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The Golden Era continues….
I feel blessed to have witnessed another splendid classic between two of the greatest of all time (GOAT) playing the gentleman’s game of tennis. Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer should both be praised for delivering a spectacular performance of talent, stamina, fortitude, perseverance and athleticism at the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon 2019.
Many Federer fans took to social media after the match lamenting Federer’s “undeserved” loss, calling it tragic, especially after being the better player and playing such aesthetically pleasing tennis. Djokovic was often chided as playing boring tennis and winning only by the skin of his teeth, when Roger should have put the nail in the coffin with 2 Championship points on his serve in the 5th set at 40-15. Novak played both points very confidently and never actually looked in danger of losing either point. He was in good position to hit clean groundstrokes on each point. Other Federer fans were more fair in their assessments and praised both players for their outstanding performances.
Some more thoughts on the match:
1. If you look at the match statistics, one may surmise that Federer dominated Djokovic in almost every department and yet somehow miraculously lost. Yes, Federer had a distinct advantage of more aces, a higher percentage of net points won as well as a glaring higher winner to UE ratio (94 winners to 62 unforced errors, while Djokovic had only 54 winners to 52 UE). However, if one subtracts the bizzare and uncharacteristically un-Djokovic 2nd set, the match is actually even in points won. That’s right, Federer won the 2nd set 26-12 in points. The total points won were 218 to 204--a 14 point differential. Set #2 was a strange anomaly. The rest of the match was dead even.
I feel blessed to have witnessed another splendid classic between two of the greatest of all time (GOAT) playing the gentleman’s game of tennis. Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer should both be praised for delivering a spectacular performance of talent, stamina, fortitude, perseverance and athleticism at the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon 2019.
Many Federer fans took to social media after the match lamenting Federer’s “undeserved” loss, calling it tragic, especially after being the better player and playing such aesthetically pleasing tennis. Djokovic was often chided as playing boring tennis and winning only by the skin of his teeth, when Roger should have put the nail in the coffin with 2 Championship points on his serve in the 5th set at 40-15. Novak played both points very confidently and never actually looked in danger of losing either point. He was in good position to hit clean groundstrokes on each point. Other Federer fans were more fair in their assessments and praised both players for their outstanding performances.
Some more thoughts on the match:
1. If you look at the match statistics, one may surmise that Federer dominated Djokovic in almost every department and yet somehow miraculously lost. Yes, Federer had a distinct advantage of more aces, a higher percentage of net points won as well as a glaring higher winner to UE ratio (94 winners to 62 unforced errors, while Djokovic had only 54 winners to 52 UE). However, if one subtracts the bizzare and uncharacteristically un-Djokovic 2nd set, the match is actually even in points won. That’s right, Federer won the 2nd set 26-12 in points. The total points won were 218 to 204--a 14 point differential. Set #2 was a strange anomaly. The rest of the match was dead even.
- Forced errors are not recorded, and Djokovic may be the best at forcing his opponent into mistakes. They don’t look as pretty as winners, but just as effective. Djokovic may have only had 54 winners compared to Federer’s 94, and Federer had a +32 winner to UE differential, while Novak only had a +2 of winner to UE. It would be hard to find many matches with those lopsided +/- differentials and deduce that the winner of the match had a +2 winner ratio, but one is missing the bigger picture of forced errors.
- Many viewers commented on the comparison between the Wimby Fedal final of 2008 vs. The 2019 version with Djokovic, and scorned the idea of anyone suggesting this year’s version was better than the one from 11 years ago. I would need to watch both matches in their entirety to give a fair opinion, but the more interesting question for me would be this: both Nadal and Djokovic played Federer in 3 Wimbledon Finals; Nadal in 2006, 07 and 08; Djokovic in 2014, 15 and 19. In my regard both the 2014 and 15 Finals were every bit as good as the 2019 version in terms of quality tennis and shotmaking, and as a trilogy of matches outclass the 3 matches between Nadal and Roger between 2006-08. Food for thought? What do you think? Granted I haven’t watched the full matches from 2006 to 2008, but have watched highlights and read the scorelines. The 2014 Final was full of drama, lead changes and twists and turns and incredibly entertaining.
- Djokovic needed this win more for his legacy and to catch up to Roger’s Slam tally of 20. Djokovic reiterated Federer’s comments about wanting to inspire others to play into their late 30s. Novak took that comment to heart, and seemingly half praised and half cautioned Federer that he was inspired by Federer’s late career endeavors and hoped to emulate him. Federer momentarily may have appreciated the compliment, but then considered the full impact of Djokovic’s words manifesting themselves into reality as Djokovic could well play into age 38 and beyond.
- Djokovic showed again his mental match toughness and for the 3rd time in his career defied Federer in a Slam from winning with two consecutive match points. He achieved this in the US Open of 2010 and 2011 against Federer and then today returning at 15-40 down 7-8 in the 5th set. Actually in retrospect, while Djokovic never looked in trouble in either of those points, he appeared much more vulnerable at 11-11 all down a break point approaching the net and Federer had a perfect look for a passing shot but hit it right at Djokovic. Considering how well Federer had served all day, that moment looked like the biggest opportunity lost to win the match for the Swiss.
- Being a Djokovic fan, I applaud Djokovic’s efforts to capture a 16th Slam and further cement his legacy as one of the Titans of the Golden era of Men’s tennis, however, Federer was every bit as good as Djokovic in this match if not better for many stretches of the match. I must tip my hat to Federer’s resiliency to push himself and the Serb to the limits on the eve of his 38th birthday. Many wrote off Federer for even having a legitimate chance of beating the world #1 in the Wimbledon Final 19, yet he kept pace with the younger Djokovic and didn’t let down physically after 5 hours. That in itself is truly remarkable. This match truly could have gone either way.