeling that gusto to exploiting Federer leaving the court open in backhand scenarios

Federer was at his best at net. He usually worked his way in and showed fine touch on the volley. That and some superb pinpoint serving put him over in the second set

A sloppy match by the standards of the two great champions. Even with the first set blow out, Federer finished just +1 on winners over unforced errors. Still, one of the pairs more significant non-Slam encounters

(One interesting tidbit regarding Djokovic's second serve points. He lost 12/15, before finishing off by winning 10/11 to finish 50-50)

I remember seeing the match. The first set was without story, Djokovic left slowly. The second set was a real battle. Very beautiful.
IMHO (ignoring what they say h2h) for me Federer suffered a lot of Rafa's game, Nadal suffered damn Djokovic because he entered the field and anticipated him, ... but Djokovic could not stand Roger's game because the Swiss attacked him a lot at that time and the passing-shot of Nole IMHO was not very competitive. He often won Nole but not in very fast terrains and anyway ... even for some physical problem with Roger. The trajectories of Nole's baseline shots (even if were fantastic shots) were not those of Rafa.

 

[Waspsting]

Nadal suffered damn Djokovic because he entered the field and anticipated him, ...

McEnroe said virtually the same thing during 1984 Forest Hills tournament, when asked about how/why Lendl used to dominate him but now he dominates Lendl

Said he was focused on Borg and Connors, not Lendl at the time... and that's easier and more natural for the up & comer to focus on the top players than the other way round

Djokovic could not stand Roger's game because the Swiss attacked him a lot at that time and the passing-shot of Nole IMHO was not very competitive

Initially, I thought Fed dominated play primarily forehand-to-forehand (and he could hold off Djoko on the other wing, if not dominate him, no problem)

The biggest change I remember when Djoko turned things around was him beefing up his forehand. A lot of things happened - Fed lost a step naturally, Djoko beefed up other things like return, defence as well - but the forehand was the main one imo

2011-2016, Djokovic was roughly equal with Fed on the FH

I think Fed took to attacking the net more and more a bit later than 2012

That's why Djoko's strategy in this match struck me as odd, maybe even egotistical. It seemed like he was trying to prove he could beat Federer forehand to forehand - and maybe he could, but he'd have to overcome the ever present relative disadvantage he has against Federer's much better serve. So much more logical to attack the backhand, where he already had a substantial advantage, no?

In this context, two points stuck out in this match to my eye

One was FH-FH. Fed had Djoko running all over the place - forehand inside-in sends Djoko running, than forehand inside-out sent him running the other way then forehand crosscourt starts it all over again... but Djokovic smacked that with a brilliant running FH cc winner (passed Federer's attempt at a defensive FH squash shot). A real FH symphony from Fed - yet Djoko came out on top. Winning a battle, losing the war

The other was BH-BH. One of the very few extended affairs of the type they had. I can't even remember who won the point, but I liked the way Fed didn't hold back on the BH cc, taking big full swings... a couple of years later, when Djoko had firmly established himself as the better player and seemed to be in Fed's head a bit, the Swiss tended to play this shots half-checked and weakly

Regarding Djoko's passing shots in this match... no, they weren't anything special, but overall, I would credit Fed's volleying more than discredit Djoko's passing attempts for this one

I enjoyed the attempt to hit Fed. The Swiss flubbed a volley and was a sitting duck at net, as Djoko stepped in to hit the easy pass. He could have put it anywhere and he chose to go at his opponent. Strategically, I think this is a good move... it gives the net-rusher one more thing to think about next time

 

[KG1965]