Meta Match Stats/Reports - Djokovic vs Wawrinka, Australian Open fourth round & US Open semi-final, 2013, Australian Open quarter-final, 2014 & semi-f

[Waspsting]

Novak Djokovic beat Stan Wawrinka 1-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-7(5), 12-10 in the Australian Open fourth round, 2013 on hard court

Djokovic, the double defending champion, would go onto win the title, beating Andy Murray in the final. The two would meet again for next 2 years, both matches going to 5 sets with Wawrinka winning in 2014, Djokovic in 2015 and both times, the winner going onto win the title. They’d meet later in the year at US Open in another 5 setter with Djokovic again winning

Djokovic won 209 points, Wawrinka 200

Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (129/195) 66%
- 1st serve points won (92/129) 71%
- 2nd serve points won (36/66) 55%
- Aces 7 (1 second serve), Service Winners 2
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (50/195) 26%

Wawrinka...
- 1st serve percentage (133/214) 62%
- 1st serve points won (91/133) 68%
- 2nd serve points won (42/81) 52%
- Aces 16 (1 second serve), Service Winners 3
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (55/214) 26%

Serve Pattern
Djokovic served...
- to FH 42%
- to BH 50%
- to Body 8%

Wawrinka served...
- to FH 56%
- to BH 33%
- to Body 11%

Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 157 (88 FH, 69 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 2 winners (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 36 Errors, comprising...
- 17 Unforced (14 FH, 3 BH)
- 19 Forced (14 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (157/212) 74%

Wawrinka made...
- 140 (64 FH, 76 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 41 Errors, comprising...
- 14 Unforced (6 FH, 8 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 27 Forced (17 FH, 10 BH)
- Return Rate (140/190) 74%

Break Points
Djokovic 7/15 (9 games)
Wawrinka 7/18 (11 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Djokovic 39 (17 FH, 10 BH, 5 FHV, 3 BHV, 4 OH)
Wawrinka 48 (18 FH, 19 BH, 4 FHV, 4 BHV, 3 OH)

Djokovic's FHs - 7 cc (1 pass, 1 possibly not clean), 5 dtl (3 passes - 1 at net), 2 inside-out, 2 inside-in and 1 net chord dribbler return
- BHs - 5 cc (2 passes, 1 at net) and 5 dtl (2 passes - 1 a net chord flicker, 1 return)

- 1 FHV was swinging, no-net shot
- 2 OHs were on the bounce and 1 OH was non-net but on the full

Wawrinka's FHs - 6 cc (2 at net), 3 dtl (1 pass, 1 at net around the net post), 7 inside-out, 1 inside-in and 1 running-down-drop-shot cc pass at net
- BHs - 6 cc (1 pass), 9 dtl (1 pass), 1 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 inside-in return and 1 net chord dribbler

- 1 from a serve-volley point, a first volley BHV

- 2 non-net OHs on the bounce

Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Djokovic 92
- 55 Unforced (29 FH, 25 BH, 1 FHV)
- 37 Forced (16 FH, 19 BH, 1 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.5

Wawrinka 118
- 89 Unforced (38 FH, 49 BH, 2 BHV)... with 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
- 29 Forced (13 FH, 13 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net, 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net & 1 FH was a challenge
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.9

(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...
- 21/29 (72%) at net, with...
- 0/1 forced back

Wawrinka was...
- 29/45 (64%) at net, including...
- 1/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve
---
- 3/4 (75%) forced back/retreated

Match Report
A good match and a very interesting one that goes beyond the end of the wire. Action is simple, dual winged tilted to BH based baseline rallying. On whole and over most of match, Djokovic has better of it because he's considerably better at keeping ball in play. Over minority periods, Wawrinka edges ahead because he's offensively more potent. Court is normal paced, with low-ish bounce

To be clear, its not a Wawrinak attacks/Djokovic defends or even a Wawrinka leads/Djokovic reacts type encounter, though Wawa is the more aggressive player. Rallies consist of sound baseline play with easy, clinical hitting. During majority Djoko up in play parts, Wawa gives up the errors before Djoko does. During minority Wawa up parts, Wawa matches Djoko's consistency - and from there, is able to move into attacking from that sound base. Wawa does not proactively take charge or look to often

Its also a match of parts and both players deliver hidden bagels. Wawa does so right at the start after Djoko holds for 1-0 and carries on in similar vein to break 5 times in a row and serves for 2 sets lead. Djoko's 6 game winning streak starts just before Wawa serves for the second set and levels the match at a set apiece

1) While Wawa wins 6 games in a row -
Wawa has 9 winners, errors forced 4, 2 UEs
Djoko 0 winners, errors forced 4, 6 UEs

This is Wawa flowing and top notch numbers from him, almost flawless. Not bad from Djoko but brushed aside

2) While Djokovic wins 6 games in a row -
Wawa has 1 winner (a net chord dribbler), errors forced 1, 17 UEs (Wawa's winner and the error he forces takes him to 30-0, before he's broken for first time)
Djoko 3 winners, 1 error forced, 2 UEs

This is Wawa ebbing and terrible numbers from him. Djoko is particularly solid

3) Rest of match (including 1st game, preceding Wawa winning 6 games in a row), totalling 52 games (including tiebreaker)
Wawa 38 winners, forces 32 errors, 70 UEs,
Djokovic 36 winners, forces 24 errors, 47 UEs

This is staple and Djoko has considerably better of it.
Winners + Errors Forced/UE differential - Djoko +13, Wawa 0
Djoko winning 130 points, Wawa 117

Rate of unreturned serves don't vary much across the 3 parts and double faults are neglible factor

If Djoko has better of things, its not to a decisive degree and he's open to both a who-plays-big-points-better bug or a Wawa flowing phase upsetting his better-player apple cart. As long as Wawa can stay in touching distance (he can and does) and as he's established right at the start in almost flawless fashion, he can turn around trend to come out on top

Djoko leads slightly in all basic area -
- 1st serve in +4%
- 1st serve points won +3%
- 2nd serve points won +3%

Djokovic wins 51.1% of the points while serving 47.7% of them

But its Wawa who has break points in 11 games to Djoko's 9 (they both end up breaking 7 times). So result is up in the air

And probably diverted by a bad line-call, augmented by Wawa's choice to not contest it. Returning with break point at 4-4 in the decider, Wawa belts a runaround FH return to the baseline. Djoko half-volleys it softly into play and as soon as he makes contact, seems to indicate the return was out. Fraction of a second later, its called out (unaffected by Djoko’s gesture). Wawa turns to the Chair, who gives him a solemn nod confirming the call

The ball was more inside the court than on the line

With no call, most likely ending to point is a Wawa, run-up FH inside-out point ending shot. More likely still, Djoko challenging the no-call and losing the point that way since he seems to stop playing after his return, though there’s virtually no lag between that and the call coming

Wawa doesn’t challenge. At 4-4 and with challenges to be reset at 6-6, what exactly is he holding out for? Djoko goes on to hold the game. Wawa holds to love the game after

An unfortunate incident all around. At least Djoko made the return, however softly. His ability to recover position in a flash after making tough returns is one of the keys to the match and had he not stopped playing, could probably have even gotten into decent, defensive position to deal with Wawa’s next shot. Wawa’s quite capable of missing simple attacking shots too. Lots of pointless if’s and but’s but sticking to reality, Wawa was in complete, attacking control of the point after Djoko's defensive return

Match continues comfortably on serve after until Djoko finally breaks to end it 12-10

Serve & Return
Wawa has the stronger serve, Djoko the return. Taking the two together probably would leave Wawa in front but for Djoko's exceptional post-return movement, which makes things as close to dead equal as you could wish for

Statisitcally, they are dead equal with 26% unreturneds each

Wawa leading aces 16-7 and service winners 3-2 for overall large lead on unreturnables 19-9. He serves an unreturnable first serve 13.5% of the time, Djoko 6.2%. Simply, Wawa has much more potent serve

Remaining unreturned serves are broken down -
Return UEs - Djoko 17, Wawa 14
Return FEs - Djoko 19, Wawa 27

This is where Djoko's superiority on the return is coming through. The kinds of serves that force errors out of Wawa, don't against him. Wawa's serves are faster and swung out wider but Djoko moves to them in a flash to return. Wawa's movements are just normal - compared to Djoko's, it looks less than that

Djoko's near even UEs and FEs is a bit strange. Its due to his keeping the FEs down by making so many tough, wide returns - credit for that, not discredit for the UE rate. Wawa not nearly so good at making the tough return, but not to discredit degree

The UEs, given lenght of the match are in acceptable range for both players. Djoko does not return with his customary neutralizing or initiative-snatching depth against unforceful serves (1 reason for Wawa winning 52% second serve points)

 

[Waspsting]

Its Djoko that misses a trick in his serving directions. Majority to BH being standard operating procedure, he'd have to have a reason to deviate from it. He does - Wawa swings cleanly off the BH, and blocks or slices against particularly good serves but on FH, pushes and blocks routine returns fairly often. Nothing unduly damaging off the FH when he swings with it either

Djoko ends up drawing 22 FH return errors to 18 BHs (discounting completely the runaround FH that was erroneously called out), while serving to 42% to FH, 50% to BH (and most of the 8% to body tilted towards the BH)

Wawa does serve majority 56% to FH (along with 33% to BH and rest to body), so he's done his homework. It works. He's drawn 28 FH return errors to just 8 BHs. He doesn't suffer consequences of targetting Djoko's generaly less secure, more damaging wing because Djoko doesn't return with much heat. Looking at those numbers, might even be worth serving more to the FH

For all that, 74% return rates for both players is a good start in search for breaks

The outstanding feature of serve-return complex and Djoko's equalizer for trailing in force of serve is the speed with which he gets into position after making difficult returns out wide in particular. Wawa uses the serve aggressively to open the court and look for a powerful groundstroke into open court.

