Tri Match Stats/ Reports - Djokovic vs Cilic, Wawrinka & Berdych, Year End Championship round robins, 2014

[Waspsting]

Novak Djokovic beat Marin Cilic 6-1, 6-1 in the Year End Championship round robin, 2014 on indoor hard court in London, England

Double defending champion Djokovic would win the event, after topping the group with a 3-0 record, when Roger Federer withdrew from the final. He’d beat Kei Nishikori in the semi-final. Cilic was making his debut at the event and would finish the group with a 0-3 record

Djokovic won 54 points, Cilic 29

Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (23/37) 62%
- 1st serve points won (18/23) 78%
- 2nd serve points won (8/14) 57%
- Aces 4
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (14/37) 38%

Cilic...
- 1st serve percentage (25/46) 54%
- 1st serve points won (13/25) 52%
- 2nd serve points won (5/21) 24%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (9/46) 20%

Serve Patterns
Djokovic served...
- to FH 39%
- to BH 58%
- to Body 3%

Cilic served...
- to FH 36%
- to BH 61%
- to Body 2%

Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 35 (16 FH, 19 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 8 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (1 FH, 3 BH)
- 4 Forced (2 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (35/44) 80%

Cilic made...
- 22 (7 FH, 15 BH)
- 10 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (2 BH)
- 8 Forced (4 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (22/36) 61%

Break Points
Djokovic 6/9 (6 games)
Cilic 1/1

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Djokovic 9 (5 FH, 3 BH, 1 OH)
Cilic 5 (1 FH, 2 BH, 1 BHV, 1 OH)

Djokovic's FHs - 3 cc passes, 1 inside-out, 1 inside-in
- BHs - 1 dtl, 1 inside-out return, 1 drop shot

Cilic's FH - 1 cc/inside-in
- BHs - 1 cc, 1 dtl

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Djokovic 14
- 12 Unforced (5 FH, 6 BH, 1 OH)... the OH was on the bounce from near the baseline
- 2 Forced (1 FH, 1 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.5

Cilic 29
- 23 Unforced (12 FH, 9 BH, 2 FHV)... with 1 BH at net & 1 non-net swinging FHV
- 6 Forced (1 FH, 5 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.8

(Note 1: All 1/2 volleys refer to such shots played at net. 1/2 volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke numbers)

(Note 2: the Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Djokovic was 4/4 (100%) at net

Cilic was...
- 4/9 (44%) at net, including...
- 2/2 serve-volleying, both 1st serves

Match Report
Very poor match from Cilic, who’s slow and can’t keep the ball in play. Djokovic is solid and does the needful to squeeze him out. Court is slow, with low bounce

23 UEs from Cilic, only 2 of them at net (1 of them a grounstroke). Putting that in perspective -
- both players combined have 23 unreturned serves
- both players combined have 14 winners
- both players combined have 8 FEs
- Djoko has 12 UEs

Just 5 winners to go with those 23 UEs. Djoko has 9 winners, 12 UEs to compare

He’s also slow and serves indifferently. It’s a slow court but 8/10 of his return errors have been marked FEs. Even the serves of players like Raonic and Federer draw majority UEs on this court. High return FEs here aren’t due to Djoko delivering some stupendous serving showing, but Cilic being slow to both react and move to reach slightly wider serves

Serves, by his conservatively. Just a few big ones, amidst average serving. Roughly as pacey as Djoko’s delivery. At lower in count and if its just as decently placed, Djoko isn’t slow to react or move in getting into position for them comfily

Djoko’s returning is high point of the match and he delivers for him, just normal deep returns down the middle regularly. Indulges some nice, mild moving-opponent about combos. And delivers a great pass or 2 (3 to be exact), with generally good defending (its not called on too much)

Still, 23 UEs from Cilic is main story of action. Djoko’s deep returning helps it along and Cilic wins just 24% 2nd serve points, as opposed to not bad 43% 2nd return points

First seve in - Djoko 62%, Cilic 54%
On low side for Cilic, especially indoors. Seems to be norm this year. And that’s with contained serving - neither particularly big, or wide. Djoko serving normally - decent paced serves (his decent and Cilic’s contained being about the same), slightly wide. Some pretty big 2nd serves from Cilic though

