What went wrong for Federer today?

[Nadalgaenger]

Djokovic played a great match and clearly deserved the victory.

BUT, I feel that Federer could have played more aggressively. I feel that he did not hit his forehand aggressively enough. It was as if he is still getting used to his new frame.

I feel that his power and spin is better with the new frame but he lacks the precision of former days and because of this he also is less willing to unleash. Did Federer hit an inside-out forehand all day? He was just chipping backhand slices to disrupt Novak's rhythm.

Perhaps this was part of a tactical scheme. Perhaps he is simply not quick enough to get in position to hit the inside-out with authority. Perhaps Novak was taking it away.

What could/should Fed have done better today?

 

[coloskier]

He didn't keep up the pressure in the 5th like he did in the 4th. It has always been his biggest flaw. Even more than the high backhand. Once he gets back in a match, he backs off and thinks he can still beat someone playing their game, instead of stepping on their throat and finishing them. They used to fold like a cheap suit once he came back, but the other top 3 don't do that anymore.

 

[Lawn Tennis]

Federer's cc fh is not a natural shot for him. he should've stuck with his dtl fh as his go to shot especially on the run.

 

[Bartelby]

He started hitting aggressive backhand slices because they were drawing errors.

 

[spinovic]

Djokovic played very well today. It was his best slam performance, IMO, since winning Oz in 2012. Typically, in the last couple of years, he'll have a couple of periods where his play dips and he loses focus. Today, he only had the one hiccup that allowed Federer to force a fifth set.

Federer played a strong match as well.

Both guys played a high level of tennis for the majority of the match and the match was a toss-up. I felt like Djokovic was the slightly better player over the course of the match and deserved the win, but Federer was right there and put himself in position to win it if he could have stolen a break somewhere in the fifth. Credit to both guys for treating us to some great tennis and specifically to Djoker for delivering and sealing the deal.

It sure was good to see Roger in that position even though he did come up short. It will be interesting to see if he can carry this momentum forward to NYC and also to see if getting this big win will turn things around for Djokovic in future slam finals (assuming he continues with his remarkable consistency at the biggest events).

If Federer had gotten the Djokovic we've seen in the last 12-18 months in slam finals, I think he'd have #18.

 

[goran_ace]

Wow. Tough crowd. I think he played as well as he could and it was an extremely close and hard fought match that could have gone either way. That come back from down 5-2 in the 4th was incredible. Both players played high quality tennis for a combined 143 winners and 56 unforced errors. I am disappointed that Fed lost in the end too, but how much more do you expect out of him?

 

[90's Clay]

It went to a 5th and deciding set. History has shown Fed can RARELY go the distance and win. IF he can't roll over the guy in 3 or 4 sets he usually won't win. Pressure is not Fed's friend.

Fed needed the first 2 sets to stand a chance at winning

 

[Nadalgaenger]

I feel that Federer came to net way too often off mediocre approach shots.

I get the idea of avoiding baseline rallies but Novak passed him all day!

Novak is not Raonic! You can't get away with crappy approach shots!

 

[Netspirit]

What went wrong? Poor approaches, stubborn chip'n'charge, insufficient slicing, no backhand DTL, not going for winners, no short angles, no short slices, no disguised dropshots.

Basically - no variety in his gameplan whatsoever. The plan apparently was:

- serve like a madman
- try to out-hit Djokovic from the baseline with conservatively-placed topspin shots
- net-rush on poor approaches (even CC ones)

He kept it close, though (as close as a few other guys who had taken Djokovic to 5 sets).

 

[jwjh]

1. Return: Hardly put in any decent and meaningful returns until the 4th set when down 5-2.

2. Backhand: Should have sliced more. Made many BH topspin UEs at crucial stages when the slice would have been an better shot selection.

3. Serve: Was great up until the final two service games. But it was also due to Nole's incredible returns in those two games.

 

[RFGOAT1992]

Fed perform great for his age but age was also whats holding him back, he's simply not fast enough to get around the BH to hit I/O or I/I FH, federer served great i mean almost 30 ace, but with out the combination of his forehand and serve Fed ability was halve's, federer should have slice more then topspin with his backhand which was prone to error, but he was too stubborn.

factor in the last 2 game where novak step in and return serves deep and decide that it was do or die is what did federer in.

simply federer backoff when it was safe and novak step up when needed, its exactly what happen to fed many times in the 5th set vs djoko

 

[Nadalgaenger]

It went to a 5th and deciding set. History has shown Fed can RARELY go the distance and win. IF he can't roll over the guy in 3 or 4 sets he usually won't win. Pressure is not Fed's friend.

Fed needed the first 2 sets to stand a chance at winning

He beat SAMPRAS in a 5th set in 2001!!!