He does the first part of opening court with wide, powerful serve. Ability to do the second is hindered by Djoko recovering in a flash towards middle of court. With his stronger serve, much higher proportion of aces and good lot of advantageous starting positions, 68% first serves won by Wawa (and trailing Djoko on that measure) is a hindrance to Wawa's chances. Not much messing up on comfortable attacking third balls from Wawa involved in that and all credit to Djoko for not only making tough returns, but being on his toes right after

When boots on the other leg, weaker serves from Djoko have Wawa off-balance long enough for Djoko to step up and take charge without strain

Play - Baseline (& Net)
Play is simple. Dual winged, with majority BH cc rallies with odd longline change-ups. The neutral hitting is easy and controlled from both players. Rallies go on 'til someone blinks. Not many short balls dished out by either man, but not outstanding depth either. To regularly attack, a player would have to be proactive and take risks

Djoko prefers to keep angles on cc blunter, Wawa is the one to go challengingly wider. Djoko plays more longline change-ups. They're usually just neutral shots, at most, mildly pressuring. Wawa goes for dtl point enders now and then. Wawa is the one who looks to open the court bit by bit from where he can attack - buts its an arduous process and as often as not, thwarted by Djoko or Wawa otherwise aborts back to neutral

Its Djokovic's playground and his consistency advantage makes the match-up the kind he thrives in; bleeding opponent out gently, without doing too much or taking risks. Its Wawa's BH, particularly dtl, that pushes back against that taking over too much and complicates matters

Both dtl and even cc, Wawa can and does hurt Djoko off the BH. Wawa's BH is the most important, play shaping shot on show. That doesn't necessarily make it good. It has match high 49 UEs, but also match high 19 winners and draws at least as many of Djoko's large 37 FEs as the FH or net play does

Baseline-to-baseline and non return BHs -
8 dtl winners from Wawa to Djoko's 2
5 cc winners from Wawa to Djoko's 2
2 inside-out based winners from Wawa

... is fair reflection of the greater damage Wawa does from the back off the BH. FEs would drawn would roughly be the same - Djoko draws most of his with the FH, Wawa about equally off both sides

On other side, BH UEs read - Djoko match low 25, Wawa match high 49.

Quietly and strainlessly controlling play with BHs is a key feature of Djokovic's play in general. Here, he's getting the better of things of the BH, but a) not to degree he might be used to and b) he's not in control of matters due to how damaging Wawa's BH is

Offensively, Djoko looks to use the FH more, where hitting is a wash and he retains a consistency advantage, though a smaller one

FH UEs read - Djoko 29, Wawa 38
FH winners - Djoko 17, Wawa 18

Here, Djoko has better control (if not results) from normal rallies He's got 8 winners from classic cc based or dtl shots, Wawa 5. Wawa makes up slack with bulk 7 inside-out - shots he has to manufacture or step-up putaway shots, often as not set up by the BH

Interesting winner distributions for both players. 17 FHs, 10 BHs represents a balanced dual winged showing from Djokovic, given FH is stronger side. 18 FHs, 19 BHs from Wawa is unusual and either he's under-performed with FH or over-performed with BH

Its more the latter. Some terrific shots and attacking point construction from Wawa off the BH. Off the FH, he plays along to Djoko's lead and has nothing to temper Djoko's consistency advantage

Breakdown of UEs -
- Defensive - Djoko 1, Wawa 2
- Neutral - Djoko 27, Wawa 44
- Attacking - Djoko 11, Wawa 21
- Winner attempts - Djoko 16, Wawa 22

 

[Waspsting]

Djoko leading in all areas. The neutrals are a good place to start looking. Roughly, that's the gap Wawa would have to compensate for through aggression to stay even

The attacking errors are crucial and I'd credit Djoko's excellent defence for it. He's a lot more difficult to get an error out of on the defensive than Wawa is and most of Wawa's attacking shots come back and good lot are straight out neutralized. Good lot of hard forced errors in Djoko's 37 FEs. Considerably more so than then Wawa's 29. Wawa can be broken down by series of moderate attacking shots but it takes something particularly strong to do the same to Djoko

Djoko's defensive tolerance is a lot more impressive than his basic consistency. He's not sloppy, but he's not a wall either and there's room for improvement in his showing. Wawa is loose and occasionally sloppy which masks Djoko's less than great showing

Finally, there's net points.
Djoko's 21/29 at 72%, Wawa 29/45 at 64%

Taking the match to be 6 'sets' long, that's a very small number of approaches from Djoko. He's content to stay back. Why wouldn't he be? - he's winning from there. He does up it a bit briefly, allied to more attacking dtl shots, but its something he keeps up his sleeve or has no use for it

Trailing from back, its Wawa who'd want to consider coming in more. He usually prefers to keep attacking from the back. Volleys excellently when he does come in, but Djoko's apt to make difficult passes too. Not many short balls to come in off, so Wawa has to manufacture the approaches. 64% won is pretty good for that scenario

In all -
Winners - Djoko 39, Wawa 48
Errors Forced - Djoko 29, Wawa 37
(Points ended aggressively - Djoko 68, Wawa 85)
UEs - Djoko 55, Wawa 89

Wawa winning 17 more points aggressively, and losing 34 more through UEs - Djokovic comfortably ahead by 17 on whole

Winners + Errors Forced/UE differential... Djoko +13, Wawa -4

Not the best of matches from Wawa, even accounting for the poor ebb of losing 6 games in a row and Djoko's exceptional defence. He's net negative in the 5th set too, where he plays some of his best tennis. The looseness and his tendency to miss routine shots fairly often is a bit more than he can afford

Match Progression
Wawrinka's at his best at the start of the match. Steadier from the back than Djokovic, who isn't loose, and able to up it from there to attacking successfully. while he's able to use his serve to open up the court at once in a way Djoko isn't

Point ending BH dtl takes Wawa to deuce in opening game before 2 strong serves see Djoko hold. Then Wawa wins next 6 games. Some lovely shots from him - a smacked return to the baseline, a beautiful running BH cc winner at a fine angle out of the corner to secure his 2nd break and an around net post FH dtl winner at net (which isn't a difficult shot). Couple of good BH dtl's by Djoko too, but he's thoroughly outplayed. 9 winners, 2 UEs from Wawa in the set

Djoko stops the rot by breaking to start the second set, hitting a bit deeper and Wawa yielding 4 UEs in succession from 15-0 up. Wawa though breaks right back, passing Djoko BH cc and then winning a net point set up with a BH dtl before a Djoko blinks finishes the job. Wawa toughs out a hold to follow in a 12 point game, with Djoko missing a routine 2nd serve return on his only break point

Wawa breaks for the 5th time in a row in an excellent game where his BH dtl wins him 3 point (a passing winner, a running FH FE and a crisp winner from normal position). Few comfortable holds later, he steps up to serve for the 2 sets lead

Moves to 30-0 off a net chord dribbling winner, his 17th in match's 94 points. His next comes 43 points later. 4 more points in the game, 4 Wawa baseline blinks - and set is back on serve. Djokovic starts getting more returns in, ups his consistency off the ground a bit, starts playing a few more longline shots at start of rallies. No big changes from before - but Wawa gets outlasted and giving up the errors in medium lenght rallies. Simply, more solid from the back from Djoko and he not only wins rest of games to level at 1 set all, but breaks to start the 3rd set with good defence and some good passing and lobbing to seal Wawa's 2 BH UEs

To follow-up, Djoko manages to get broken from 40-0 up with loose BH errors. And match proceeds from there in something like normal (i.e. regular holding by both players) fashion. Just 4 more breaks in remaining 42 games after 10 in first 21 games

Some loose returning for rest of set. A couple of gorgeous Wawa BH inside-out based winners. Good tennis on the whole. Wawa's broken to give up the set. He starts by missing 2 regulation groundstrokes and a superb, stretched out FH cc passing winner from Djoko brings up 2 break/set points. He takes the second after winning a good rally, with a powerful FH cc

Wawa has slightly better of 4th set. He keeps his UEs down and opens the court bit by bit before adventurously going for dtl point ending shots or overpowering ones. Djoko also ups his attacking play, going for more dtl shots and occasionally, FH inside-outs

There are 2 break points and Wawa has them both. In seperate games. Misses a comfortable running-down-drop-shot at net after drawing a very weak ball with FH dtl on the first in game 2. And misses a regulation FH going longline on game 4. Both are 2nd serve points. Though not having break points, Djoko gets into return games too and he ends up serving 44 points in the set - just 4 more than Wawa

Wawa takes a medical time out to have his thighs massaged late in the set. Seems to be more weary than injured

Wawa is always up in the breaker after taking both return points to lead 3-0. Wonderful BH dtl winner gets him to 2-0 and the two trade FH blinks and mini-breaks right after - Djoko missing neutral longline, Wawa an approach. A great point soon after on Djoko's serve where he's thoroughly on defensive, but comes away by forcing a BH error. Djoko wins his 2 service points from 3-6 to force Wawa to serve it out. He does, ending another great rally with a FH dtl winner. 2 sets apiece

The early part of the 5th set produces the best tennis of the match. Two trade breaks to start once again. Rallies are lively with plenty of moving-opponent-around play. Djoko starts approaching more and using FH dtl more aggressively