Unreturned serves - Djoko 38%, Cilic 20%, broken down as…
- Aces - Djoko 4, Cilic 1
- Return UEs drawn - Djoko 2, Cilic 4
- Return FEs drawn - Djoko 8, Cilic 4
(Djoko also double faults less, 1-2, but that’s neglibible)

With higher in count and near equal calibre of serves, Djoko has served better. Virtually double freebies though is mostly about return

Djoko typically immaculate in his movement and reactions, Cilic slow
Serves that draw FEs from Cilic would be UEs if Djoko missed them because he’s in position to play them from normal position. Cilic is lunging and reaching against slighlty wide serves by contrast
On the return, the reactions are more pertinent than movement. Takes half a second for Cilic to pick up the ball and start moving. Probably normal for him

Personal par returning from Djoko (for most anyone else, would be pointedly good) in calmly dropping returns near baseline down the middle of court. Including ‘defensive’ returns (lunging to reach ball) that he lifts over. Against the stuff he’s covered, rarely bullet hard returns, but with matter-of-fact, firm authority

The returns Cilic makes are of average quality, leaving Djoko with mild initiative

 

[Waspsting]

Winners - Djoko 9, Cilic 5
Erros forced - Djoko 6, Cilic 2
UEs - Djoko 12, Cilic 23

Dual winged play. Djoko seems to be in nice form, mixing up cc and longline shots off both sides to move Cilic about slightly
“Seems to be” is as far we can gauge because Cilic cuts the flow short with 23 UEs. Looks like the start of potentially, smooth, good display from Djoko - calmly controlled and long term taking legs out of opponent. He's good scampering and defendind when needed, but not tasked much

Cilic’s legs are heavy to start with and that slowness is apparent rallying as it is on the return. On this front, movement more important than reaction

UEs - Djoko 5 FH, 6 BHs. Cilic 12 FH, 9 BH
That’s dual winged action. Few more winner attempt misses from Cilic on FH lifts his FHs above BHs

Neutral UEs - Djoko 6, Cili 12
Attacking UEs - Djoko 3, Cilic 4
Winner attempt UEs - Djoko 3, Cilic 7

Cilic does play normally. As in, rallies along without undue aggression. He’s even defensively decent, though slow enough that what puts him on ‘defence’ would be just normal, on the move rallying for Djoko. Djoko’s regular direction changers keeping normal rallies fluid (as opposed to stationary trading of cc groundies) to help things along

Doesn’t try to blast balls from normal positions. When he goes for winners, its there for the shot, but tends to miss

And Djoko’s deep returning has its usual, quiet hand in keeping Cilic normal. Neutral third ball shot is optimal shot choice. Situation might be different with just normal length returning and Cilic getting a commanding or even controlling first groundie off to start rallies

Highlight would be Djoko’s 3 FH cc pass winners. Good shots on the move against commanding shots. Cilic wins just 2/9 points rallying to net

Match Progression
Match doesn’t start the way it continues
Cilic holds to love and wins first 5 points of it. Djoko’s first hold takes 10 point

Its only the serve that sees Djoko even hold, given Cilic’s sluggish movement for return. 5/6 points Djoko wins in his first service games are freebies - 2 aces, 3 return FEs, the other is a pass error. Djoko’se the one to give up 3 FH UEs and an OH on bounce from near baseline one, but he holds

Including that tricky hold, Djoko wins 8 games in a row to move to 6-1, 2-0

Bunch of FH UEs from Cilic to get broken first up
Next break is to love and features 2 excellent running FH cc pass winners from Djoko. Makes difficult return to body serve right to baseline to start one of those points
More strong returns in the third break (winning FH dtl to baseline wide and BH inside-out winner are best of them, others are pretty good too)

Cilic overpowering Djoko to come in and putaway BHV winner early in second set brings home how not like this he’s playing. Just rallying with Djoko probably wouldn’t go well for Cilic at best of times. He gets broken for 0-2 anyway. Djoko defends well to keep point after going until Cilic misses FH inside-in winner attempt. Not long after, mssses swinging FHV from no-man’s land on break point, a third ball FH dtl winner attempt

Its completely out of blue that Cilic strikes back with a break to love. Couple of attacking BH UEs from Djoko (drop shot and third ball dtl shot against a good, wide return), couple of winning points from Cilic (overpowering FH cc and a FH cc/inside-in winner)