 

[Fugazi]

Fed's FH was erratic, heck, his whole game from the ground was fragile. No idea why some people say this was an exceptional match... Entertaining? Sure. High level tennis? Hardly. Djokovic 3.0 from 2011 was way better than this.

 

[cc0509]

Djokovic was better in every way except for maybe the serve (but even his serve was excellent and has improved.) Federer's ROS and fh were not up to par at all.

 

[accidental]

missed 3 first serves in a row in the last 3 points of the match... against the best returner in the game.

 

[Tenez101]

Overall just Djokovic stepping up in the fifth while Fed himself got tight. Concretely, that break point he missed at 4-all.

 

[veroniquem]

There are always things one can improve obviously but I thought he played the best tennis I've seen from him in quite a while. But of course Djoko is a better returner. And also Djoko served much better than he had in 2012.

 

[BreakPoint]

One thing I couldn't understand is why Federer hit so many first serves down the T instead of out wide on both sides, but especially in the deuce court. On the rare occasions when he did serve out wide, it got Djokovic in trouble. Was he having flashbacks of Djkovic's amazing crosscourt return down match point at the US Open a few years ago? Because serving out wide would have opened up the court for him to either serve and volley or to hit the next shot into the open court or behind Djokovic as he sprints to cover the open court. Instead, Federer continuously served down the middle over and over again, even when he was coming in behind his serve. Totally inexplicable to me.

 

[Bud]

He beat SAMPRAS in a 5th set in 2001!!!

That was 13 years ago

His 5-set win over Nadal in 2007 was more impressive.

 

[Noleberic123]

djokovic didn't allow him to play more aggressive. Djokovic depth in this match was incredible and he was putting Federer under so much pressure.

 

[kalyan4fedever]

The big difference if you watched the entire match is he was aggressive for the first 4 sets and in 5th he started playing defensive, this we can clearly observe by looking at the way he was playing with his bh...he even failed to capitalise on bp in 5th...if only he could have played like what he did in first 4, result cud have been diff...also hated djoker mto in fifth, I mean come on!!!

 

[Motor city]

missed 3 first serves in a row in the last 3 points of the match... against the best returner in the game.

This. Sure there were some questionable approach shots, and he probably should have broken Novak in the fifth as he looked kind of ragged the first couple games but the overwhelming stat is the first serve. Fed fell below 60% first serve in for the 5th set. Had he been at 70%, different story.

He was right at 60% first serves in the second which he lost.

I also think the match was won in the 3rd by Djoker. He hung tough in that set and could have cracked but didn't. To me that turned the tide in his head to come out strong in the fourth. Fed fought back and again Djoker did not crack for the fifth.

Overall the entire match was separated by 6 points. I thought it was a great match with both players bringing an A game physically and mentally.

Fed was a Nadal away from the finals in Australia where he may have beaten Stan. He had a helpful draw in W, with the right draw it would not surprise me to see him in the USO final. I haven't looked at the points recently but if he wins a masters 1000 or two maybe he even gets a crack at #1 ranking which would be amazing.

 

[Backspin1183]

Nothing wrong with how he played in the final. He served very well but we all knew Novak is better than him from the baseline. Federer at 33 couldn't have played a better Grand Slam final against someone like Novak Djokovic.

 

[JanowiczJ]

Wow. Tough crowd. I think he played as well as he could and it was an extremely close and hard fought match that could have gone either way. That come back from down 5-2 in the 4th was incredible. Both players played high quality tennis for a combined 143 winners and 56 unforced errors. I am disappointed that Fed lost in the end too, but how much more do you expect out of him?

Damn! I had not realized this. Almost 3 winners to every UE by both players.

 

[tennytive]

He lost the coin toss and had to play from behind all day.

 

[Smasher08]

Djokovic played very well today. It was his best slam performance, IMO, since winning Oz in 2012. Typically, in the last couple of years, he'll have a couple of periods where his play dips and he loses focus. Today, he only had the one hiccup that allowed Federer to force a fifth set.

Federer played a strong match as well.

Both guys played a high level of tennis for the majority of the match and the match was a toss-up. I felt like Djokovic was the slightly better player over the course of the match and deserved the win, but Federer was right there and put himself in position to win it if he could have stolen a break somewhere in the fifth. Credit to both guys for treating us to some great tennis and specifically to Djoker for delivering and sealing the deal.

It sure was good to see Roger in that position even though he did come up short. It will be interesting to see if he can carry this momentum forward to NYC and also to see if getting this big win will turn things around for Djokovic in future slam finals (assuming he continues with his remarkable consistency at the biggest events).