Two trade tough holds in middle of set. Wawa holds 10 point game, with Djoko badly missing an attacking FH dtl on break point, and routine return after that. Game after lasts 14 points. Bad misses from both players in it and there are 9 UEs (including a return). Djoko has to save 4 break points. The last of these is the wrong call described earlier and Djoko holds for 5-4

Ominously, the call stifles the contest between server and returner and playing standard drops some too. After 9 games in the set -
- 2 breaks and 3 additional games with break points in them
- 5 games go to deuce
- average lenght of game 8 points

In remaining 13 games -
- 1 break and its the only one with break point
- 1 game goes to deuce (the break game)
- average lenght of game 5.62 points

In simpler words, a dog fight contest for every game deal turns into a routine/easy holds affair, until Djokovic finally breaks in a 16 point game to end the match 12-10

Wawa's BH is at center of the final game. A dtl error brings up break/match point for Djoko for second time, followed by a dtl winner, followed by a third ball cc winner, followed by another BH longline error. After a breather, Wawa misses BHs on consecutive points to give Djoko another match point. Wawa takes control of point, Djoko hangs in with difficult, defensive BHs and is upto swatting the BH cc pass when Wawa comes in to finally put an end to the encounter

Brief stats for the final set -

Djoko winning 74/145 or 51% of points while serving 65/145 or 45% of them
Break points - Djoko 2/6 (3 games), Wawa 1/8 (3 games)

Djoko - unreturned serves 26%, 1 double fault
- 18 winners, forcing 6 errors and 20 UEs... very balanced across wings with his BH having 1 more winner, 1 fewer UE and same number of FEs as the FH

Wawa - unreturned serves 25%, 2 double faults
- 13 winners, forcing 14 errors and 32 UEs... his BH lets him down somewhat and has set high 20 UEs (other groundies are 9, 10 and 12) and set low 3 winners (other groundies 5, 6 and 6). 2 of those winners are in the last game, as are 5 of the UEs

Summing up, a tense and dramatic match, if not particularly high quality one. 6 game spells of Wawrinka at his best sweeping Djokovic aside and Wawrinka at his worst getting buried cancel out, leaving bulk remainder of match to be played out to the tune of Djokovic outsteadying Wawrinka, Wawrinka gaining enough counter-play to stay in touching distance and Djokovic having clear if not large advantage

Djokovic's ability to return tough serves and defend is main key to his overall advantage. Wawrinka's ability to be damaging of the BH to keep in check Djokovic's consistency advantage off that wing is main key to his being able to stay in touching distance - and make action exciting and out of the winners control

With Djokovic having better of things on whole, Wawrinka would need things to fall just so to come out on top. They do, or rather, he makes them - and its probably a bad line call that diverts the result the way its heading to Djokovic

Stats for the final between Djokovic and Andy Murray - Duel Match Stats/Reports - Djokovic vs Murray, Australian Open finals, 2013 & 2015 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

@The Guru - thoughts? @xFedal

 

[Waspsting]

Djokovic beat Wawrinka 2-6, 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the US Open semi-final, 2013 on hard court

Djokovic would go onto lose the final to Rafael Nadal. It was Wawrinka’s first Slam semi in his 35th appearance. He would win the next one at the Australian Open the following year, beating both Djokovic (quarter-final) and Nadal (final) along the way

Djokovic won 166 points (including a point penalty), Wawrinka 165

Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (92/138) 67%
- 1st serve points won (63/92) 68%
- 2nd serve points won (26/46) 57%
- Aces 10 (1 not clean), Service Winners 2 (1 second serve)
- Double Faults 6
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (30/138) 22%

Wawrinka...
- 1st serve percentage (96/192) 50%
- 1st serve points won (68/96) 71%
- 2nd serve points won (48/96) 50%
- Aces 8, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 7
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (48/192) 25%

Serve Pattern
Djokovic served...
- to FH 40%
- to BH 58%
- to Body 2%

Wawrinka served...
- to FH 45%
- to BH 47%
- to Body 8%

Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 137 (64 FH, 73 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 2 Winners (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 39 Errors, comprising...
- 16 Unforced (6 FH, 10 BH)
- 23 Forced (13 FH, 10 BH)
- Return Rate (137/185) 74%

Wawrinka made...
- 102 (50 FH, 52 BH), including 7 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 18 Errors, comprising...
- 10 Unforced (5 FH, 5 BH)
- 8 Forced (5 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (102/132) 77%

Break Points
Djokovic 4/19 (7 games)
Wawrinka 5/9 (5 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Djokovic 24 (10 FH, 4 BH, 3 FHV, 5 BHV, 2 OH)
Wawrinka 40 (22 FH, 8 BH, 4 FHV, 4 BHV, 2 OH)

Djokovic's FHs - 3 cc (1 return pass), 4 inside-out (1 at net), 2 inside-in and 1 running-down-drop-shot dtl at net
- BHs - 3 cc (1 pass, 1 at net - the at was just behind service line but has been marked a net point) and 1 inside-in return

Wawrinka's FHs - 6 cc (2 passes - 1 at net), 2 cc/inside-in, 6 dtl (1 return, 1 pass, 1 at net), 1 dtl/inside-out, 2 inside-out, 2 inside-out/dtl, 2 inside-in and 1 longline at net
- BHs - 3 cc and 5 dtl (2 passes)

- 1 from a serve-volley point, a first volley FHV

- 1 BHV was a pass, 1 OH was on the bounce and 1 other OH was not clean

Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Djokovic 71
- 44 Unforced (24 FH, 20 BH)
- 27 Forced (9 FH, 13 BH, 2 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 1 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.8

Wawrinka 105
- 73 Unforced (36 FH, 35 BH, 1 FHV, 1 Point Penalty)... with 1 FH at net & 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- 32 Forced (17 FH, 11 BH, 1 FHV, 3 BHV)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net & 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.8

(Note 0: Wawrinka's Point Penalty UE has been excluded from his UEFI score)

(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...
- 27/39 (69%) at net, with...
- 0/1 forced back

Wawrinka was...
- 20/36 (56%) at net, including...
- 2/5 (40%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 0/1 forced back

Match Report
Using the Australian Open match as a frame of reference, similar match of duration, to lesser extent of progression (ending is less tense) and quality. The main difference is staple of action is hard-hitting/ball-bashing deep ground rallies (as opposed to polished and easy). Otherwise, Djokovic still has better of things and still for the same reason; His advantage in being able to keep the ball in play is greater than Wawrinka’s at attacking. Court is about the same of pace, though action is more intense due to harder hitting

Changes made by both players could be a direct adjustment to the Australian Open encounter. Its Djokovic that starts ball bashing with particular attention to depth to pressure Wawa in a way he didn’t in earlier match. A typical Djoko ploy - squeezing opponents out with depth and power. A good way to curb an opponents ability to open court and attack

Wawa hits back in kind. He shades the power and matches the depth. Lots of rallies with everything landing closer to baseline than service line. Intense stuff - considerably more so than earlier match

When it comes to attacking, Wawa’s still the more proactive and wisely, leads more with FH, unlike previous match. That’s the side where he has more of a power advantage. Still aggressive of the BH - both dtl and sharply angled cc, but its harder to get the cc stuff off against the beefed up hitting from other side. Counting on BH to do enough damage to overcome a steadier player is unlikely to hold for long run - good change from Wawa here, though ultimately, its again his BH that can’t keep up, but that’s after his FH stops being able to do damage, not because he’s using BH as first line of attack

Relative to previous match, Djoko serves about the same. Wawa serves similarly and still has bigger serve, but dishes out low in-count of 50%

The returning is different, in line with differences in groundgames. Lots of hammered returns to near baseline and otherwise, pressuringly heavy ones setting the server on back foot or even ending the points. In Australia, much less of that going on and high point of returning was Djokovic’s defensive efforts against Wawa’s strong, wide 1st serves

Progression of match is somewhat similar

Again Wawa sweeps through the opener - this time, more because Djoko plays badly than Wawa playing top-class. A more generous way of looking at it is Wawa outhitting Djoko - which he does - but blackmark degree sloppiness from Djoko is also there

Again Wawa goes up a break as he continues getting better of things. Djoko’s 2nd serve, which is strangely soft early, gets some terrific stick in this early phase. Djoko eventually evens up the hitting and gains slight advantage in the back-court rallies, which continues in the ‘breaker that he wins to level match

Intensity of action drops in the 3rd set. Still good depth but smaller proportion of beat-down rallies. Terrible game from Djoko to get broken decides it

Djoko has better of last 2 sets and that impression is bolstered by Wawa getting frustrated and looking out of sorts. Of actual play and independent of how emotive each player is, the gap isn’t that wide in the 4th set, but Djoko breaks early and is always in control

The decider is more in Djoko’s favour and he has all the chances and ultimately prevails

No break points for Wawa in the last 2 sets and Djoko either always leading in 4th set and by vast amount making more head way in return games in the 5th is what keep tension relatively low. Direct contrast to the Aus match, where last 2 sets were highly tense. That's as far as winning points go - the rallies remain tough, so it doesn't come across as too one-sided

The biggest difference from earlier match is the staple hitting. Hard hitting, beat-down playing dynamics here with excellent depth. Closed-ish court play, making going on the attack difficult. It suits Djoko in that he’s likely to win the consistency battle - and does. It doesn’t not suit Wawa in that he has power advantage and can look to overpower/outhit Djoko - which he does more often than not. Not as often as Djoko outsteadies him. Djoko’s resistance to Wawa’s heavy hitting is also better than the reverse. Wawa's low-in count tempers his abliity to get on offensive. Returning against second serves is beefed up by both players - hard deep stuff to near the baseline and setting returner back to start rallies