He doesn’t win another game
Broken for 3-1 in 12 point game where he gets some good serves in and serve-volleys couple times, interspersed with ground UEs. Including 3 third ball ones, further including a drop shot attempt. There’s nothing in the match that suggests Cilic would be able to land a good, touch drop shot and he doesn’t
Broken next go around to 30 with 4 third ball errors. 1 is forced, with return landing right on baseline, another isn’t far from it, the other 2 are routine enough shots (mildly attacking line BH and on break point, FH inside-in winner attempt)

Djoko serves out to love, with Cilic goofing one last time. Terrible, airy FH drop shot approach puts Djoko in bad position, but Cilic nets easy BH at net counter. Djoko wraps up with an ace and another unreturned serve

Summing up, bad match from Cilic. He’s slow of reaction (important on the return) and slow of foot (important in rallying) and can’t keep ball in play long. Doesn’t even serve well (lowish in count at toned down serving)

Djokovic looks to be in good form, with solidly sound serving, typical thorough returning and nicely changing directions. Depth of returns and direction changers in rallies encourage Cilic to miss - and Cilic seems quite capable of doing that even without the encouragement

Stats for Djokovic’s semi-final with Kei Nishikori - Match Stats/Report - Djokovic vs Nishikori, Year End Championship semi-final, 2014 | Talk Tennis

 

[Waspsting]

Djokovic beat Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 6-0 in the round robin

Wawrinka would advance to the semi final, where he would lose to Roger Federer

Djokovic won 62 points, Wawrinka 31

Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (34/48) 71%
- 1st serve points won (26/34) 76%
- 2nd serve points won (7/14) 50%
- Aces 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (8/48) 17%

Wawrinka...
- 1st serve percentage (22/45) 49%
- 1st serve points won (10/22) 45%
- 2nd serve points won (6/23) 26%
- Aces 2
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (4/45) 9%

Serve Pattern
Djokovic served...
- to FH 48%
- to BH 46%
- to Body 6%

Wawrinka served...
- to FH 24%
- to BH 52%
- to Body 24%

Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 38 (11 FH, 27 BH)
- 2 Errors, comprising...
- 1 Unforced (1 BH)
- 1 Forced (1 BH)
- Return Rate (38/42) 90%

Wawrinka made...
- 40 (20 FH, 20 BH)
- 5 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (3 FH, 1 BH)
- 1 Forced (1 FH)
- Return Rate (40/48) 83%

Break Points
Djokovic 5/9 (7 games)
Wawrinka 1/3 (1 game)

Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Djokovic 10 (6 FH, 1 BH, 2 BHV, 1 OH)
Wawrinka 6 (4 FH, 1 BH, 1 BHV)

Djokovic's FHs - 1 cc/inside-in, 1 cc/down-the-middle, 2 dtl, 1 dtl/inside-out pass at net, 1 running-down-drop-shot cc pass at net
- BH - 1 cc at net

Wawrinka's FHs - 3 cc (2 passes), 1 dtl pass
- BH - 1 dtl

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

Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Djokovic 21
- 20 Unforced (10 FH, 10 BH)... 1 FH was an incorrect challenge from a shot that was successfully made
- 1 Forced (1 FHV)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.3

Wawrinka 41
- 27 Unforced (14 FH, 13 BH)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- 14 Forced (5 FH, 8 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.9

(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 14/18 (78%) at net

Wawrinka was...
- 1/7 (14%) at net, including...
- 1/2 serve-volleying, both 1st serves

Match Report
Well played from Djokovic + not from Wawrinka = easy result. Djokovic’s good in all areas, but particularly impressive is near perfect net play. He’s also defensively strong and a returning wall. Wawrinka is often sloppy off the ground

Like the first match, 27 UEs from loser dominates stats. Contextualizing -
- both players combined have 12 unreturned serves
- both players combined have 16 winners
- both players combined have 15 FEs (Wawa 14 of them)
- Djoko has 20 UEs

Wawa’s considerably better here than Cilic was, despite the statistical similarity. ‘Considerably better than Cilic’ still leaves room to be pretty bad, so that’s different from saying Wawa is good

Bad part is hefty dose of sloppiness in those 27 UEs. Quick, cheap ground UEs. Not a small amount

