Was Federer really good at avoiding five sets

[McEnroeisanartist]

As we all know, Federer's record in five set matches isn't that great. Of course, a lot of matches, he should be praised for being good enough/fighting enough to even get it to a fifth set.

I also think a lot of times in Federer's career he had matches that could have gone five sets and maybe won, but was so good to avoid a fifth set (like Jordan never playing 7 games in the NBA Finals).

Some examples:

2004 Wimbledon Q Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) W 6-1, 6-7(1), 6-0, 6-4
2004 Wimbledon F Andy Roddick (USA) W 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-4
2005 Wimbledon R32 Nicolas Kiefer (GER) W 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-1, 7-5
2006 Australian Open Q Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) W 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(7), 7-6(5)
2006 US Open Q James Blake (USA) W 7-6(7), 6-0, 6-7(9), 6-4
2008 French Open S Gael Monfils (FRA) W 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5
2009 US Open Q Robin Soderling (SWE) W 6-0, 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(6)
2010 R64 Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) W 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(5)
2011 S Novak Djokovic (SRB) W 7-6(5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5)

 

[tennisaddict]

Under appreciated matches, Fed could hv lost these

 

[xFedal]

As we all know, Federer's record in five set matches isn't that great. Of course, a lot of matches, he should be praised for being good enough/fighting enough to even get it to a fifth set.

I also think a lot of times in Federer's career he had matches that could have gone five sets and maybe won, but was so good to avoid a fifth set (like Jordan never playing 7 games in the NBA Finals).

Some examples:

2004 Wimbledon Q Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) W 6-1, 6-7(1), 6-0, 6-4
2004 Wimbledon F Andy Roddick (USA) W 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-4
2005 Wimbledon R32 Nicolas Kiefer (GER) W 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-1, 7-5
2006 Australian Open Q Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) W 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(7), 7-6(5)
2006 US Open Q James Blake (USA) W 7-6(7), 6-0, 6-7(9), 6-4
2008 French Open S Gael Monfils (FRA) W 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5
2009 US Open Q Robin Soderling (SWE) W 6-0, 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(6)
2010 R64 Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) W 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(5)
2011 S Novak Djokovic (SRB) W 7-6(5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5)

Nadal has saved loads of matches from going to 5th. With the most phyical style he has only played 20 5set matches. Nole has played 30:shock:

 

[ibbi]

I think most of the best players would be able to say the same... They don't go to 5 sets all that often because they close matches out sooner. It would be interesting to see which of them has played the most 5 set matches in their career comparatively to how much they've played.

Anyway, the issue is when they DO go to that 5th set how clutch are they in that 1 set for it all mentality?