In the Australian Open match by contrast, hitting was clinical, easy, graceful but not particularly powerful or deep. Classical court position, if not particularly open court with chances for both players to manufacture attacks with sharp cc or dtl shots. That suited the more offence minded Wawa more, while Djoko had his matter-of-course consistency advantage. Errors were more product of sloppiness than being pressured, but the wide hitting based attacking play was sharper from Wawa and more lively Wawa attacking, Djoko defending play. Djoko’s defensive handling of Wawa’s strong first serve was highly of serve-return battle - with Djoko’s own first serve not nearly as damaging and neither player pointedly doing a lot with the return against second serves

Outcomes are very similar though - Djoko steadier, Wawa more aggressive, and Djoko more steadier than Wawa is damaging to leave Djoko by fair amount with better of things

Points won are dead even 165 apiece (excluding Wawa incurring a point penalty), but Djoko serves just 42% of them

That’s heavily influenced by 2 long games (18 points and 30 points) on Wawa’s serve, the most important thing about which is he ends up holding both games. But even sans those games, Djoko serves 138 points, Wawa 144

Break points - Djoko 4/19 (7 games), Wawa 5/9 (5 games)

The large number of BPs for Djoko is another way of indicating the long games. Though Wawa holds them, it has hand in keeping him under pressure. Around middle of 4th set, he seems to have lost some stomach for the constant grind of gruelling rallies. Not that that means Djoko gains ascendancy - rallies continue to be tough, and Djoko's strained to keep shoulder to wheel too

 

[Waspsting]

Wawa breaking more often doesn’t matter much either - even more so than previous match, a reflection of a successful early burst. After Game 5, Set 2, he has just 1 more break point. Djoko has them in 6 more games over same period by contrast... despite tough play, Djoko's got much better of things from fairly early on

Serve & Return
With previous match as frame of comparison, similar serving from Djoko and heftier, more punishing returning while Wawa serves less well due to lower in count and also beefs up his returning and is about as punishing as Djoko is with it

50% in-count for Wawa is problematic. Initially, he doesn't matter because he thoroughly dominates Djoko in the hard hitting rallies. He makes just 10/28 first serves in first set, but wins 18/27 combined second serve points

Djoko starts match winning 1/11 second serve points upto early middle of second set. Which means from then on, he wins 25/35. Early on, his second serve is tame. Not begging to be attacked, but Wawa eagerly attacks it. A good improvement from previous match. Thereafter, Djoko's takes care to serve bigger. Wawa still gets deep, thumped returns off - and Djoko winning such large amount of the points is function of his superiority in play

Low unreturned rates speaks to Djoko serving no more than moderately and Wawa's low in-count. Djoko has just 22% unreturned and 10/18 or 56% errors he draws from Wawa have been marked UEs. By contrast, considerably smaller 16/39 or 41% of Djoko's errors are UEs

Some looseness on the return by Wawa, but at good 77% return rate and regularly hammering returns (including 1st serves), well within worthwhile territory. Fairly small gap in between 1st and 2nd serve points won by Djoko (68% and 57%) in another sign his first serve isn't too damaging and both serves get some stick from Wawa's returns. Gap for Wawa is much wider - 71% and 50%

To be clear, Djoko doesn't serve weakly, but there's a substantial lot of regular, in-swing zone serves that can be thumped, let alone readily put back in play. Considerably more than Wawa, who usually serves damaging first serves wide and has more pace behind it

Just a slim lead in first serve points won for Wawa (+3%), despite having substantially better first serve, coupled with Djoko's healthy advantage advantage on second serve points won (+7%) with both players thumping second returns gets to Djoko being better in play

Play - Baseline (& Net)
Hard hitting, dual winged baseline play with particularly good depth is staple of play. cc angles on rallies are on blunt side, with some ball-bashing up and down middle of court stuff thrown in. Depth is the weapon of choice for both players, not wide hitting.

Its Djoko who seems to initiate such play at the start - and he gets thoroughly outplayed in giving up the errors. That worm turns in middle of second set, and Djoko retains advantage for rest of match because he can keep ball in play better. Wawa is usually harder hitter and does more beating-down than being beaten down - but two swap roles on that front

In numbers -
- Winners - Djoko 24, Wawa 40
- Errors forced - Djoko 32, Wawa 27
- (Points ended aggressively) - Djoko 56, Wawa 67
- UEs - Djoko 44, Wawa 73

Winners + Errors Forced/UE differential - Djoko +12, Wawa -6. Remarkably similar to previous matches Djoko +13, Wawa -4

With harder hitting base standard rallying, UEs here are more pressured and beat-out of opponent (as opposed to higher lot of sloppiness in Aus). Its also harder for either player to get on the attack in the first place, so this match lacks the lively, attacker-defender exchanges from Aus match. In context of match-up, that favour Djoko more but as the winner counts and UEFI (Wawa higher at 48.8 to 46.8) suggests, its still Wawa that leads rallies, Djoko counter-punching. Depth from both make it so that both players are often 3-4 steps behind baseline, but they continue hitting hard and deep enough to be pressuring from even there

Starting neutrally, UEs read Djoko 22, Wawa 32. Along expected lines. Leaving onus on Wawa to take charge and attack. If he just trades groundies from the back, he'll lose

Offensively, Wawa's FH stands out with 22 winners - almost as many as Djoko's total of 24 and more than the rest of Wawa's winners of 18. As the less consistent player, its almost necessity for Wawa to attack (alternative is to be bled out from baseline) and even for someone with a dangerous BH like his, its good idea to lead with FH. Sustained brilliance off the BH is not likely to come off or last very long.

Djoko's 24 winners are low for such a long match. His FH is out-hit and its ability to resist Wawa's power is its main feature, which leads to Wawa's UEs

Djoko's success both at net and when Wawa is, is big factor in play. Since he struggles to put points to bed from the back (he has just 8 baseline-baseline winners. Wawa has 22), coming in is good option. Comes in behind solid, attacking shots and wins 69% there, with 0 UEs. Wawa's much lower 56% at net with just 1 UE

Wawa's hitting advantage + his willingness to serve-volley (he does 5 times, Djoko 0), leaves him with more, ready chances to approach. Seeing he isn't doing too well up there (credit Djoko's passing - with Wawa with just 1 UE and not lacking in quality of his volleys), not a bad move not to come in more. All credit to Djoko on the pass. Typically, he's able to get off strong groundstrokes from defensive and/or backwards positions.

And Djoko finding way to net as much as Wawa (39 approaches to 36), despite trailing in hitting on whole shows good net instincts or boldness. More the former. Djoko rarely manufactures approaches from neutral postion but rather, comes in after gaining advantage. Some powerful passing from Wawa too (Djoko has 5 'volley' FEs, no UEs)

 

[Waspsting]

Ultimately though, its again over-estimation of his BHs attacking capability that proves a problem for Wawa

FH UEs
- Neutral - Djoko 13, Wawa 17
- Attacking - Djoko 6, Wawa 9
- Winner Attempts - Djoko 5, Wawa 10

Djoko leading in all areas - but balanced out by Wawa's FH doing more damage (hitting winners, opening up attacking chances, forcing errors, pushing Djoko back etc.). FH play is overall about a wash along expected Wawa more damaging, Djoko more stubborn lines

BHs a different story. In context of BH winners reading Djoko 4, Wawa 8 -
BH UEs
- Neutral - Djoko 9, Wawa 15
- Attacking - Djoko 8, Wawa 7
- Winner Attempts - Djoko 3, Wawa 13

Djoko playing a normal, stay steady while hitting firm/deep BH game. Always a good starting point off that side - and usually the only one needed. And with significant advantage on the neutrals - again, along expected lines

For Wawa, 13 winner attempt UEs while he has just 6 baseline-to-baseline winners is a big fat fail. Rallies are tough throughout and as they get longer and tougher, Djoko's the one more likely to hold up. On FH, Wawa can take charge and aggressively end points much of the time to compensate. On the BH, he tries, but can't

That's how it plays it out in 5th set in particular, where 5 of Wawa's 13 winner attempt UEs occur, including 2 in the game he's broken. As FH play shifts Djoko's way (i.e. Wawa isn't able to outmuscle on that side, so blinking becomes biggest factor in who wins, and after the early burst, Djoko's always steadier), Wawa shifts to trying to aggressively end with BHs. Tough task and he's not upto it. In decider, he takes to going for his BH dtl point finishers even in service games. Return game UEs aren't necessarily important and might even be a good ploy along what-do-you-have-to-lose? reasoning, but if your counting on holding serve via BH winners from routine positions, its a lot to be asking for. Especially against such a solid hitting opponent

Not dissimilar to the 5th set in the Australian Open match

Breakdown of all UEs -
- Neutral - Djoko 22, Wawa 32
- Attacking - Djoko 15, Wawa 17
- Winner Attempts - Djoko 8, Wawa 23

23 winner attempt UEs for 40 winners from Wawa - not great. Djoko's 8 for 24 much better

About the same number attacking UEs and about the same number of errors forced (Djoko forces 32, Wawa 27). Djoko getting better of that slightly, in no small part due to his better defence and in particular, ability to hit a 'normal' firm shot from defensive position. Wawa's not bad either, but at least, he hits back defensive shots (which is normal) and Djoko can keep on attacking moderately without overt risk

Neutrals along expected lines, with Djoko leading

Most signficant difference in play is Wawa's BH play - what he tries to do with it is amibitious and his inability to succeed. Djoko sticks to staying strong and steady and succeeds by contrast

Stressing again, though Djoko gets considerably better of play (points won), rallies remain tough, so its never easy. Wouldn't be a shock to see Djoko crack, and credit to him for holding up through a hairy test of handling power hits

Match Progression
Match starts as it doesn't continue, with Djokovic holding to love with 4 unreturned serves, including 2 aces. Wawrinka has horrendous in-count of 36% for the set, but pounds second serve returns to the baseline a'la Djokovic himself to tune of winning 8/9 second return points. Djoko isn't able to do the same in return

Its Djoko that implements hard-hitting, deep play - a beefed up staple from the Australian Open encounter. Wawa replies in kind, is more powerful hitter and wins the error battle handsomely
Lovely shoelace BHV winner from Djoko and a smacked running FH cc winner to break for the second time and go up 4-1 are highlights. Djoko's broken 3 times in a row, the last time to love with 2 double faults and Wawa takes the set easily 6-2

Second set provides best action of the match, with both players hitting close to baseline off both sides. Wawa continues to over-power Djoko on the whole. Djoko resorts to rifling through his options - lead with FH, lead with BH, even flirts with coming to net some more. Wawa leads his offence with FH, with the BH only occasionally firing dtl.