About 50% of those UEs though are due to Djoko being so solid. Djoko with sizable 20 UEs himself - and he sure isn’t sloppy. Good, dual winged rallies that have to end when someone misses, and Wawa winning a fair chunk of them (when he hasn’t blinked up error first that is)

Wawa attacks considerably and Djoko’s excellent in defence. Neither serve nor return gain Wawa much to work with, so he has to gain advantage in rallies (no small feat) and then he’s got Djoko on the run and/or dealing with hammer-power shots

Djoko with just 1 FE, and that’s a volley. That’s not because Wawa’s passive, its because Djoko defends superbly. Running down balls and putting them back in play, sometimes counter-neutralizingly so Wawa’s forced to dial back to neutral or Wawa eventually going on to miss follow-up attacking shots

Lots of credit to Djoko’s defence here. Both it and Djoko’s solid baseline play have hand in Wawa’s high UEs. Unlike Cilic match, which was mostly about sloppiness and slowness (Wawa’s movements are fine)

To be clear, there is considerable sloppiness from Wawa, enough to see him lose but not 3 & 0

Djoko’s returning isn’t too big a factor in Wawa’s UE troubles. At least, not in typical Djoko way of deep returning causing thwarting ability ot server to get on front foot
Not bad length on return from Djoko (as opposed to troublingly good) here, but he does have amazing 90% return rate. He misses just 2 returns (and is aced twice)

The high point is Djoko’s net play offence. He’s 14/18 at net and comes in from perfectly constructed approaches. Wawa’s 1/7 at net

First serve in - Djoko 71%, Wawa 49%
Wawa going all in with the first serve, seemingly looking for service winner everytime. Percentage suffering accordingly. Djoko with measured, contained serving

Return rates - Djoko 90%, Wawa 83%
That is an amazing return rate for Djoko
Best of it making the tough returns against brutally powerful first serves. Same kind of all-in serving would have Roger Federer playing goalie in the semi-final. Not easy returning and for him, not much damaging stuff (deep near baseline), but not weak either (leaving easy balls to attack)

For near anyone else, ‘not leaving easy balls to attack’ is height of good returning. For him, almost a given. At 90% return rate. Just 2 return errors and aced twice

The contained nature of Djoko’s serving comes through in Wawa’s high return rate, which further brings home what a slow poke Cilic was
Same calibre serving from Djoko here, but Wawa into position normally and missing little himself

Some gentle, dolly second serving from Djoko. No doubles and Wawa not able to attack with the return. Still, Wawa’s done better on second return points than any other type of point
Average quality returns from Wawa, leaving Djoko with initiative for third ball. Djoko’s is only a little better, but just making the first return is challenging

 

[Waspsting]

Winners - Djoko 10, Wawa 6
Errors forced - Djoko 14, Wawa 1
UEs - Djoko 20, Wawa 27

Court action is dual winged, normal stuff. Keeping a rally going, with forays into moving opponent around. Djoko’s attacking net play and defence are outstanding

Djoko with 10 UEs on each side, Wawa with 14 FHs, 13 BHs. Dual winged
Neutral UEs - Djoko 10, Wawa 16

As mentioned earlier, high UEs from Wawa are half a product of discredit worthy sloppiness (giving up easy errors in short rallies) and being outlasted by a commendably secure showing from Djoko (longer rallies, where Djoko’s just more secure). 20 UEs from Djoko isn’t small either, so Wawa rallying well. Other than when he doesn’t. Not unusual for him, one of the streakiest players around

Both players move to attacking from base neutral rallies
Wawa does so by upping power and hitting wide. More off the FH than BH, but both. Djoko is top notch in defending
His only FE is a volley, but he has considerable running and retrieving to do. Keeps doing it until Wawa misses. As with the return, not too much counter-neutralizing from defensive positions (for him, anyway)

Wawa with 6 attacking UEs and 5 winner attempts. All of them are groundies (1 is a running-down-drop-shot at net). More credit to Djoko for quality defending then discredit to Wawa for inability to finish. Takes a lot to finish. And while not looking for net, it doesn’t him much good when he does. Wins just 1/7 at net and is 0/5 rallying forward, with no volley UEs. Part of the high end Djoko’s defensive showing

Djoko’s 14/18 at net and virtually perfect in how he uses it. Some of it immediately after drawing weak return. The best of it is when taking charge from not-strong to weak balls in rallies. Hits ‘em wide and hard (balancing how hard and wide perfectly) and comes in, usually with FH dtl or inside-out’ish shots from around middle of court

