I think they both played their A game. Djokovic went away in the second set because he was exhausted after the first set and he has to work harder than Federer to win points on grass, so the first set took more out of him.
You can't say they both played their A game every point but to be honest, anyone who expects this knows little about tennis, specifically how hard it is to play perfect tennis when the opponent is an all time great. What happened in this match was sort of expected, when two players push themselves to the limit, both will have periods where their level dips momentarily. It is humanly impossible to play at the top gear for 4-5 hours, every point, especially when two all time greats face each other. The mental and physical effort required to maintain the intensity, concentration, confidence through a match like this is titanic. I agree with you that the first set took A LOT out of Djokovic, first set was the highest quality of the match, stats wise. What i didn't expect was a 6-1 and how Novak was acting as if he was ill or something, that was bizarre. The dip in level from novak at the beginning of 4th set was more or less normal, the 2nd set was weird. I agree though, that 1st set took a tremendous amount of concentration and it was played a a very high intensity and Fed's game is more effortless on grass.
But the simple reality is that Federer's backhand (even though it has improved) does not hold up in long rallies like Djokovic's does. That always has been his Achilles heel. Safin and Nalbandian exposed that when he was younger but they were both too inconsistent in getting far in tournaments to show the world that (especially Nalbandian). But Djokovic and Nadal have gone far in tournaments consistently and they have exposed Fed's BH weakness
Not only does he hit errors off that wing, but he clearly lacks confidence in relying on his BH during long rallies at key moments. That's why he goes for more and is error-prone. That's why he went for that forehand winner at 5-3 in the first set tiebreak.....he was clearly trying to stay away from any kind of long rally in that moment.
Federer's backhand wasn't that bad in this match, he just was pushed to a defensive stance on the b side often by Novak but Novak has arguably the greatest bh of all time (i'd put Nalbandian and safin in same category) so it's unfair to expect Federer to match him. Think about it, Novak's bh even beats Nadal's fh often in rallies, it's a crazy shot when it's on. I think Fed missed off his fh side as much as he missed the bh side, just that he prob overused the slice. Novak was relentless with his groundstrokes for about 3.5 sets, it's why Fed covered more distance than Djokovic throughout the match, which is unusual. I think Federer has learned to hit through his bh against Nadal in effective ways, Novak is just insane when he's locked in on rallies. Interestingly cali, you were saying Novak's weakness was getting behind in rallies against players like Agut, why is it that he is able to be ontop of Federer on rallies? match-up? Clearly, Djokovic dictated most of the baseline rallies, it was Federer doing most of the running and defending. Federer's offense largely came from aces, service winners and 1-2 punches after good first serves. Once rally was neutral, Djokovic was in control.
lastly, this was a tremendous match. Dips in level throughout such a tough match where players push themselves to the limit is expected, no player can sustain the intensity, concentration, confidence every point, every game, every set for 4-5 hours, especially when opponent is an all time great. This is simple freaking stuff so those complaining that Federer wasn't perfect in every point don't know anything about tennis. Djokovic also had many moments where he was far from perfect and we can't just run hypotheticals of 'Had Fed done this or had fed done that, if fed wouldn't have... etc....' we can write a book on hypotheticals on what Novak could've done or what Fed could've done... This was one of the greatest matches i have ever seen, the dips in level was totally expected and what makes it even more interesting, they are not ROBOTS. This match was crazy, i was turning the channel when Djokovic served in 5th set, it was high high drama. GREAT MATCH.
I know I can get my back up. But you and I generally talk turkey, and I appreciate that. And I know you don't truck with the Rafa-hating.