Wawa survives a sloppy 18 point game where he makes 8 first serves (which is an improvement from what he'd been dishing out), surviving 3 break points, and follows-up breaking in a much better game where he out-hits Djoko

Djoko snatches the break back to 30 to even at 4-4, and it proves to be turning point

Before Djoko breaks back, Wawa had won 18/31 or 58% of his second serve points. Rest of match, its 30/65 or 46%
Djoko had won 1/11 or 9% of his 2nd serve points. Rest of match, its 25/35 or 71%

Play carries on hard hitting, with Djoko hanging in better, Wawa still hitting a little harder to tiebreak. Good 'breaker in same vein. A Wawa double fault sets him behind 2-4. Down 4-6, he throws out a rare serve-volley - his thrid of the match - and Djoko passes him FH cc. 3 of Djoko's match total 10 FH winners are in the game, with the other 2 being inside-outs. Also his only runaround FH return of the match

Intensity of play drops some in third set. Depth is still good, but smaller proportion of 'beat-down- rallies and more 'normal' hitting takes it splace. Things stay even - but for a terrible game by Djoko to be broken to love near the end - 3 UEs, including 2 third ball FHs, and a powerful, runaround return by Wawa accounts for the points. And Wawa serves it out. 1 set away from his first Slam final

While Djoko is either always ahead or winning bulk of points for the remainder of the match, its not easy tennis. Still lots gruelling rallies. Wawa gradually starts showing signs of frustration and tiredness and takes a medical time out. Also manages to incur a point penalty after smashing his racquet, having earlier been warned for ball abuse

As far as winning points goes, in last 2 sets, Djoko wins 72/132 or 55% of them, while serving 53 or 40% of them (excluding the point penalty)

2 glorious Wawa BH winners - 1 dtl, 1 cc - in opening game that Djoko holds to 30. And Djoko breaks to move ahead right after - outlasting Wawa to reach 0-30 before Wawa eventually double faults on break point. By this stage, Djoko's hammering deep returns fairly often and serving heftier second serves that largely keep Wawa honest. Wawa smashes his racquet game to give up a point and takes a medical time out soon after

No more breaks for the set. Wawa's taken to deuce once. Wawa goes for more a few more attacking or even point ending shots from routine positions to get out of point-building rallies and looks less than calm or fresh. More importantly, he still plays pretty well and hangs even but his hitting advantage is down to equality and his FH isn't pushing Djoko around much anymore. Neither is Djoko unduly pushing him though

Terrific 30 point, over 20 minute game game, filled with strong rallies in game 3 of the decider, that Wawa finally holds. He's broken next service game, with missed BH winner attempts getting him in trouble, and another BH error losing him the game. Unable to make headway with FH, he's started going for BH winners from the back on his service game

No more troubles for Djoko in serving through to end of match

Summing up, one tough, hard hitting baseline slugfest with the two players pounding the ball deep of both sides, mutually keeping the other well behind baseline. So doing, Djokovic is more consistent while Wawrinka is more apt to overpower his opponent, particularly off the FH and Djokovic's consistency advantage is greater than Wawrinka's damaging ability. Some very hefty, initiative grabbing returning from both players in same vein of powerfully struck and deep too

Match is an exhausting affair and as the clock ticks over, Djokovic's solidity remains standing as Wawrinka's ability to do damage shinks, pushing decisive advantage the winners way

Stats for the final between Djokovic and Rafael Nadal - Match Stats/Report - Nadal vs Djokovic, US Open final, 2013 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

 

[Waspsting]

Wawrinka beat Djokovic 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7 in the Australian Open quarter-final, 2014 on hard court

Wawrinka would go onto win his maiden Slam title, beating Rafael Nadal in the final. Djokovic had won the last 3 editions of the event and would go onto win the next 2

Wawrinka won 153 points, Djokovic 161

Serve Stats
Wawrinka...
- 1st serve percentage (98/170) 58%
- 1st serve points won (71/98) 72%
- 2nd serve points won (36/72) 50%
- Aces 17, Service Winners 2
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (53/170) 31%

Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (105/144) 73%
- 1st serve points won (75/105) 71%
- 2nd serve points won (23/39) 59%
- Aces 8, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (41/144) 28%

Serve Pattern
Wawrinka served...
- to FH 40%
- to BH 54%
- to Body 6%

Djokovic served...
- to FH 45%
- to BH 50%
- to Body 4%

Return Stats
Wawrinka made...
- 102 (48 FH, 54 BH)
- 32 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (2 FH, 4 BH)
- 26 Forced (9 FH, 17 BH)
- Return Rate (102/143) 71%

Djokovic made...
- 112 (45 FH, 67 BH), including 1 return-approach
- 3 Winners (1 FH, 2 BH)
- 34 Errors, comprising...
- 12 Unforced (6 FH, 6 BH)
- 22 Forced (8 FH, 14 BH)
- Return Rate (112/165) 68%

Break Points
Wawrinka 5/10 (7 games)
Djokovic 4/7 (6 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Wawrinka 25 (12 FH, 5 BH, 2 FHV, 3 BHV, 3 OH)
Djokovic 32 (12 FH, 7 BH, 4 FHV, 3 BHV, 1 BH1/2V, 5 OH)

Wawrinka's FHs - 4 cc (1 pass at net), 1 dtl, 4 inside-out, 1 inside-in, 1 longline and 1 net chord dribbler
- BHs - 3 cc, 1 dtl pass and 1 inside-out/dtl

- 2 OHs on the bounce (1 from no-man's land)

Djokovic's FHs - 4 cc (1 pass, 1 at net), 2 dtl (1 return pass), 3 inside-out, 2 inside-in and 1 running-down-drop-shot cc at net
- BHs - 2 cc (1 return that Wawrinka misjudged and left), 2 dtl (1 pass), 1 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl and 1 inside-in return

- 1 from a serve-volley point, a second volley BHV

Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Wawrinka 83
- 54 Unforced (25 FH, 27 BH, 1 BHV, 1 OH)... with 1 BH at net & 1 OH on bounce from baseline
- 29 Forced (16 FH, 12 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 49.4

Djokovic 74
- 50 Unforced (35 FH, 14 BH, 1 FHV)... with 1 FH at net
- 24 Forced (15 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.4

(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 an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented for this match are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Wawrinka was...
- 15/25 (60%) at net, including...
- 1/3 (33%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 1/2 forced back

Djokovic was...
- 24/30 (80%) at net, including...
- 1/2 serve-volleying, both 1st serves
---
- 1/1 return-approaching

Match Report
Another tight-as-can-be nail biter, but this time there’s a difference; Djokovic is slightly more the aggressor and has (debate-ably) better of action to a larger extent than in either of previous matches but again, to indecisive degree and Wawrinka is able to stay within touching distance. Final outcome is decided by a horrendous, choke game. The court is on quick side, quicker than other two matches

Quicker court should favour the bigger server and more aggressive player. Wawa remains the bigger server but Djoko takes up mantle of more aggressive player, while not falling behind on the consistency front that had seen him over the line in earlier matches

Djoko wins 51.3% of the points, while serving 45.9% of them
But break points figures favour Wawa - he’s 5/10 (7 games), to Djoko’s 4/7 (6 games)

You sometimes see numbers like this when the player trailing overall turns it on and off in return games. Boris Becker in particular did things like this regularly. Not true here. No more than natural amount of waning efforts on occasional return games and points from Wawa. About the same as Djoko

First serve-in - Wawa 58%, Djoko 73%
First serve won - Wawa 72%, Djoko 71%
Second serve won - Wawa 50%, Djoko 59%

Looking at that, one would favour Djoko to come out on top, with his huge first-in count particularly telling

Wawa has substantially more potent serve and its quick enough court where that can be very important. He’s got 17 aces, 2 service winners from 98 first serves to Djoko’s 8 and 1 in 105
In other words, Wawa serves an unreturnable once every 5.16 first serves, Djoko 11.67. An exaggerated indicator of how much more potent his serve is (Djoko’s very good at doing enough to get the error without going all the way out for lines), but the direction of it is clear

In that light, Wawa with negligible 1% advantage in first serve points won isn’t a good outcome for him - to say nothing off Djoko with much higher 15% in count. Djoko must be playing much better to be winning at same rate with a considerably smaller serve

Djoko with commanding 9% advantage on second serve points supports his considerable advantage in play. That’s augmented by powerful, deep returning against Wawa’s 2nd serves. Fair few routine return misses are the price of that (Djoko has 12 return UEs to just 6 for Wawa) but its worth the outcome. Wawa also has 5 double faults to 1 by Djoko