They’re not overwhelming shots (going for which likely raises error rate) with subsequent ‘token’ approach; sans the approach, Wawa likely gets most balls back in play on the run
They’re not toned down enough that Wawa can have a good crack at the pass when he reaches them
Just about perfect approaching from Djoko - of force, placement, shot-choice - the effectiveness of it split as close to 50-50 as possible between force of shot and act of being at net

Same strength shots and not coming in, Wawa probably makes the get and keeps rally alive
Stronger strength shot - risk of error going up for Djoko
Coming in off slightly weaker shot - Wawa with better passing chances

Doesn’t have to volley much but is tidy at it
He’s got 3 volley winners, just 1 error (an FE). Also 3 ground winners at net, and 1 other from very close to service line
Wawa with 3 pass winners, 8 errors trying. BH has no winners, 6 FEs

Match Progression
Two long games to start of, and Wawa wins them both

Breaks Djoko in 12 point game, where he alternates between sloppy errors and hanging tough
2 good passing winners too. Djoko loses a point as he challenges a deep, soft return which he puts in play. Very similar to an infamous point in the pair’s ‘13 Australian Open match

Wawa consolidates with 10 point hold, saving a break point with a very powerful first serve and wrapping up with another FH pass winner, after Djoko starts point with a squeezing return to the baseline against a first serve to the body

2-0 Wawa, with 3 passing winners and drawing 2 return errors
Rest of match, he wins 1/13 games (and he has to save break point in that), has no more passing winners and draws no more return errors

Djoko wins 17/18 points to start. Poor games from Wawa, who has 2 double faults and 3 third ball UEs in them. That run takes score to 4-2, 15-0 for Djoko, who after a couple of attacking errors, holds for 5-2

Good game by both players as Wawa holds for 3-5 in 10 points, with the pick of the points being an exchange of extreme angled FH cc’s, where Djoko comes away with a BH cc at net winner. On break point, Djoko missing makeably difficult FHV and Wawa unleashing with a very rare, perfect BH dtl winner before holding

Djoko runs off last 7 games of the match. If anything, Wawa plays better in second set than first

Raises in count to 60% (he has 43% in first set). Still some sloppinesss off the ground, but less than earlier and Djoko walling up from the back (and on the return) has bigger hand in the UEs flowing than earlier. Djoko for his part, keeps at those well constructed net points

Wawa wins 7 points in the set and 0/6 second serve points. In due time, Djoko finishes the match with a running FH dtl winner

Summing up, good match from Djokovic, capped by a not good one from Wawrinka

From Djokovic, solid smart serving and impeccably consistent returning (making the tough ones is more impressive than punishing the ordinary ones). In court action, he’s wall like for much of match, defends superbly and attacks with perfectly judged net approaches (ball to choose, and just-so on force of approach)

From Wawrinka, poor serving (low in count) and quite charitable with the ground errors. He is able to attack from the back some, but opponents defence proves too solid and has spurts of holding even in good, sound baseline exchanges (interspersed with the sloppy donation of errors)

More credit to Djokovic for the scoreline than discredit to Wawrinka

Stats for Wawrinka’s semi-final with Roger Federer - Match Stats/Report - Federer vs Wawrinka, Year End Championship semi-final, 2014 | Talk Tennis

 

[Waspsting]

Djokovic beat Tomas Berdych 6-2, 6-2 in the round robin

Berdych was eliminated from the round robin with a 1-2 record. Djokovic losing 9 games in winning 3 matches set a new record for the event. The two had recently played final in Beijing, with Djokovic winning 6-0, 6-2

Djokovic won 59 points, Berdych 34

Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (24/41) 59%
- 1st serve points won (20/24) 83%
- 2nd serve points won (12/17) 71%
- Aces 3, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (13/41) 32%

Berdych...
- 1st serve percentage (21/52) 40%
- 1st serve points won (16/21) 76%
- 2nd serve points won (9/31) 29%
- Aces 2
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (9/52) 17%

Serve Pattern
Djokovic served...
- to FH 53%
- to BH 48%

Berdych served...
- to FH 44%
- to BH 44%
- to Body 12%

Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 41 (18 FH, 23 BH), including 1 return-approach
- 7 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (3 FH, 1 BH)
- 1 Forced (1 FH)
- Return Rate (41/50) 82%