If Federer had gotten the Djokovic we've seen in the last 12-18 months in slam finals, I think he'd have #18.

Very well said. The level he forced Djok to go to on returns in order to win was just unbelievable.

Dunno how Djok found that gear after the 4th, so hats off to him.

 

[worldtennis]

Nothing went wrong with Fed. Best he's played in years. Nole was simply the better player in that moment.

 

[dh003i]

Very well said. The level he forced Djok to go to on returns in order to win was just unbelievable.

Dunno how Djok found that gear after the 4th, so hats off to him.

It's what great players often do when they need to.

Then again, the alternative explanation is that the deviations from their performances around their average are statistically random, and just as it is entirely possibly to flip 10 heads in a row, it is also possible for a player to return 10 very good serves for outright winners in a row.

So quite possibly we are seeing a series of statistically improbable events and interpreting that as the player "finding an extra gear", when what we're really seeing is them flipping 10 heads in a row above their baseline level.

Put another way, it could have easily been the cases that Djokovic could have gone for those huge returns and missed them handily.

 

[dirtballer]

Nothing went wrong with Fed. Best he's played in years. Nole was simply the better player in that moment.

You nailed it right there.

 

[dh003i]

He lost the coin toss and had to play from behind all day.

In a match this tight, that was certainly a factor. However, he still had a couple chances in the fifth. That said, he really stole the 4th set and did well to make it to a 5th.

 

[rh310]

I feel that Federer came to net way too often off mediocre approach shots.

Indeed. It was like watching Sampras at the French Open for a little while there.

Still on the fence about how butthurt I should be about Nole's MTO.

 

[dh003i]

Indeed. It was like watching Sampras at the French Open for a little while there.

Still on the fence about how butthurt I should be about Nole's MTO.

When was his MTO taken? If at an inappropriate time, shame. And of courses the time between points, but I didn't keep track to say for sure.

Then there's the larger issue -- not Djokovic's fault of course -- of MTO's benefitting the less fit player. Djokovic's MTO subsidized his relatively poor movement on grass vs. Federer.

 

[moonballs]

djokovic didn't allow him to play more aggressive. Djokovic depth in this match was incredible and he was putting Federer under so much pressure.

That could be the reason why he didn't use more DTL shots but it is not the entire story. For example Fed mostly followed the text book advice of hitting the approach shot dtl to reduce the opponents passing shot angle. But this too often gave Djokovic too much time to pass him. It might have been better to make the approach shot wide and then gamble on the volley. On a slippery surface I don't understand why Fed hadn't made Novak to run more on on his approaches.

 

[JanowiczJ]

Fed fans saying his approaches/net game were bad... I believe that you as fans were cheering so hard for him that you only remember his bad approaches. I was softly cheering for Djokovic and outside of few moments were Fed went for weak chip 'n' charges he did very well on the net against a great passer in Djokovic.

The majority of the time he approached well and finished well at the Net. Djokovic had some amazing passing shots on that match. As I said, his only got it easy when Fed decided to return second serves (which he knew were going to his backhand) with a slice and then moved up.

 

[StrongerThanAll]

I'm not sure really, yes I'm a massive Fed fan. I really think Djokovic was just super solid.

Maybe a few small things here and there for Fed that have been mentioned, but he's not God, just the GOAT thats a little old. :twisted:

 

[newpball]

Djokovic played a great match and clearly deserved the victory.

BUT, I feel that Federer could have played more aggressively. I feel that he did not hit his forehand aggressively enough. It was as if he is still getting used to his new frame.

I feel that his power and spin is better with the new frame but he lacks the precision of former days and because of this he also is less willing to unleash. Did Federer hit an inside-out forehand all day? He was just chipping backhand slices to disrupt Novak's rhythm.

Perhaps this was part of a tactical scheme. Perhaps he is simply not quick enough to get in position to hit the inside-out with authority. Perhaps Novak was taking it away.

What could/should Fed have done better today?

Nothing went wrong with F.

It's not F but the unrealistic expectations of some of his fans is what I think is wrong.

:grin:

 

[Motor city]

The match stats just blow me away.
http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/stats/day21/1701ms.html
I really think this is the highest level of tennis I've seen. Hard to find fault with either player. The winners vs. unforced for both players is amazing!

 

[ACE of Hearts]

The tiebreaker in the 3rd hurt fed.It was 4-4 and he was on serve and lost the point.

I thought his serve was good but he has a bad habit of playing loose service games.The match was winnable but federer just doesnt have it mentally anymore

 

[ACE of Hearts]

That 3rd set was great serving by federer but the tiebreaker was very poor.