Once return is made, Djoko leads in every area -
- Winners - Wawa 25, Djoko 32
- Errors Forced - Wawa 24, Djoko 29
(Aggressively ended points - Wawa 49, Djoko 61)
- UEs - Wawa 54, Djoko 50

Winners + Errors Forced/UE differential - Djoko +11, Wawa -5
At ‘13 Aus, it was Djoko +13, Wawa -4
At ‘13 US, Djoko +12, Wawa -6

Has there ever been a 3 match series with this little variance? Ths match though is categorically different. Previous 2, Wawa was well ahead in winners/errors forced (at Aus +17, at US +11) and behind in UEs (at Aus -34 , at US -29). Here, Djoko leads both areas, particularly the aggressive component. UEs are virtually equal

 

[Waspsting]

Groundstroke UEs -
- Djoko BH 14
- Wawa FH 25
- Wawa BH 27
- Djoko FH 35

And UE breakdown -
- Neutral - Wawa 23, Djoko 21
- Attacking - Wawa 11, Djoko 16
- Winner Attempts - Wawa 20, Djoko 13

A few things stand out. Neutral UEs being virtually even is a comparative win for Wawa. From that base, if he attacks as would be expected, he should come out ahead (unless he messes up attacking, which he does to a degree)

But its Djoko who takes lead. His hitting is clinically easy as in first match, but with his typical pressuring depth. Unstrained, easy depth, not like the brutal hard-hitting stuff of second match. And he mildly moves Wawa around. He’s not overly aggressive. Forcing 29 errors while hitting 32 winners is a distinctly error-forcing heavy yield of points won. But he does look to press ahead with advantage, not just play neutrally or ball-bash away. To such end, he leads with FH

He has comfortably match high 35 FH UEs, including 3 in last game of the match and 4 in the other break he gives up earlier in the final set. 12 winners (joint match high with Wawa’s FH), 35 UEs and particularly large lot of 16 attacking UEs. Straining to dictate play and attack has a large price tag - and this is it.

In the 5 games he’s broken, FH UEs cost Djoko 11/20 points and make up 11/15 UEs he makes in those games (he has 2 FH winners in the same games). 11 FH UEs on those 5 games, leaves 24 in matches remaining 46 games
In the 2 games he saves break points, Djoko has 5 FH UEs - including 3 that get him into 0-40 hold.

For Wawa, 20 winner attempt UEs while hitting 25 winners is atrocious. And again, its BH failing that’s at heart of it
BH has 5 winners (1 pass) to 11 winner attempt UEs. Most are dtl shots. He doesn’t have a single dtl winner other than a pass. By contrast, FH has 12 winners, 7 UEs trying for winners
Unlike the earlier matches, the BH uber-aggression isn’t too costly, but that’s because Djoko’s losing points with UEs first (as opposed to Djoko being solid, leaving Wawa to strain to be aggressive)

Different context to the other matches, but common to all the matches: Wawa’s stunning BH highlights reels comes with a very high price in errors. And Wawa’s much more effective attacking with his FH. His ability to genuinely hurt Djoko - one of the most confident, comfortable BH ralliers - is a random x-factor in all this

Generally, Djoko likes to fall back on BH rallying to control play. The dangers presented by Wawa’s 1-hander - however net inefficient - is enough to throw a wrench in that security play

Finally, some very good retrieving and resistance to Djoko’s moderate attacks by Wawa. Defensively, he’s no Djokovic, but offensively, Djokovic’s not top notch either. Wawa’s ability to defend does its bit in Djoko’s straining for more and making attacking errors. Considerable credit to Wawa’s defence, and not much less discredit to Djoko’s attacking progression

Wawa's defensive ability is one of the 'invisibles' of this series, particularly since he's more often the one attacking. He doesn't have Djoko's self-evident proficiency in this area, has less chance to show case it and other things about his game steal the eye more, but Wawa's not an easy guy to finish an attack against

Match Progression
Neat first set from Djokovic with polished, easy but deep hitting. Wawa’s low in-count of 11/25 helps

From 3-2 on serve, Djoko wins the last 3 games. Couple of winner attempt errors from Wawa - a wild BH inside-out/dtl and a FH cc - get him broken first time but second break is more a powerfu game from Djoko, with a few good returns causing Wawa trouble

Wawa has better of second set. He lifts his in-count to 18/30 and rides on big serve, winning 14/18 first serve points. Has Djoko down 0-40 early on after 3 FH UEs, but a net point and 2 unreturned serves gets Djoko back to deuce and he struggles through to hold. Comfortable holds otherwise and there’s nothing unusual about Djoko leading 30-0 at 3-3. That’s when Wawa strikes, with a series of powerful points to win the next 4 points, ending with a perfect BH inside-out/dtl winner. Wawa at his best and most dangerous

He consolidates with difficulty in a deuce game, but serves out set afterwards without trouble to level match

Good third set from Wawa. Djoko’s BH, that had been the rock of the match so far, starts blinking more as Wawa’s gets steadier. Wawa has better depth for the set

He breaks twice. Couple of deep balls in gaining the first break and some overpowering play for the second

Fourth set is a bit odd, with Djoko re-grabbing supremacy. He’s able to return more comfortably with Wawa taking something of his first serve

Wawa survives 2 long holds (10 and 14 point games) without facing break point. Then gets broken from 40-0 up serving at 3-4. Strong, deep returns from Djoko to break - helped by a terrible drop shot that he easily dispatches and a return he manages to ease past the serve-volleying Wawa on the stretch

Djoko faces 2 break points in serving out, but comes through with good serves. 3/8 aces in the match are in the game as he sends match into decider

On whole, Djoko has better of the fifth set and ends up serving 39 points in it to Wawa’s 52. Djoko breaks to go up 2-1. Some great defence keeps him in point, until straining Wawa misses. Djoko hands back the break immediatly in a terribly, all UE game (all FHs from Djoko)

Wawa’s down break point game after, on which a long rally develops, with Djoko leading play but eventually missing another FH. Another piece of the Wawa puzzle on show. He’s loose in general, but has this ability to steel out solid points when in trouble

Wawa’s down break point again on his next service game but aces his way out of it to hold for 3-4

Routine holds from there to the end, which comes a bit out of nowhere. A terrible game from Djoko, missing 2 routine FHs from the back to keep score 30-30. Next 2 points are even worse for Djoko as he misses an easy FH at net and down break/match point, a putaway easy FHV serve-volleying to end the match

Summing up, another nail-biting baseline battle but this time, its Djokovic that’s the more proactive, attacking player. He controls play with his FH and through depth, and looks to attack from there - with overall success, but the FH is also loose for straining to dictate

Wawrinka doesn’t fall into passivity and fights for control of play, and gains minority of it. His first serve is bigger weapon than Djokovic’s, counter-balanced by the latter’s second return being more damaging (at cost of a few routine misses going long)

While Djokovic has better of thing on the whole, Wawrinka hangs close behind and final outcome is decided by a terrible game from the former

Stats for the final between Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal - Match Stats/Report - Wawrinka vs Nadal, Australian Open final, 2014 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

 

[Deleted member 779124]

Groundstroke UEs -
- Djoko BH 14
- Wawa FH 25
- Wawa BH 27
- Djoko FH 35

And UE breakdown -
- Neutral - Wawa 23, Djoko 21
- Attacking - Wawa 11, Djoko 16
- Winner Attempts - Wawa 20, Djoko 13

A few things stand out. Neutral UEs being virtually even is a comparative win for Wawa. From that base, if he attacks as would be expected, he should come out ahead (unless he messes up attacking, which he does to a degree)

But its Djoko who takes lead. His hitting is clinically easy as in first match, but with his typical pressuring depth. Unstrained, easy depth, not like the brutal hard-hitting stuff of second match. And he mildly moves Wawa around. He’s not overly aggressive. Forcing 29 errors while hitting 32 winners is a distinctly error-forcing heavy yield of points won. But he does look to press ahead with advantage, not just play neutrally or ball-bash away. To such end, he leads with FH

He has comfortably match high 35 FH UEs, including 3 in last game of the match and 4 in the other break he gives up earlier in the final set. 12 winners (joint match high with Wawa’s FH), 35 UEs and particularly large lot of 16 attacking UEs. Straining to dictate play and attack has a large price tag - and this is it.

In the 5 games he’s broken, FH UEs cost Djoko 11/20 points and make up 11/15 UEs he makes in those games (he has 2 FH winners in the same games). 11 FH UEs on those 5 games, leaves 24 in matches remaining 46 games
In the 2 games he saves break points, Djoko has 5 FH UEs - including 3 that get him into 0-40 hold.