Berdych made...
- 27 (14 FH, 13 BH)
- 9 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (4 FH, 2 BH)
- 3 Forced (2 FH, 1 BH)
- Return Rate (27/40) 68%

Break Points
Djokovic 4/6 (5 games)
Berdych 0

Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Djokovic 13 (6 FH, 3 BH, 3 FHV, 1 BH1/2V)
Berdych 6 (2 FH, 2 BH, 2 OH)

Djokovic's FHs - 4 cc (1 pass), 1 inside-out, 1 inside-in
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 1 inside-out, 1 longline

Berdych's FH passes - 1 lob, 1 running-down-drop-shot dtl at net
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 1 cc/longline

- 1 OH was on the bounce from the baseline

Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Djokovic 18
- 8 Unforced (3 FH, 5 BH)
- 10 Forced (5 FH, 4 BH, 1 BHOH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45

Berdych 31
- 19 Unforced (10 FH, 8 BH, 1 BHV)
- 12 Forced (9 FH, 3 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 50

(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 are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Djokovic was 9/13 (69%) at net, with...
- 1/1 return-approaching

Berdych was...
- 7/10 (70%) at net, including...
- 1/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve
---
- 1/1 forced back

Match Report
The best of Djokovic’s showings to wrap up. He’s more varied in offence and more proactive in putting opponent down (as opposed to outlasting and waiting out for errors in other two matches). Berdych is thoroughly outplayed, how well or not he plays doesn’t really come into

13 winners, 8 UEs from Djoko, to go with forcing high 12 errors. High quality stuff. Nicer to report than contextualizing opponent’s UEs being more than everything else going on. 0 break points faced by Djoko and he opens up 4-0 leads in both sets. Its ironic his best showing leads to opponent winning the most number of games

Djoko scoring with width more than depth returning. In rallies, moves Berd about with cc and longline combs off both wings, with excellent depth throughout. Finishes with both winners from the back and by zipping forward to net. Its lovely stuff

Berd, like everybody not named Djokovic in the tournament, has the first serving bug and delivers 40% first serves. What in tarnation happened in this indoor event that everyone had such low in counts?

Berd, unlike Cilic and Wawa, having a normal, high 76% first serve points. There’s no escaping their second serve points fate though and he wins 29%. Cilic had 24%, Wawa 26%. Djoko’s returning has a more active hand for Berd suffering though. Lot of attacking, wide returns to second serves, which is unusual for Djoko who typically prefers bopping the return down the middle and very deep. Way he does it here sets tone nicely for fluid rallying and stringing Berd side to side

Djoko needed to win a set to ensure qualification for semi, so its not fully dead rubber and greater freedom he plays with not necessarily due to that. Its also in that live first serve that he’s at his freest and best, jerking Berd around like a puppet on a string. Understandably frustrated Berd hitting out desperately and missing so doing has bigger hand in second set

First serve in - Djoko 59%, Berd 40%
First serve won - Djoko 83%, Berd 76%
First serve won - Djoko 71%, Berd 29%

Normal quality first serving from both. Berd’s in count is obviously a problem

First serve percentages for this event are weirdly bad
In 8 matches (these 3, Roger Federer’s 3 round robin matches and both semi-finals), first serve percentages for everyone not named Novak Djokovic are -
- 57, 56, 56, 54, 54, 53, 49, 47, 45, 40, 39, 38
Djoko’s are 71, 62, 59, 59

Given ‘just’ normal quality first serving, those are high first serve points won. Especially Berd, who obviously is far outdone in court play. Djoko’s high figure is easier to attribute to his being better player, outside of serve quality, as evidenced by the second serve numbers

First serve ace/service winner rates - Djoko 17%, Berd 10%
Supporting notion that going for too much isn’t behind Berd’s low in count. He’s done well hitting hard and coming in early on his first serve points and is 7/10 at net

Djoko making a few tough first returns, while similar calibre serves draw errors from Berd
The second returning is unusual from Djoko. Quite a lot hit wide (as opposed to deep down the middle) to get on attack quickly, let alone neutralize servers advantage. Normal second returning from Berd, that leaves Djoko with mild initiative on third ball