 

[dh003i]

Fed fans saying his approaches/net game were bad... I believe that you as fans were cheering so hard for him that you only remember his bad approaches. I was softly cheering for Djokovic and outside of few moments were Fed went for weak chip 'n' charges he did very well on the net against a great passer in Djokovic.

The majority of the time he approached well and finished well at the Net. Djokovic had some amazing passing shots on that match. As I said, his only got it easy when Fed decided to return second serves (which he knew were going to his backhand) with a slice and then moved up.

I agree. While I can't help but say a younger Federer would have won this, it was played at a very high level...and we as Federer fans have to remember that Federer is partially making up for his declining athleticism with increased craft and shot selection. There are some things Federer 2014 does better than Federer 2005 overall -- not any one shot in isolation, perhaps, but in terms of how cleverly he is playing an overall match, maybe.

I think some fans are using these close matches to suggest it wouldn't even be a competition prime-to-prime, which is disrespectful to Djokovic.

 

[ACE of Hearts]

I dont know if he has another final in him.I think he could have stole that match yesterday.He ran out of gas.

 

[dh003i]

That 3rd set was great serving by federer but the tiebreaker was very poor.

It does seem that his serve, while excellent on average, lets him down at enough key moments where he loses some of these very close winnable matches.

 

[ACE of Hearts]

Whats his 5 set record now in GSs?

 

[prostaff_fan]

The tiebreaker in the 3rd hurt fed.It was 4-4 and he was on serve and lost the point.

I thought his serve was good but he has a bad habit of playing loose service games.The match was winnable but federer just doesnt have it mentally anymore

I thought this was the turning point in the match. Fed had got a lucky break in the tiebreak when hawk eye called his shot in to make it 4-all. No one could believe his luck. And the next point he misses an easy put-away return on his serve. That was very uncharacteristic of Fed in a tie-break situation. It was all uphill for him once he lost the 3rd set tie-break.

 

[Sysyphus]

It does seem that his serve, while excellent on average, lets him down at enough key moments where he loses some of these very close winnable matches.

Let's not forget how many times it saved him in important moments. IMO the serve and his clutchness had to give in eventually, given how many times he was put under pressure.

 

[mydogsparty]

I watched the entire match and felt that Djokovic was the better player. Joker naturally tightened up when there were big points in the 4th and 5th set but overall he was better today. Novak should have won that first set IMO.

Federer second serve was good but not good enough to defeat his opponent today. Djokovic was hoping to get that second serve in order to take advantage of it and win points.

I've been pretty disappointed with Feds approach shots. His instincts on when to come to the net or stay back are lacking. I was hoping that working with Edberg would make a difference for him but it doesn't appear to be the case. And, once he gets to the net he is no Rafter or Edberg in his ability to place his volley where it needs to be. Many times he seemed content to just volley it back over the net and Djokovic would easily pass him.

Feds groundstrokes seemed to lack aggressiveness. I thought he would be attempting to hit balls closer to the sidelines but he didn't seem to be able to hit those spots. He did a good job late in the match at keeping his shots deep but he seemed hesitant to challenge himself to get near the sidelines.

Federer was still worthy of his top four seeding in this tourney, however in order to be a champion he's either got to be hitting (closer to) lines all day AND serve like he did in the third set (which he lost) or there's going to have to be some major upsets that knock out the other 3 seeds ahead of him. Dimitrov is also waiting to break through in one of these Grand Slams.

 

[Netspirit]

I loved that game where he served 4 aces in a row. Raonic/Isner/Karlovic also do it, routinely, but from Federer it is quite rare.

 

[dunlop_fort_knox]

What went wrong? Poor approaches, stubborn chip'n'charge, insufficient slicing, no backhand DTL, not going for winners, no short angles, no short slices, no disguised dropshots.

Basically - no variety in his gameplan whatsoever. The plan apparently was:

- serve like a madman
- try to out-hit Djokovic from the baseline with conservatively-placed topspin shots
- net-rush on poor approaches (even CC ones)

He kept it close, though (as close as a few other guys who had taken Djokovic to 5 sets).

tough crowd. he was very close to getting #18. very close. but everyone's a critic.

 

[tipsa...don'tlikehim!]

There are always things one can improve obviously but I thought he played the best tennis I've seen from him in quite a while. But of course Djoko is a better returner. And also Djoko served much better than he had in 2012.

and 2012 was played with the roof closed (the full match)

 

[Fugazi]

Fed's FH was erratic, heck, his whole game from the ground was fragile. No idea why some people say this was an exceptional match... Entertaining? Sure. High level tennis? Hardly. Djokovic 3.0 from 2011 was way better than this.

Pretty sure there was no break point at 4-4. I think Fed missed an overhead at 15 all and lost the game at 15.