For Wawa, 20 winner attempt UEs while hitting 25 winners is atrocious. And again, its BH failing that’s at heart of it
BH has 5 winners (1 pass) to 11 winner attempt UEs. Most are dtl shots. He doesn’t have a single dtl winner other than a pass. By contrast, FH has 12 winners, 7 UEs trying for winners
Unlike the earlier matches, the BH uber-aggression isn’t too costly, but that’s because Djoko’s losing points with UEs first (as opposed to Djoko being solid, leaving Wawa to strain to be aggressive)

Different context to the other matches, but common to all the matches: Wawa’s stunning BH highlights reels comes with a very high price in errors. And Wawa’s much more effective attacking with his FH. His ability to genuinely hurt Djoko - one of the most confident, comfortable BH ralliers - is a random x-factor in all this

Generally, Djoko likes to fall back on BH rallying to control play. The dangers presented by Wawa’s 1-hander - however net inefficient - is enough to throw a wrench in that security play

Finally, some very good retrieving and resistance to Djoko’s moderate attacks by Wawa. Defensively, he’s no Djokovic, but offensively, Djokovic’s not top notch either. Wawa’s ability to defend does its bit in Djoko’s straining for more and making attacking errors. Considerable credit to Wawa’s defence, and not much less discredit to Djoko’s attacking progression

Wawa's defensive ability is one of the 'invisibles' of this series, particularly since he's more often the one attacking. He doesn't have Djoko's self-evident proficiency in this area, has less chance to show case it and other things about his game steal the eye more, but Wawa's not an easy guy to finish an attack against

Match Progression
Neat first set from Djokovic with polished, easy but deep hitting. Wawa’s low in-count of 11/25 helps

From 3-2 on serve, Djoko wins the last 3 games. Couple of winner attempt errors from Wawa - a wild BH inside-out/dtl and a FH cc - get him broken first time but second break is more a powerfu game from Djoko, with a few good returns causing Wawa trouble

Wawa has better of second set. He lifts his in-count to 18/30 and rides on big serve, winning 14/18 first serve points. Has Djoko down 0-40 early on after 3 FH UEs, but a net point and 2 unreturned serves gets Djoko back to deuce and he struggles through to hold. Comfortable holds otherwise and there’s nothing unusual about Djoko leading 30-0 at 3-3. That’s when Wawa strikes, with a series of powerful points to win the next 4 points, ending with a perfect BH inside-out/dtl winner. Wawa at his best and most dangerous

He consolidates with difficulty in a deuce game, but serves out set afterwards without trouble to level match

Good third set from Wawa. Djoko’s BH, that had been the rock of the match so far, starts blinking more as Wawa’s gets steadier. Wawa has better depth for the set

He breaks twice. Couple of deep balls in gaining the first break and some overpowering play for the second

Fourth set is a bit odd, with Djoko re-grabbing supremacy. He’s able to return more comfortably with Wawa taking something of his first serve

Wawa survives 2 long holds (10 and 14 point games) without facing break point. Then gets broken from 40-0 up serving at 3-4. Strong, deep returns from Djoko to break - helped by a terrible drop shot that he easily dispatches and a return he manages to ease past the serve-volleying Wawa on the stretch

Djoko faces 2 break points in serving out, but comes through with good serves. 3/8 aces in the match are in the game as he sends match into decider

On whole, Djoko has better of the fifth set and ends up serving 39 points in it to Wawa’s 52. Djoko breaks to go up 2-1. Some great defence keeps him in point, until straining Wawa misses. Djoko hands back the break immediatly in a terribly, all UE game (all FHs from Djoko)

Wawa’s down break point game after, on which a long rally develops, with Djoko leading play but eventually missing another FH. Another piece of the Wawa puzzle on show. He’s loose in general, but has this ability to steel out solid points when in trouble

Wawa’s down break point again on his next service game but aces his way out of it to hold for 3-4

Routine holds from there to the end, which comes a bit out of nowhere. A terrible game from Djoko, missing 2 routine FHs from the back to keep score 30-30. Next 2 points are even worse for Djoko as he misses an easy FH at net and down break/match point, a putaway easy FHV serve-volleying to end the match

Summing up, another nail-biting baseline battle but this time, its Djokovic that’s the more proactive, attacking player. He controls play with his FH and through depth, and looks to attack from there - with overall success, but the FH is also loose for straining to dictate

Wawrinka doesn’t fall into passivity and fights for control of play, and gains minority of it. His first serve is bigger weapon than Djokovic’s, counter-balanced by the latter’s second return being more damaging (at cost of a few routine misses going long)

While Djokovic has better of thing on the whole, Wawrinka hangs close behind and final outcome is decided by a terrible game from the former

Stats for the final between Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal - Match Stats/Report - Wawrinka vs Nadal, Australian Open final, 2014 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

Great stuff.

 

[The Guru]

Great as always

 

[AnOctorokForDinner]

Noel has no shortage of chokes when pressured enough by someone he doesn't feel he can reliably outpeak at the moment either, ho. If only Fred was the younger one, huehuehue.

 

[Waspsting]

Djokovic beat Wawrinka 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 in the Australian Open semi-final, 2015 on hard court

Djokovic would go onto win the title, beating Andy Murray in the final. The two would meet in the final of the French Open not long after, with Wawrinka winning

Djokovic won 154 points, Wawrinka 139

Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (87/135) 64%
- 1st serve points won (61/87) 70%
- 2nd serve points won (28/48) 58%
- Aces 5, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (36/135) 27%

Wawrinka...
- 1st serve percentage (93/158) 59%
- 1st serve points won (59/93) 63%
- 2nd serve points won (24/65) 52%
- Aces 10, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (42/158) 27%

Serve Pattern
Djokovic served...
- to FH 31%
- to BH 61%
- to Body 8%

Wawrinka served...
- to FH 45%
- to BH 45%
- to Body 10%

Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 112 (46 FH, 66 BH), including 1 return-approach
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 31 Errors, comprising...
- 13 Unforced (7 FH, 6 BH)
- 18 Forced (13 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (112/154) 72%

Wawrinka made...
- 96 (30 FH, 66 BH)
- 30 Errors, comprising...
- 11 Unforced (5 FH, 6 BH)
- 19 Forced (8 FH, 11 BH)
- Return Rate (96/132) 73%

Break Points
Djokovic 7/17 (11 games)
Wawrinka 5/8 (8 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Djokovic 20 (12 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV, 3 OH)
Wawrinka 27 (14 FH, 7 BH, 2 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 2 BHV, 1 OH)

Djokovic's FHs - 4 cc (2 passes), 1 dtl, 1 dtl/inside-out, 1 inside-out, 2 inside-in (1 return), 1 inside-in/cc, 1 longline at net and 1 lob
- BHs - 1 dtl and 1 lob

- 1 from a return-approach point, a BHV

- 1 FHV was a swinging shot

Wawrinka's FHs - 4 cc (1 pass), 3 dtl (1 pass), 3 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 inside-in, 1 longline at net and 1 longline/inside-out
- BHs - 6 dtl (1 pass) and 1 inside-out

Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Djokovic 67
- 46 Unforced (24 FH, 20 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
- 21 Forced (9 FH, 11 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net & 1 FH was an incorrect challenge
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.0

Wawrinka 94
- 63 Unforced (33 FH, 27 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV)
- 31 Forced (15 FH, 16 BH).... with 2 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 49.5

(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...
- 19/28 (68%) at net, including...
- 3/7 (43%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 2/5 (40%) off 1st serve and...
- 1/2 off 2nd serve
---
- 1/1 return-approaching

Wawrinka was...
- 13/23 (57%) at net, including...
- 1/2 serve-volleying, both 1st serves
---
- 0/1 forced back

Match Report
Djokovic’s exceptional defence is key to outcome on a quick side of normal court. Most other things remain the same as other matches -

- Djokovic more consistent, Wawa more damaging (at least potentially. Djoko’s defence keeps it from so being but Wawa is aggressor) and…

- Djoko’s consistency advantage > Wawa’s would be damaging one

The winner of the match winning the first set and the last set bagel makes this look one sided, compared to the previous matches. There isn’t actually much difference. Djoko’s had better of things in all the matches, Wawa’s stayed in touching distance and key points have decided matters

For matches like that to remain as close as the previous 3, the guy lagging behind has to do particularly well on the key points (and/or the guy ahead do badly on the same). This match is what happens when the guy leading wins the key points

After 4 sets here -
Djoko’s won 50.4% of the points, serving 44% of them
Full match, Djoko wins 52%, serving 47% of them

Compare both sets of figures with complete matches -
‘13 Aus - Djoko wins 51% points, serving 48%
‘13 US - Djoko wins 50% points, serving 42%
‘14 Aus - Djoko wins 51% points, serving 46%

Very little difference. Furthermore, Wawa has break points in 2 games in the final set bagel. Prior to that, he’s 5/6 (6 games) on break points. In other words, he’s virtually taken every chance he’s had to keep match close

Djoko leads in all basic areas - +5% first serve in, +7% first serve points won, +6% second serve points won. Same thing happened in the first match - and it took a dubious line call to push that result Djoko’s way

Serving is not great from Wawa. He leads aces/service winners 11-6 in about same number of first serves in, but that aside, doesn’t hit his spots well. Djoko as ever is quick to move and reach wider serves but I’d signal out Wawa not getting them wide enough often enough for relative comfort Djoko returns with

Unretunred rates are similar (Djoko 26%, Wawa 27%). Courts quick enough that even powerful second serves aren’t easy to return. Potential 40% unreturned court. Not too unusual for Djoko to keep his opponents freebies down from potential. Djoko somewhat surprisingly sends down some very big second serves randomly

Combination of clean hitting and court speed makes baseline action beat-down of nature. Even balls not far from either player are mildly rushing or at least, don’t leave any extra time to set up shots. Wawa hits harder and deeper - at times, he lands ball after ball inches from baseline. Its good job by Djoko to keep his errors down against it, let alone not yielding weak, short balls in reply

Djoko’s counter-hitting leads to Wawa conjuring wide attacking shots from routine, not weak balls. He does it well enough and launches into a particular wide cc shot or a dtl. Or just blasts the ball so hard that its potentially point ending

Djoko thwarting these potential point ending shots is main difference between two players. Not all of them of course, and plenty of plain sloppy attacking misses by Wawa too… but large lot of time, Wawa’s big shots come back. More than once. And eventually, he misses going for too much

Good, but not great attacking play from Wawa, but plenty of credit to Djoko for the defensive gusto too. On a court where stationary shots against powerful deep balls are tough and likely to draw errors, he runs and slides and digs back powerful wide balls. How good it is comes out when shoe is on other foot. Less powerful, less wide shots draw errors from Wawa regularly