Unreturned serves - Djoko 32%, Berd 17%
That alone would be decisive. Throw in quality of returns made (Djoko retaining initiatve after Berd’s, Berd in defensive position after Djoko’s 2nd return, with 60% of his service points being second serves), and its almost hopless for Berd

 

[Waspsting]

Winners - Djoko 13, Berd 6
Errors forced - Djoko 12, Berd 10
UEs - Djoko 8, Berd 19

Djoko almost toying Berd. Excellent depth throughout, which gets him into lead position(when serve or return hasn’t already done so) and from there, the depth is even better. Regular longline change-ups to go with firm cc shots, much of it landing near baseline. Berd being rocked side to side and like a puppet on a string. Djoko finishing off with FH winners (he’s got 7 from baseline rallies) after outmanuvering Berd so, or dashing in to net (he’s 9/13 there). Net play isn’t limited to coming from good positions; fair few quick-dash, not far from sneak approaches too. Its rare for Djoko to seek net in such a way. As one of the best baseliners around, little need for him to be. He can just carry on playing neutrally, confident the error will come from opponent before it does for him, or look to gain advantage and then attack

19 UEs isn’t small from Berd either. In second set, he hits out somewhat desperately and misses big shots from normal positions. Understandable move, when alternative is being toyed about with

Neutral UEs - Djoko 4, Berd 6
Djoko more secure not surprising. That’s he’s exceptionally secure comes out. Dynamics are lively and there isn’t much prolonged neutral play, with Djoko moving utpo to attacking successfully and Berd later bailing on such rallies with attempts to overpower

Attacking UEs - Djoko 4, Berd 7
Winner attempt UEs - Berd 6

For 6 winners and forcing 10 errors, not good for Berd. That’s the hitting out thing not coming off
For 13 winners and forcing 12 errors, excellent for Djoko. He plays beautifully

In baseline rallies, both players force 7 errors, majority of FEs are FHs for both (Djoko forces 6, Berd 4). Mostly FH cc’s - for Berdy, often leading out of drawing weaker return, for Djoko, less serve set up and more BH dtl’s being the winning shot

Finally, something hidden by the numbers is Djoko very good defending. The fluid rallies he implements leaves open counter-attacking options for Berd. Djoko quick in handling such situations, usually able to neutralize or counter counter-attack to get back on offence

Match Progression
Near flawless first set from Djokovic - high 68% in count, damaging wide returns, attackingly constructing points by moving Berd side to side, immaculate depth (including when moving Berd about), nifty net play. Berdy has 36% first serves in, scrapes 5/8 first serve points won. Most other times, he’s dancing to Djoko’s tune

4-0 in quick time. 3 FH FEs in opening love break (1 of them a virtual winner)
Consolidate to 30, beginning and ending with Berd missing FH dtl’ish winner attempts
Break to 30 with Djoko movign and defending ably
Hold to 15 with 3 delightful ‘volley’ winners (BH1/2V, net-to-net FHV from a drop shot play and a nifty stop FHV)

Berd’s down 0-30 after that too, before finding good serves and a big third ball FH inside-out to get on board

Awhile later, Djoko serves out to 15, starting the game with a third ball BH inside-out winner. Berd rashly smacks return out to end the set

Its 4-0 in second set too. Djoko keeps at the expert moving-opponent around play, but Berd making errors hitting out wildly early in rallies also
Again, Berd’s in trouble after that too, and he’s down 15-40 in game 5. And again, he manages to get on board, with Djoko making a pair of return UEs (1 against first serve, other second) to finish game

Short while later, Djoko serves out to love same way he started by breaking to love; 3 FH FEs from Berd from wide FH cc’s and FH cc winner

Summing up, beautiful showing from Djokovic, his best of the round robins. Wide second returning isn’t normal for him, but its just as effective in stealing servers advantage as what is. High first serve in never hurts. In play, he plays puppet master, moving Berdych around while striking deep and finishing him off as he pleases from the back or by coming forward. Stingy with the errors doing all that too and good defence when needed too

Berdych is outclassed to start and unsuccessfully hits out to escape later. He’s not in the match, more for not being allowed to play than for playing badly

Stats for Roger Federer’s round robin matches with Milos Raonic, Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray - Tri Match Stats/ Reports - Federer vs Raonic, Nishikori & Murray, Year End Championship round robins, 2014 | Talk Tennis