In numbers -
- Winners - Djoko 20, Wawa 27
- Errors Forced - Djoko 31, Wawa 21
(Aggressively ended points) - Djoko 51, Wawa 48
- UEs - Djoko 45, Wawa 63

Aggressively ended points/UE differentials are down from other matches for both players. Here -
- Djoko +6, Wawa -15
The other 3 matches clustered around Djoko +12, Wawa -5

Again, some credit to Djoko’s defence for Wawa not having more winners and not forcing more errors. Djoko’s showing is rather strange. He’s extremely solid… other than when he’s not, and most of the times he’s broken are in terrible games. But he sees off strong Wawa attacks to hold commendably

UE breakdowns -
Neutral - Djoko 22, Wawa 24
Attacking - Djoko 14, Wawa 18
Winner Attempts - Djoko 9, Wawa 21

Close on neutral errors. Practically equal on the FH (Djoko 14, Wawa 12), with wider gap on the BH (Djoko 8, Wawa 12). Good lot of these UEs for both players would be ‘beat-down’ errors, relatively difficult for a UE

Its attacking where Wawa falls well behind. Off just the FH and BH, he has 21 winners for 19 winner attempt UEs and 21 errors forced for 17 attacking UEs. He’s barely in the positives when at his most aggressive

Djoko off the FH and BH is much more comfy 14 winners, 8 UEs trying and most importantly, 31 errors forced for 13 attacking UEs

Which goes back to how much easier it is to ‘force’ an error out of Wawa than it is Djoko and also, Djoko having the measure of just how much he needs to do with his shots to end points, and not going for more than that

 

[Waspsting]

Other points of interest are Djoko with tiny 2 BH winners. 1s a lob and the other is second last point of the match when he’s up 5-0. Wawa’s got 7 winners and his BH does all kinds of damage - overpowering cc shots and balls smacked dtl, but Djoko thwarts it all about as often as not

The BH winners discrepancy and Djoko’s very low number is in line with previous matches. A hard hitting, solid BH will usually outdo a flashy, point finishing one. There’s no weakness to Djoko’s BH - he hits hard, changes direction as he wants, defends stoutly when needed and forces errors with it, but he’s in no danger of going overboard

Wawa by contrast has 10 winner attempt UEs (mostly dtl) for 7 winners (5 of them dtl) off the BH

Both are in the positives making winners to missing trying off the FH (Djoko 12-6, Wawa 14-9)… again, in line with previous matches

Match Progression
Bright start to the match, a nice quick court, good serving and well timed groundies makes for contained, pressuring play

Terrible game from Djoko to get broken. An even worse one by Wawa to get broken back in middle of set to keep things even

Djoko’s in control of the ‘breaker and leads it 5-0 before wrapping up 7-1

Djoko’s got better of second set too and holds with ease, while pushing Wawa on return. Wawa serves 32 points to hold times, Djoko 18 points in 4 games

Doesn’t matter. A pretty poor game from Djoko (FH inside-out and BH dtl UEs and a double fault) gets him broken, while Wawa holds through 2 deuce games (saving couple break points in one) to take the set

Some wild shot choices by Wawa in the third set. The extent to which he doesn’t seem to give a fig about the scoreboard might not be wise, but it is refreshing. With Djoko on the defensive while down break point, Wawa misses a BH inside-out into the corner. Granted, Djoko had made a couple of impressive ‘gets’ prior to the final miss - and Djoko holds

Wawa follows up by getting broken in another error riddled game. Again, excellent defence by Djoko on break point, before Wawa misses attacking FH

Wawa grabs the break back mid-set, but blows a 40-15 lead serving at 4-5 to give up the set. A double fault starts it and a missed FH inside-out winner attempt ends it, after Djoko does well to make a tough return. 2-1 Djokovic

The two trade early breaks in the fourth set. Wawa sprays FHs to get broken, Djoko dumps BHs to reciprocate

Djoko adds another terrible game to be broken to love late (2 FH, 2 BH UEs), as Wawa levels match

As bagels go, final set isn’t too one-sided. 2 of Djoko’s serve games go 10 and 12 points and he saves a break point each in them (something he’d done once all match before). The breaks he gets are among the better played break games of the match (granted, that isn’t saying much). Solidly strong set from Djoko, and Wawa doing what he’s been threatening to over the entire series to end the match

Summing up, quite a strange match. Djokovic is strongly solid, in what looks his best form. Other than when he isn’t - and almost invariably when he’s broken, its in terrible games. Wawrinaka is in a bit of a hurry to put Djokovic to the sword and Djokovic defends well enough to ‘encourage’ him to go for more and eventually miss

Strong defence is standout feature of Djokovic’s showing, and measured offence is commendable too. Wawrinka, even by his standard, is erratically aggressive - Djokovic’s defence has hand in leading him there

Summing up the series more broadly, main points -

- Wawrinka with stronger, more damaging serve. Djokovic does well to get the tougher ones back - Off the ground, Wawrinka more damaging, Djokovic more consistent and Djokovic’s consistency advantage greater than Wawrinka’s damaging one

- BH overaggression being Wawrinka’s main problem. A gem in the highlights package, a net negative in play. Djokovic’s sticks to solidly strong BH play and while Wawrinka can throw whatever comfort Djokovic gets from that for a loop with his power and shot-making, he’s almost always net negative so doing

- Both players tend to do well attacking off the FH

Next match the two would play would be French Open final. Wawrinka would blast Djokovic off the court with FH attacking play. Match is best remembered for an around-net-post BH winner by him and match point is another BH dtl winner

Stats for the final between Djokovic and Andy Murray - Duel Match Stats/Reports - Djokovic vs Murray, Australian Open finals, 2013 & 2015 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

 

[Kralingen]

AO ‘14 was a big time choke job from Nole and I think really gets underrated in the pantheon of losses. One might say it’s just normal to falter at the end of a long 5 setter and I tend to agree, but he completely capitulated here and it gets glossed over. Massive mental swing for both players in the rivalry as well.

 

[BigThreeForever]

@Waspsting Which of these matches would you consider to be the best/highest quality? I see people debate over the 2013 fourth round against the 2014 quarterfinal.

 

[Waspsting]

@Waspsting Which of these matches would you consider to be the best/highest quality? I see people debate over the 2013 fourth round against the 2014 quarterfinal.

'13 US

Its not attractive tennis because Djokovic does that when he wants to. Which is smart and action is intense, if not lively

He doesn't do that in the the Aus matches, leaving more ready room for offence-defence (as opposed to ball-bashing) tennis. Neither player is anything to write home about in that context

They interview both players on court right after the US match
Stan tersely sums up with something like "... he's 'effing tough" (he uses the full word for 'effing) and walks off
Djoko says Stan was the better player and he was lucky to win

When both guys come off seemingly thinking the other was better, tougher, its probably a good tussle

Winners + Errors Forced/UE differential -

At '14 Aus, Djoko +11, Wawa -5
At ‘13 Aus, it was Djoko +13, Wawa -4
At ‘13 US, Djoko +12, Wawa -6

This is amazing. And why all these matches are in one thread. I really should do something about that cumbersome thread title

 

[TheFifthSet]

Matches like these are good examples of how much super strong (as opposed to merely "good") competition can shape the perception of the tournament winner's efforts.

Djokovic won this AO, but it's not remembered as an all-time showing of dominance. Yet, if you sub in "just another" opponent in for Wawrinka in the 4th round, and everything else remains the same, it would probably compare favourably to the 2003 AO's and 2010 USO's of the world...Djokovic was only broken once in his six other matches, three of those coming against three pretty good return game players (Ferrer, Murray, Berdych).

 

[RS]

Matches like these are good examples of how much super strong (as opposed to merely "good") competition can shape the perception of the tournament winner's efforts.

Djokovic won this AO, but it's not remembered as an all-time showing of dominance. Yet, if you sub in "just another" opponent in for Wawrinka in the 4th round, and everything else remains the same, it would probably compare favourably to the 2003 AO's and 2010 USO's of the world...Djokovic was only broken once in his six other matches, three of those coming against three pretty good return game players (Ferrer, Murray, Berdych).

One might argue that Nadal and Agassi wouldn't have allowed Wawrinka to make it so close though

 

[TheFifthSet]

One might argue that Nadal and Agassi wouldn't have allowed Wawrinka to make it so close though

Maybe, but that’s immaterial to my point

 

[RS]

Maybe, but that’s immaterial to my point

There is no manual for this stuff. Felt like I had to say that though since it all comes in hand in hand with the debates

 

[jl809]

Matches like these are good examples of how much super strong (as opposed to merely "good") competition can shape the perception of the tournament winner's efforts.

Djokovic won this AO, but it's not remembered as an all-time showing of dominance. Yet, if you sub in "just another" opponent in for Wawrinka in the 4th round, and everything else remains the same, it would probably compare favourably to the 2003 AO's and 2010 USO's of the world...Djokovic was only broken once in his six other matches, three of those coming against three pretty good return game players (Ferrer, Murray, Berdych).

You could say the same about 2011 on the flip side tbh. I think that 2013 is up there with that tournament and 2008 for sure, and if anything is more “creditable” because it features BOTH some absolute god mode performances (the QF) and a high level epic against a clearly zoning opponent. It’s like what Federer’s 2005 AO would have been had he beaten Safin after destroying Agassi

Fed’s AO 07, Djoker’s AO 16 etc all lack that, just like the ones you already mentioned, which means we can talk about the level in glowing terms for those, but always wonder what would have happened had they faced an 05 Safin type player